The U.S. Census Bureau announced that it will be developing an alternative way to measure poverty. This new method will better reflect the realities facing struggling families and ways in which current government programs can help them to get back on their feet. Unlike the traditional poverty measure, which is based in a 1960s reality, this supplemental measure will provide a more accurate accounting of household budgets and better determination of whether a family has enough resources to meet its most basic needs.
Half in Ten is co-sponsoring a webinar on what the federal government can do to address the jobs crisis on Thursday, January 28th at 3:00 pm EST.
Click here to register and hear from the experts on what steps Congress can take to create employment opportunities in low-income and minority communities.
Speakers
Larry Mishel, President, Economic Policy Institute
Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director, Center for Community Change
Alan Charney, Campaign Director, Jobs for America Now
Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs, Moderator
There are 6.4 jobseekers for every unfilled job – and that gap is growing. Two-thirds of Americans are close to someone who is out of work. And joblessness is worst for communities of color, youth, and women who head households. The private sector does not have the capacity to rebuild employment on its own. While the investments made through the federal economic recovery legislation have created or saved over 1 million jobs so far, the recession is so deep that more federal action is urgently needed.
Congress and the Obama Administration are working on job creation plans. What should they do? How can we build support for job creation that does not leave the poorest people behind? Register for the webinar and find out.
The Half in Ten campaign recognizes that we won’t cut poverty in half by 2020 without grassroots activists across the country calling for change. With that in mind, we are working with coalitions in several states to make the half in ten goal a reality.
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has teamed up with the Half in Ten campaign to lead efforts in reducing poverty in our state. The Arkansas legislature has taken a step forward in addressing this issue by establishing the Poverty Task Force to look at public programs and policies that have the potential to reduce poverty. By building a statewide network and coalition through the Half in Ten campaign, we hope to work with elected officials to reduce the number of Arkansas children and families that live in poverty. We have partnered with other advocacy agencies to provide education opportunities to leaders in our state by helping them understand the plight of low-income families through the poverty simulation. During the simulation, participants experience the situations that families living in poverty go through every day.
We will work very closely with the Poverty Task Force and other low-income advocates to focus on legislation to improve the lives of Arkansans living in poverty. One such piece of legislation will be enacting a state Earned Income Tax Credit. We will also equip the faith community to be advocates for the poor on a state and national level. Our outreach director for the project is staff member Pat Bodenhamer, an ordained Methodist minister, who will continue to work with faith leaders across the state. We will also use our existing Moving Families Forward network made up of individuals and organizations around the state to work with their local elected officials.
The Half in Ten campaign recognizes that we won’t cut poverty in half by 2020 without grassroots activists across the country calling for change. With that in mind, we are working with coalitions in several states to make the half in ten goal a reality.
The Colorado chapter of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, is partnering with the Half in Ten campaign to raise awareness of poverty in Colorado and the policy solutions that can help us ensure economic security and opportunity for all. We plan to educate thousands of directly affected Coloradans about the Half in Ten campaign, and reach out to activists, coalition partners and elected officials to build support for the Half in Ten goal. Through public events, workshops, leadership development, and grassroots organizing, we hope that women and their families all across the state will jump on the train headed towards a just and economically sound Colorado. Read more »
The Senate is considering legislation to spur job creation, but it isn’t clear if the bill will include policies to create jobs for the communities that have been hit the hardest in this recession. There are three provisions that can create or save over 2 million jobs in low-income and minority communities while helping the economy overall and lifting up all Americans.
Call your senator today at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to support a jobs package that includes:
extension of unemployment benefits and the COBRA health insurance subsidy through the end of 2010 by February 19.
investment in direct job creation that addresses long-neglected needs in communities.
aid to states and localities to prevent further job losses and service cuts.
The Half in Ten campaign recognizes that we won’t cut poverty in half by 2020 without grassroots activists across the country calling for change. With that in mind, we are working with coalitions in several states to make the half in ten goal a reality.
Three Minnesota organizations are embracing the Half In Ten campaign: the Affirmative Options Coalition, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, and A MinnesotaWithout Poverty. The three organizations have already collaborated on moving an agenda forward to end poverty in Minnesota. The opportunity to work with Half In Ten was an opportunity to carry the message that Minnesota cannot make substantive progress on ending poverty without a renewed and serious federal commitment to tackle poverty. The three Minnesota partners will collaborate on engaging constituencies in the low-income, faith, nonprofit, and business sectors in a shared agenda on tackling poverty.
2010 will be a year to make visible the growing public support for ending poverty. In particular, the effort in Minnesota will focus on winning legislation that creates a tool for the state legislature to measure the impact of potential legislation on poverty, to launch a legislative-citizen workgroup to develop proposed policies to improve Minnesotans’ ability to accumulate and secure assets, and to revive a wage subsidy program that could help put thousands of low-income Minnesotans into jobs during this recession.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. shifted his focus in the dwindling years of his life to an audacious, but achievable goal: ending poverty in the United States.
In his book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, King argued that the United States must change its attitude and approach toward the treatment of its poor citizens. He reasoned that since poverty knew no racial boundaries, he couldn’t limit his call for congressional action to assist only black Americans.
“In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out,” King wrote in 1967. “There are twice as many white poor as [black] poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive from racial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white and [black] alike.”
This was a radical—and unpopular—change for the preacher who is best known for pushing voting, employment, housing, and other civil rights for black Americans. At this point in his career, during what would become the final months of his life, he was widening his field of vision to seek an end to poverty among all Americans.
It’s appropriate as we pause to celebrate this year’s national holiday in memory of King’s 81st birthday to recall the relevance of his final struggle to the contemporary fight against poverty. Read more »
The Half in Ten Campaign applauds President Obama for supporting key job creation policies including extending unemployment insurance and COBRA health insurance benefits for the unemployed, and providing additional aid to state and local governments to save jobs, spur demand, and importantly, help, the most vulnerable weather this recession.
When: Tuesday, December 8, 2:00 – 3:00p.m., Eastern time
In just one year, the number of people in households that sometimes lacked the money for enough nutritious food rose from 36 million to 49 million – the highest number on record. Among them were 17 million children – 4 million more in 2008 than in 2007.
This is called food insecurity. The recession is making it worse.
It is hurting children.
Learn More:
What the USDA food security survey means
How to use the data compellingly, simply, and accurately
Research showing how food insecurity hurts children
What policy choices can halt this very disturbing trend
Presenters:
James D. Weill, President, Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
Dr. Deborah Frank, Founder and Principal Investigator, Children’s HealthWatch; Professor of Pediatrics at Boston U. School of Medicine and Director of the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center
Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs
Moderator: George A. Braley, Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Policy, Feeding America
Thanksgiving for All Americans In light of the latest data on poverty and food insecurity in the country, Melissa Boteach of the Half in Ten Campaign and Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action Center call on Congress and the President to act by investing in nutrition assistance and job creation. Read more and download the memo »
Alexandra Cawthorne of Center for American Progress and Melissa Boteach of Half in Ten write for the The Hill’s Congress Blog about the importance of extending Unemployment Insurance Benefits as soon as possible.
According to the National Employment Law Project, every day 7,000 additional workers are running out of unemployment benefits. That means that since the House passed its bill to extend unemployment insurance on September 22, approximately 266,000 workers have been left high and dry while the Senate continues to delay a vote on this crucial legislation—and 7,000 workers yesterday, 7,000 workers today, and 7,000 workers every day that the Senate puts off this vote are being pushed closer and closer to this brink.
