One in five households with children in poverty are surviving on the cash equivalent of a half gallon of milk per person per day in a given month.
The National Poverty Center has released a new report that examines poverty trends between 1996 and 2011. The number of households with children who are in extreme poverty in a given month—living at $2 or less in income per person per day—in 2011 totaled roughly 1.46 million households, including 2.8 million kids. This number is up from 636,000 households in 1996, nearly a 130 percent increase.
Play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being of children beginning in early childhood. It is a natural tool for children to develop resiliency as they learn to cooperate, overcome challenges, and negotiate with others. Play also allows children to be creative. It provides time for parents to be fully engaged with their children, to bond with their children, and to see the world from the perspective of their child. However, children who live in poverty often face socioeconomic obstacles that impede their rights to have playtime, thus affecting their healthy social-emotional development. For children who are underresourced to reach their highest potential, it is essential that parents, educators, and pediatricians recognize the importance of lifelong benefits that children gain from play.
A new analysis of census data indicates a shortage of homes for those living on a $20,000 income. The study, released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, found there are only 36 affordable and available units for every 100 low income people living in Pennsylvania.
Although written in the context of present-day South Africa this article has universal application.
Citizenship is not just about voting, or even about having a vote. To construe the essence of citizenship primarily as the right to vote reduces its power, as if voting ensures a democracy. It is certainly a feature of democracy, but as Fareed Zakaria points out in his book “The Future of Freedom”, the right to vote does not guarantee a civil society, or in our terms a restorative one.
If I could rate this article I would give it ten stars. This is an important article the really highlights the tension between American values and Christian values. They are not the same.
As Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean shows in her new book “Almost Christian,” the American church struggles to distinguish between American values and Christian values. American values tell us that if one does not work hard and get a good job, she will find herself struggling to provide for herself. In Proverbs Scripture agrees; it’s basic wisdom after all. But the Bible goes past that basic point to say that, when someone has made poor choices and finds themselves homeless, it is the responsibility of the entire nation to ensure they are housed. People struggled financially then for many of the same reasons they struggle financially now, yet the Scriptures do not distinguish between caring for the wise poor and the unwise poor. For those of us who pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of God before we pledge allegiance to the flag, our responsibilities are clear.
Sixty-seven years ago today, photographer Joe Rosenthal trekked up a mountain alongside U.S. Marines and snapped this indelible scene on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. Oddly enough, he had been rejected from military service for his poor eyesight, but today his vision is iconic.
U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945.
This article points out the importance of transportation to people who are trying to exit poverty. Revitalizing our public transportation is key. It is really ironic to me that very people who complain about people in poverty “using their tax dollars” for food or other things, will not help pay for things like good public transportation so people can go to work and earn their way out of poverty.
One city, two worlds. That is the difference between having a car and riding the bus.
Few of us who drive cars really understand the difference that one reality—car or bus—can make: where you shop, what you buy, where you work, how often you can make appointments, who you visit, how you find entertainment—even if and how you can engage in the democratic process.
As darkness grew in Europe during the rise of the Third Reich, the young pastor Bonheoffer understood that the church needed to stand against the injustice being perpetuated on the Jews. He challenged the church to engage on three levels, each, in succession, more difficult and dangerous. To read the rest click the link below.
Hunger and poverty are putting more and more African-American women and children at risk of poor nutrition, according to Bread for the World’s annual analysis of hunger and poverty in the African-American community released today.
Here are some key highlights from the analysis:
More than one in four African-Americans (27.4 percent) lived in poverty in 2010, compared to one in seven (15.1 percent) Americans.
More than one-third (39.1 percent) of all African-American children live in poverty, compared to one in five children in the country as a whole.
Furthermore, African-Americans are more likely to go hungry, the analysis reports:
One in four (25.1 percent) African-American households struggled to put food on the table in 2010.
Households with children experienced even higher rates of food insecurity — 32.9 percent of African-American households with children were food insecure, compared to 20.2 percent of all U.S. households with children.
This is a great solution we need more people to do what this gentleman did. See the whole article for details.
Today, U.S. companies are on the brink of an unprecedented shortage of skilled employees able to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive, global, and knowledge-based economy. By 2018, an estimated 64 percent of all jobs will require at least some postsecondary education or training, and yet the U.S. continues to lag far behind other countries in educational attainment. In the next decade, employers are predicted to face a gap of 14 million college-educated workers, and current evidence shows that our public secondary education system is consistently under-delivering career-ready graduates.
There are currently over five million “disconnected” young adults who are out of work and out of school, lacking the resources to embark on a viable career path—and that number is on the rise.
These are troubling realities, but they represent a significant national opportunity. On one side of the “opportunity divide” are urban young adults looking for opportunities to succeed. On the other side are employers seeking skilled employees to fill jobs.
To help close this gap, I founded Year Up to address the needs of both sides simultaneously. Our program empowers urban young adults with the skills needed in a 21st century economy while building employers’ confidence and investment in these talented individuals and their potential to propel our future economic prosperity.
Great article about life in poverty and about Getting Ahead.
Evans said poverty brings about a different code, which drives behaviors the middle class might not understand or even scorn. These behaviors are the result of two key situations.
» Tyranny of the moment: It’s hard to plan for next week when you don’t know where dinner is going to come from.
» Stress relief: In poverty, you don’t get a vacation.
The hidden rules of the different classes are a key focus of the Bridges Out of Poverty and Getting Ahead programs.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – More than 1,000 people — including 200 Project Mercury veterans — gathered at Kennedy Space Center with legendary astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter on Saturday to celebrate the golden anniversary of America’s first two orbital human space expeditions.
tonight there are hundreds of satellites in orbit above the earth, but 50 years ago tomorrow, there wasn’t much up there at all. when friendship seven blasted off from cape canavarel, the mercury capsule that carried the first american into orbit. one of a select group of american space pioneers who had the right stuff. they were test pilots turned into astronauts, or what some back then called spam in a can. the first two mercury flights just to the edge of space each lasted barely 15 minutes . it was on the third mission, a marine aviator named john glenn , became the first american to actually orbit the earth.
I was 6 years old and this is the first spaceflight I remember. I believe we watched this on TV at school. I remember we watched many of the launches at school from the Mercury through the Gemini missions. That was an exciting time for someone who was interested in science.
John Herschel Glenn Jr. flew into the history books on Feb. 20, 1962, when he became the first American to go into orbit. But his trajectory to greatness was set years earlier, as a Marine Corps pilot. Glenn flew 59 combat missions in World War II and 90 combat missions in the Korean War.
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