Anti-Poverty Programs and Childless Adults

Seeking ways to help the poor and childless, By Eduardo Porter, January 14, 2014, New York Times: “Last Friday at the Food Bank for New York on 116th Street, I caught a glimpse of the many shapes of need. With a few hundred dollars, 25-year-old Ayesha Depay could afford the lessons she needs to pass her road test and get a driver’s license, an indispensable tool for the job she craves leading recreation programs for children. Nadine Robinson, 43, a former receptionist at Sony Music Studios who has been working for $9 an hour as a home health aide, could use the money to get a step ahead of the relentless stream of bills, pay down debts and rebuild her credit. A 53-year-old security guard I talked to declined to provide his name, embarrassed perhaps that he was sleeping on friends’ couches, working barely enough hours to ‘keep my head above water.’ He had so many potential uses for extra cash he couldn’t pin any one down. For all their differences, these men and women shared one crucial thing. Despite incomes low enough that if they had been parents they would probably have qualified for substantial government cash assistance, they received little if any support…”