- Sequester likely to hurt most vulnerable, despite protections, By Annie Gowen and Zachary A. Goldfarb, March 3, 2013, Washington Post: “With automatic budget cuts looming, George Garrow decided he could no longer put off the inevitable. Garrow — whose small nonprofit group serves at-risk youth and about 100 veterans — gathered his top aides late last week in the conference room of his L Street office and began to pore over budget spreadsheets. The mood was grim, and it soon grew worse. As they went over the numbers, they realized that if sequester cuts stay in effect, they will eventually have to get rid of half their staff of 40. Around the country, nonprofits organizations and others who work with the disadvantaged have been scrambling in recent days to prepare worst-case budget scenarios for the expected 5 to 8 percent cuts in domestic spending called for by the sequester. Because certain entitlement programs, such as food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, were exempted from the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts, the most vulnerable were not supposed to be severely hurt…”
- Sequester will take a bite out of Head Start, By Nancy Cambria, March 4, 2013, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Just weeks ago, President Barack Obama and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called for better access to early childhood education — to the delight of advocates wanting broader access to preschool and quality child care. But on Friday, $85 billion in automatic cuts to federal services promised to take a $406 million chunk out of the federal Head Start preschool program. Now, those same advocates are wondering how to deal with a cut that could put 205 St. Louis area children at risk of losing free services…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty