In Florida, a food-stamp recruiter deals with wrenching choices, By Eli Saslow, April 23, 2013, Washington Post: “A good recruiter needs to be liked, so Dillie Nerios filled gift bags with dog toys for the dog people and cat food for the cat people. She packed crates of cookies, croissants, vegetables and fresh fruit. She curled her hair and painted her nails fluorescent pink. ‘A happy, it’s-all-good look,’ she said, checking her reflection in the rearview mirror. Then she drove along the Florida coast to sign people up for food stamps. Her destination on a recent morning was a 55-and-over community in central Florida, where single-wide trailers surround a parched golf course. On the drive, Nerios, 56, reviewed techniques she had learned for connecting with some of Florida’s most desperate senior citizens during two years on the job…”
Day: April 24, 2013
Early Childhood Education – Missouri
Missouri early childhood advocates hope to avoid repeat of cuts last year, By Nancy Cambria, April 20, 2013, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “William Blaylock knows from experience how state budget negotiations currently going on in Jefferson City can affect his work directing a day care. Last year — in what was widely viewed as a bad year for early childhood education — the Missouri Legislature trimmed $14 million in funding for child care and preschool programs, mostly in last-minute deals to balance the budget. Blaylock said the cuts placed his preschool, CoCo’s Kidz of St. Louis, in a lurch. The licensed center lost all of its 17 subsidized slots for infants and toddlers in low-income families…”