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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Month: June 2012

Poverty Rate – Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri

  • Poverty strikes a smaller percentage in southeast Louisiana in wake of Hurricane Katrina, By Katy Reckdahl, June 28, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Southeast Louisiana bucked national trends and became less poor than it was a decade ago, largely because of new investment due to rebuilding efforts and because of the post-Hurricane Katrina diaspora, which forced many of the city’s poor families to find housing outside the region, according to an analysis of U.S. census data released Thursday by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Calling the post-Katrina exodus ‘the largest population displacement since the Dust Bowl,’ the study noted that it ‘changed the map of poverty’ in the 13-parish region considered southeast Louisiana. Between 1999 and 2010, parishes that flooded after Katrina lost thousands of their poor residents: Orleans Parish lost 50,000, St. Bernard lost 4,000 and Plaquemines lost nearly 2,400. But the rest of the region showed little increase in poverty, suggesting that most poor people relocated outside the region…”
  • Poverty strikes health, education across region, By Andrew Nash, June 28, 2012, Pittsburg Morning Sun: “The freezers at the Wesley House are running out of meat. One freezer contains just five packages of hot dogs, while another freezer holds three small packages of edamame beans and one package of deer hamburger. All told, freezers that should be full are empty and becoming more empty. These freezers are supposed to be full of proteins for those who need it – a surprisingly large number in this region. These pantries tend to get low from time to time during the year, but the cupboards are bare a little earlier this year. Bare cupboards and freezers at the Wesley House are just one symptom of an ongoing problem in the Four States region. Declining health statistics and poor economic conditions are two more symptoms. The pervasive problem in this region is poverty, and it’s not going to go away. Pick any figure that details the impoverished, and those in Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri will be among the worst of the bunch…”

Student Homelessness in the US

Latest report: More than 1 million U.S. students are homeless, By Kate Santich, June 28, 2012, Orlando Sentinel: “In recent years, you’ve heard a lot about the growing number of homeless students in Central Florida’s public schools. But the problem isn’t limited to our region — or our state. Sadly, data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education show that, for the first time in history, the nation’s public schools reported more than 1 million homeless students. The number includes children enrolled in U.S. public preschools and kindergarten through 12th grade for the 2010-2011 school year. And the figure actually underestimates the number of homeless children by excluding infants, toddlers, preschool-aged children who aren’t enrolled in public programs and homeless children who are home-schooled…”

Homeless Bill of Rights – Rhode Island

Advocates: RI’s new homeless bill of rights a national model for preventing discrimination, Associated Press, June 27, 2012, Washington Post: “While cities across the nation enact laws against panhandling and outdoor sleeping, Rhode Island is being held up as a national model for protecting homeless individuals from discrimination. Advocates say the state’s new homeless bill of rights goes further than any other law in the nation to prevent discrimination against people who lack housing. The new law prohibits governments, police, healthcare workers, landlords or employers from treating homeless people unfairly because of their housing status…”