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"Other programs recommended by the plan involve community building efforts, such as connecting different generations in communal projects and cultural events, linking youths with positive peer groups and sponsoring social activities in areas with the highest concentration of social welfare case loads and community violence. The plan also envisions engaging businesses in economic rehabilitation of neighborhoods and providing living-wage jobs for community residents."

"The Southbridge schools are participating in a federal government-sponsored universal meal program called the Community Eligibility Provision, the latest opportunity for schools with high percentages of low-income children to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. Qualifying schools must have at least 40 percent of their students either in foster care, Head Start, or are confirmed as homeless, migrant or living in households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash assistance, or Food Distribution on Indian Reservation benefits. The meals program is a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and it was phased in by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over three years."

"The rising percentage of Kansas children who receive free or reduced-price lunches at school is a genuine trend linked to poverty, not a ploy to boost school funding, the Kansas Association of School Boards said Monday. In an eight-page report, the association's researchers analyzed the increase in Kansas schools of children who qualify for free or reduced lunch based on family incomes."

"The students -- largely low income and minority -- face a serious obstacle once they set foot on the community college campus. Many score poorly on Accuplacer, the national English-and-math placement exam given by most community college, and are therefore forced to spend precious time and money in remedial classes. Students often run short on funds and patience and wind up living school without the requisite degree or skills."

"A series of federal surveys of selective colleges found virtually no change from the 1990s to 2012 in enrollment of students who are less well off less than 15 percent by some measures even though there was a huge increase over that time in the number of such students going to college. Similar studies looking at a narrower range of top wealthy universities back those findings. With race-based affirmative action losing both judicial and public support, many have urged selective colleges to shift more focus to economic diversity."

"A potentially game-ending crisis for our nation is the growing number of people dependent on welfare - now at epidemic levels. The Census Bureau reports that in 2012, nearly 110 million Americans lived in a household that received some sort of means-tested aid. A whopping 35 percent of our population is on welfare. These figures don't include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment or veterans benefits.It does include 82 million people on Medicaid, with an additional 9 million expected to enroll this year due to Obamacare. In 2000, there were only 17 million people with EBT cards. That's up to 51 million now - 300 percent larger. Then there are 22 million on WIC; 13 million in public housing; 20 million on supplemental security income; 5 million on temporary assistance for needy families; and 4 million with other forms of tax-funded assistance."

"New data on federal public assistance programs show we've reached an ignominious milestone: More than 100 million Americans are getting some form of means-tested" welfare assistance. The Census Bureau found 51 million on food stamps at the end of 2012 and 83 million on Medicaid, with tens of millions of households getting both. Another 4 million were on unemployment insurance. The percentage of American households on welfare has reached 35%. If we include other forms of government assistance such as Medicare and Social Security, almost half of all households are getting a check or other form of government assistance."

"Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer has filed a lawsuit accusing Glendale Adventist Medical Center of dumping mentally ill and disabled homeless patients on L.A.'s skid row over the last four years. The six-page complaint, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, said the hospital improperly transported elderly and dependent patients to the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood, a 50-block area known for extreme poverty, homelessness, rampant sale and use of illegal drugs and violent crime.'"

"Think for a moment what would happen if a wealthy, four-year university suddenly announced its decision to give back to the community around it, and to voluntarily pay even a part of its would-be full tax payments to the city. Think what would happen if that university decided to do this without raising tuition, at least more than the amount by which tuition already rises per year. Think what would happen if the school demanded that the money be used to rebuild and improve poverty-stricken areas."

"The state's effort to rein in Medicaid costs has created deep friction between small businesses that deliver behavioral-health services to Medicaid patients and a new contractor hired to manage them. Service providers across Idaho have raised complaints over the last 11 months that the contractor, Optum Idaho, a unit of United Behavioral Health, has created red tape and cut services needed by at-risk patients. Now providers in the Treasure Valley have raised another complaint: Optum isn't paying them promptly, putting their businesses' survival and employees' jobs at risk. Optum says it has fixed a glitch that resulted in tiny claims payments to the companies, which provide counseling and other behavioral health services to low-income and disabled adults and children on Medicaid."

"This year, more college students will experience food insecurity - the lack of ability to find or afford nutritious food - than ever before. This trend has much more serious consequences than you may think. A study published in the January 2014 edition of the "Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior" found that nearly 60 percent of students at a midsized university were threatened with food insecurity sometime during the previous year, and that figure is only expected to grow. In fact, college students are four times more likely to experience this concern when compared to all U.S. households, although this problem has received scarcely any attention targeted toward the college demographic."

"The Head Start program has been around since 1965, but its history in Pinellas County has some gaps. This school year, however, the program is back and hoping to expand. After two years on hiatus, Head Start and Early Head Start are operating in 15 centers throughout the county, with hundreds of children on waiting lists. The federal programs provide education, child care and health services for low-income families."