Last year’s recovery act included pivotal steps to enhance and transform the lives of Americans living in poverty. One such step was the creation of the TANF Emergency Fund, a $5 billion fund designed to help states meet the growing need for assistance and increase employment opportunities available to low-income families. Since its establishment, at least 35 states and the District of Columbia have used the fund to create 240,000 subsidized jobs for low-income and long-term unemployed workers.
These jobs have played a critical role in providing employment opportunities and helping states to meet the rising need for services resulting from the Great Recession. Yet if Congress does not extend the TANF Emergency Fund beyond its expiration date of September 30, 2010, states will be forced to halt their successful subsidized jobs programs and will no longer be able to offer the assistance to help families weather the economic storm.
Write your senators and representative and urge them to extend the TANF Emergency Fund today!
Two of the lead partners in the Minnesota Half in Ten campaign effort brought their governing boards together this month to talk about how to ramp up efforts to engage Minnesota organizations and people in the Half in Ten campaign. This was a chance for leading nonprofit antipoverty organizations and faith-based social justice groups to talk about how the Half in Ten campaign fits into their state policy work, and how it might interact with their federal allies or parent organizations. We will be approaching those groups and others for their organizational endorsements.
Recently, Katie Couric spoke on CBS News about reauthorization of the Improving Child Nutrition Act and more specifically, the need to improve access to summer meals. Citing a column by Half in Ten Campaign Manager, Melissa Boteach, and Feeding America’s Senior Policy Counsel, Sophie Milam, Couric states that while nearly 20 million children get free or reduced price lunch at school, only 1 in 6 of these children will receive subsidized meals for the summer.
The main obstacles are the shortage of sites where these meals can be served, a lack of transportation to get to these sites, and a lack of funding to for these programs to be sustainable from year to year.
Congress has the opportunity to act this year on a child nutrition bill that would improve access to summer meals among other things. With 1 in 4 children in the US at risk for hunger, Couric urges “last day of school shouldn’t mean last call for lunch.” Half in Ten couldn’t agree more.
For the full column, click here
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Today marks the 48th day that millions of unemployed workers have been left without jobless benefits since Congress allowed them to lapse back in May.
Write your senator TODAY!
The Senate has scheduled a vote for tomorrow on extending unemployment benefits through November 30, 2010 as a stand-alone bill. Inaction means that 3.2 million unemployed workers will lose access to jobless benefits by the end of the month. Cutting off unemployment insurance can have dire effects on families, as these personal stories show.
Inaction also undermines a nascent economic recovery. In fact, according to the Economic Policy Institute, unemployment insurance has saved 1.1 million jobs since the recession started, increased the number of hours worked by those who already have jobs, and added 1.7 percent to the gross domestic product.
That is why we need you to ACT NOW!
Unemployment across the country is hovering around 10 percent, with low-income communities, youth, single mother households, and communities of color facing disproportionate rates of joblessness.
Senators need to hear from Half in Ten activists that we want them to extend benefits for the unemployed and invest in job creation. We need your help to get the 60 votes to move this bill forward.
Take Action Now. Write your Senator before the vote.
Click here to read the personal story of Terry Hokenson, whose unemployment benefits were cut off.
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A paralegal by training, Terry has been out of work for two years and his unemployment insurance benefits ran out in May. He has not insisted on staying in the same field and has retrained in electronic health records. He applies for jobs and the latest has been at a hardware store.
But like many workers in Minnesota, where the number of job seekers outnumbers job openings by 24 to 1 in some regions, there are no job offers. He gets by on food stamps, depleting his retirement savings and what he calls a hodge podge of short-term assistance.
He is 62, just old enough for Social Security and has already applied — although he would rather work. Applying for Social Security early is not good for him: he will receive lower benefits amounting to only 40 percent of what he was receiving through unemployment insurance. Nor does discontinuing temporary unemployment benefits to Mr. Hokenson and having him turn to permanent social security benefits save the federal government any money.
Here is a link to an interview in one of the local daily newspapers a couple of weeks featuring Mr. Hokenson: http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=118895697
Today marks the 29th day that millions of unemployed workers have been left without jobless benefits as Congress continues to stall on passage of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (HR4213). The bill failed a third time just last week, unable to get the 60 votes necessary to get through the Senate.
Write your senators today and urge them to act swiftly to extend unemployment insurance and other job-creation measures such as:
Providing State Fiscal Relief in the form of Medicaid, known as FMAP, for another six months
Extending the TANF Emergency Fund through FY 2011 to save 205,000 jobs
Providing funding for summer jobs for youth
Write your Senator Now!
