- 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…”
Tag: Non-profit
NPR Series on Poverty in America
Poverty in America: The struggle to get ahead, series homepage, By Pam Fessler, July 10, 2012, National Public Radio.
Health Assistance Program
Needy patients get ‘prescriptions’ for food and shelter through volunteer program, By Sandra G. Boodman, June 18, 2012, Washington Post: “Treshawn Jones was desperate. Jobless for four months, she had burned through her meager savings, was running low on food for her two young children and barely scraping by on weekly unemployment checks of $307 that didn’t begin to cover her overdue $600 utility bill and monthly rent of $900. So in March, while at Children’s National Medical Center with her 2-year-old son, Jones asked a sympathetic staff member if she knew of any resources that could help her family. Within minutes, Jones was meeting with Shalesha Lake, a junior at the University of Maryland at College Park who volunteers for Health Leads, an innovative program that has operated at Children’s since 2001. Three months later, with guidance from Lake, the 35-year-old single mother had completed a free job training course offered by Byte Back, a nonprofit group that provides computer training to underserved District residents, obtained free food and clothes for her children, applied for utility and rental assistance. . .”