Women and Poverty News
"An ideological battle about abortion is being waged in the Ohio Statehouse as lawmakers consider a bill that would essentially take away federal family planning grants from Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio."
"The data also demonstrate that almost every state experienced a significant drop, and that birthrates declined for teens of all races and ethnicities. But for those of us who have long known that teens who give birth are consigning themselves in most instances to low educational attainment and a life of poverty, it's much too early to break out the Champagne. "
"The Senate’s version keeps Corbett’s most damaging cuts to social services, including the elimination of the General Assistance cash-grant program, some of which goes to very low-income children and domestic-violence victims. It restores some money to social services but retains a new block-grant structure, and keeps an $8 million cut to child care."
"Lumpkin is among 16 single mothers who will celebrate Mother's Day in the new apartments, which opened earlier this year thanks to a $4.75 million fundraising initiative. Buckner officials are raising more money and plan to build more apartments in 2013. Thanks to the new homes, Family Pathways can help more abused women."
"While 10 percent of families in New York are living in poverty, among single mothers, the rate is much higher, with 36.5 percent of single mothers statewide living on low incomes. For these moms, returning to work is often not a choice."
"The Newbury Street-based nonprofit helps poor and homeless women get back on their feet. They expect 200 hundred women to attend their annual Mother's Day brunch tomorrow."
“While the chronically homeless -- those who have been in the county system for more than a year -- remain, ‘they are now outnumbered by those who are new to the system and new to the experience,’ said Gregory Blass, Suffolk County's social services commissioner.”
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Vann Ellison, president and CEO of St. Matthew's House, wants to open a homeless shelter with 62 beds for single women and families off Old 41 Road in Bonita Springs. Once the Bonita Springs shelter opens, Ellison said, the East Naples shelter could serve men only and allow the shelter to free up space for homeless men."
"Clark County's Department of Community Services recently released a report detailing how poverty is affecting the county's residents. Using the American Community Survey, a statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, the report found that 11.6 percent of the county's population lives in poverty, compared with 9 percent in 2000."
"They include a $246,000 annual grant for two years from the Verdant Health Commission, based in Lynnwood, and $386,000 from the county's 1/10th of 1 percent tax to benefit drug, alcohol and mental-health programs. The program is limited to women who are pregnant with their first child. It targets but is not limited to low-income women."
"Textiles were the economic engine of the area until the 1990s, when the industry went into decline and mills shut down. Now one of the region's leading employers is Pilgrim's, a chicken supplier. The median household income is $31,213, and more than a third of children live below the poverty line."
"But it also serves to highlight complicated links between poverty, nutrition, obesity and overall well-being. Insecurity or hunger? 'Those public service announcements come back to haunt me,' said Mark Nord, the USDA sociologist in charge of food insecurity data."
"One of the main ways she gained that sense of worth was by hooking up with the nonprofit Homeless Prenatal Program - as have thousands of other homeless or otherwise impoverished mothers throughout the organization's 22-year history."
"Infant mortality is considered one of the key indicators of a community's well-being. Its leading causes include birth defects, maternal complications of pregnancy, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome. Poverty and lack of access to health care play a large role."
"Stark, D-Fremont, announced he's introducing the Women's Option to Raise Kids (WORK) Act, which would amend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families welfare program to recognize the job of raising children age 3 or younger as work; low-income parents would be able to work, receive job training, search for work or raise their children until they are school-aged without fear of losing TANF support."
"That is a record low for the 65 years that data have been available, and a remarkable 44 percent drop from the 1991 rate. This good shift is largely the result of an increase in teenagers' use of birth control -- a fact that Congressional Republicans ignore as they seek to dismantle reproductive health programs."
"Ohio Right to Life is promoting the amendment to Gov. John Kasich's mid-biennium budget revamp. Gonidakis said there are 290 options available for low-income women and their children, pointing, as an example, to Lower Lights Ministries in Franklinton."
"Study after study has shown that children raised by single mothers face increased risks of emotional, behavioral, academic and social problems. And while there is less data, a study last year showed the children of cohabiting parents are at risk for a broad range of problems, from trouble in school to psychological stress, physical abuse and poverty."
"The number of female veterans has soared since 1990, from 4 percent of all veterans to 8 percent today, or about 1.8 million. How many are homeless is unknown, though a report by the Government Accountability Office in December found that the number who had contact with the V.A. rose to 3,328 in 2010 from 1,380 in 2006."
"As the state prepares to terminate its popular Women's Health Program at the end of the month, more than 130,000 low-income women will be paying for their own family planning services -- or simply going without."
"The state budget bill that deals with the politically volatile issue of Medicaid-funded "medically necessary" abortions for low-income women performed at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City likely will trigger renewed scrutiny on that policy, and a new push to prioritize public funds to health care entities in a way that abortion opponents hope will steer money for women's health and family planning away from agencies like Planned Parenthood."
"The question really ought to be what do we do when individual responsibility is no match for the economic forces that can envelop people as they move toward the desired goals?"
"The increase comes even as the overall homeless veteran population has dropped by nearly 12 percent to about 67,500 between January 2010 and January 2011, officials say."
"Many low-wage women face 'an increasingly common pattern of discrimination' where their employer forces them to take an unpaid leave after learning of her pregnancy, said Sharon Terman, a senior staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Centerin San Francisco."
"Texas has the second-highest birthrate in the nation, and more than 25 percent of those children live in poverty, according to the annual Kids Count survey released Thursday. The number of children in Texas rose by nearly 1 million between 2000 and 2010 and accounted for more than half of the U.S. child population growth."
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