We held two economic justice workshops on unemployment insurance and alternatives to predatory lending. The workshops took place at United Methodist Churches and were a great opportunity for participants to analyze and discuss deficiencies in Virginia state laws. They also helped empower participants to become more effective advocates.
The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy is already mobilizing local advocates and opinion leaders to make reducing poverty in our state a priority. It will host the “Real Change for Real People” regional event series this month as a part of the partnership with Half in Ten Campaign. The series will address unemployment issues and alternatives to predatory lending.
The Half in Ten partners in Minnesota are focused on the immediate, as well as plans for the winter. The Affirmative Options Coalition has been working with its members to urge our state’s two senators to renew funding for the emergency TANF Emergency Fund.
August has been a very busy month in Arkansas with our fight to cut the poverty rate. We have concluded all of the town hall meetings that we helped facilitate and we began reporting back to the Arkansas Legislative Task Force on Reducing Poverty and Promoting Economic Opportunity.
The Colorado Half in Ten campaign held a community meeting in August to discuss real solutions to reducing poverty in our community. The event attracted about 50 people from across the state, plus State Senator Evie Hudak. The diverse crowd discussed realistic and meaningful solutions to reducing poverty in specific ways.
The first thought that comes to many peoples’ minds when they think of Colorado is the Rocky Mountains and ski resorts. It may be surprising to hear that in the same state where many escape for vacation, the child poverty rate is growing faster than anywhere else in the US.
Virginia’s Half in Ten campaign is building momentum. The Blank Street Project is filming roving documentaries of poverty featuring Virginians talking about jobs and homelessness. We started our legislative strategy this month by meeting with state Sen. John Watkins,…
The Colorado Half in Ten campaign is currently planning for the upcoming community meeting on real solutions to reducing poverty.
Half in Ten’s state partner Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families announced last month that it would be organizing a town hall meeting to discuss issues surrounding poverty in Arkansas.
Virginia advocates are beginning to develop Half in Ten priorities as part of the national campaign to end hunger and poverty in America. They have jumped in with both feet, focusing particularly on faith community partnerships. They deployed a team of…