Washington Area Women's Foundation

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending August 21, 2009)

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• Wealthy women, dubbed “new-style philanthropists” in a New York Times article, are powering the national and global women’s movement by donating to poor and low-income women rather than the arts.

• Fifty years old and homeless, Renae Maureen Lettiere was killed by a hit and run driver in Dania Beach, Florida, as published in the Miami Herald.

• Highlighting the story of a teenage girl named Carina who was exposed to deadly pesticides while waiting for her school bus, the Los Angeles Times reports on how harmful chemicals used by corporate agribusiness are affecting minority families living in southern California.

• A high percentage of low-income teenagers between the ages of 11 and 16 are sexually active, according to a study discussed in the Chicago Sun Times. The study also cited that children with educated mothers are less likely to have sex at a young age.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  

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The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.