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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 videographers in June to document the stories of individuals and families in situational poverty throughout the state. The www.blankstreetproject.com team has been collecting stories of those affected by unemployment, predatory lending, and health care disparities, posting vignettes to their website and garnering media attention for their work. The project will culminate in a documentary film. These stories are a vital way to highlight the reasons that poverty exists and the prescriptions to overcome its grip.
The Virginia Interfaith Center recently named Ali Faruk, one of its leading policy analysts, as the lead staff person on Virginia’s Half in Ten campaign. Ali is developing a multi-year strategy to educate the public and decision makers on the causes of poverty and the ways we can work at both policy and program levels to reduce its power over the most vulnerable families. We look forward to presenting this plan to you in next month’s update.
More than 150 advocates from across the state came to the Interfaith Center’s annual lobby day at the General Assembly, January 19. Noted political blogger and developer of Richmond Sunlight Waldo Jaquith addresses the group at the Holocaust Museum following the morning’s round of legislator visits.
The New England Consortium is a six-state collaborative of child research and policy organizations that have come together to develop a common set of priorities to reduce poverty across the region and act as a catalyst for national change. The consortium and Half in Ten share a belief that we will not reverse the disturbing trend of rising poverty without purposeful action and federal leadership.
The consortium’s mission is to reduce poverty and provide opportunities for New England children and families through research and advocacy on a set of strategic state and federal policy priorities, as well as effective implementation across the region. The consortium envisions a New England region where children and their parents’ basic needs are met, educational and economic opportunities are available to all, and families are financially secure and a crucial part of their community’s economic success.
Consortium members include the following seven state-based child advocacy and policy organizations, all of which support the campaign’s goal of cutting poverty in half in 10 years:
The consortium will work closely with the region’s congressional delegation to identify and work to promote broader initiatives for reducing poverty and creating opportunities for children. It will also champion a series of strategic and timely legislative initiatives that will reduce the number of children and families in poverty. Current federal opportunities to support families include tax credits, extended unemployment benefits, access to nutrition, health care, and investments in education and training.
The Half in Ten Campaign and its partners share these priorities, and the consortium looks forward to working with other advocates in the region, as well as national partners who share the goal of cutting poverty in half in 10 years and ultimately ending child and family poverty. National, regional, and state-specific resources to help support and inform this goal are featured on NEC’s new website: www.endpovertynewengland.org.
Last month we told you about our new study, “Child Poverty in Arkansas 2010: A Deepening Problem.” We learned through the report that almost 25 percent of Arkansas children grow up in poverty. This month, we have taken a step toward addressing the issue by increasing public awareness.
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families recently announced that it will host a town hall meeting to specifically address the problem of child poverty in Arkansas. The keynote speaker will be state Senator Joyce Elliot (D-Little Rock), who also happens to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in the Second District. AACF hopes to begin a regular dialogue with community leaders and elected officials using the lessons we have learned through recent studies to quickly and aggressively attack the problem of childhood poverty.
The Colorado Half in Ten statewide coalition has partnered with the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force to cut poverty in half throughout the state. The taskforce is comprised of 10 bipartisan state legislators who have made a commitment to taking a holistic approach to cutting poverty. The campaign and taskforce will hold four community meetings throughout the state this summer to hear the voices of those living in poverty, service providers, faith leaders, and others who are concerned about poverty in their communities. The Colorado Half in Ten campaign is committed to ensuring that all voices are conveyed to the legislative task force meetings and that the concerns of those living in poverty are incorporated as the commission considers new policies. The Colorado committee has set forth the following action items to make these commitments a possibility:
- Seek solutions for cutting poverty from those who have personally struggled or lived with poverty
- Hold meetings and trainings in spaces and times that are convenient for the community to get the largest turnout
- Build a stronger movement by educating the community about policies needed to reduce poverty
The Colorado campaign is assisting in preparing for the taskforce’s first upcoming meeting by advocating for time for public input, ensuring that the location is accessible, and advertising the meeting in diverse locations. To get involved in the Colorado campaign, contact bridget@9to5.org.
Seven candidates and more than 200 citizens attended the gubernatorial candidates’ forum sponsored by A Minnesota Without Poverty and the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition on Monday, May 14. The candidates in attendance pledged that if elected they would attend a December 9 event planned by A Minnesota Without Poverty. The three partners in Minnesota are following that up by encouraging members to attend candidate forums around the state. A Minnesota Without Poverty has identified seven questions about poverty and opportunity to ask candidates at forums and in other conversations.
