- ‘I don’t want my daughter to see the struggles I went through’: Ogden program seeks to end Utah’s cycle of poverty, By Christopher Smart, March 31, 2015, Salt Lake Tribune: “Maricela Garcia was born into poverty. But the 26-year-old single mom wants to escape it so that her 3-year-old daughter, Eliahna, will have a better life. Garcia and her daughter are part of an Ogden-based pilot program called Next Generation Kids that seeks to break the intergenerational-poverty cycle. Thirty families are participating in the program. ‘We grew up very poor on assistance,’ said the Ogden native. ‘I don’t want my daughter to see the struggles I went through.’ The initiative to end the poverty cycle is the outcome of the Intergenerational Poverty Mitigation Act, passed in 2012. Its sponsor, former state Sen. Stuart Reid, said that by marshaling public and private resources to end poverty, taxpayers would save in reduced welfare and incarceration costs. And it’s the humane thing to do, he added…”
- State unveils plans to ‘measurably reduce’ rates of intergenerational poverty among Utah children, By Marjorie Cortez, March 31, 2015, Deseret News: “Key state administrators Tuesday unveiled a roadmap intended to ‘measurably reduce’ the number of Utah children remaining in poverty as adults. The primary goals of ‘Utah’s Plan for a Stronger Future’ are to disrupt cycles of intergenerational poverty and dependence on public assistance. To achieve those ends, the plan establishes four areas of focus: early childhood development, education, health, and family economic stability.
Tag: Utah
Chronic Homelessness – Utah
Will Utah end chronic homelessness in 2015?, By Christopher Smart, October 18, 2014, Salt Lake Tribune: “When Joseph Hardy and his three siblings were young, his mother took them from his polygamist father and bolted. They spent the next decade on the run — camping in the summers, crashing with friends when they could, and grabbing an inexpensive rental when the money held out. ‘I feel like I grew up in the back seat of a car,’ Hardy says today. At age 15, he began using methamphetamine to dull his grief and anxiety. Drug use and depression have ravaged his health, and he’s spent about 14 years of his life behind bars. But the last time he was arrested, Hardy was offered a new choice: treatment and his own apartment, with support from a caseworker to help him shape a new life…”
Homelessness and Housing First – Utah
- Utah praised for initiative to end chronic homelessness, By Christopher Smart, October 8, 2014, Salt Lake Tribune: “Utah is making national headlines for a successful initiative to end chronic homelessness — it’s down 72 percent since 2005 — as the 11th Annual Utah Homeless Summit convenes Wednesday in Salt Lake City. The number of chronic homeless — people who have been without housing for more than a year or who have been homeless four times in three years — has dropped in the state from 1,932 in 2005 to 539 this year. But the overall number of homeless during that period has remained at about 13,600. Most of those people will find housing within a 12-month period, according to the ‘2014 Utah Comprehensive Report on Homelessness,’ released Wednesday…”
- Affordable housing helps prevent, cures homelessness in Utah, new report says, By Marjorie Cortez, October 8, 2014, Deseret News: “Affordable housing is not only a key to preventing homelessness, it’s the cure to chronic homelessness, officials say. But Utah’s needs far outstrip the state’s ability to build affordable housing. Utah needs some 44,000 units of affordable housing statewide to keep pace with demand, according to federal and state estimates. When a segment of Utahns can’t afford housing, they’re at great risk of becoming homeless…”