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Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending June 4, 2010)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

The latest news, analysis and opinion on the state of low-income women and their families from Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. This week: Why the governor of one state vetoed a health insurance program for low-income families.  And how losing a job sent one middle class mother and her children into poverty.

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.

Here’s this week’s news:

· The Associated Press reports that Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell will veto expansion of a health insurance program for low-income families because the program pays for abortions.

· The Washington Post profiles Jackelyne Aguilera, one of a half-dozen low-income women, who formerly worked as a domestic servant and is now learning carpentry skills in order to launch a new career.

·Eladia Fonseca proudly flaunts her newly renovated home to the Philadelphia Daily News, telling the paper that the low-income housing complex is no longer a haven for drug and gang activity.

·Newsday interviews Rachel Perales about how she and her four children descended from the middle class into poverty after she was laid off in December 2008.

To learn more about Spotlight visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org

To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity team

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending May 28, 2010)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

The latest news, analysis and opinion on the state of low-income women and their families from Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. This week: How one shelter is using language to help the homeless.  Plus, discrepancies are found in one state’s program that provides mammograms to low-income women.

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.

Here’s this week’s news:

· The Charlotte Observer reports on the opening of The Mothers & Children Housing Ministry, a new facility that will be an emergency and transitional housing program for mothers with pre-adolescent children who are or are about to become homeless.

· An audit of a state program that provides mammograms to low-income women has revealed major discrepancies in the number of cases reported annually, as reported by the Associated Press.

· Spurred by a noticeable increase in domestic abuse of women in Monterey County, the Shelter Outreach Plus non-profit started a Spanish-speaking program that targets Latino domestic violence victims and homeless women, according to the Californian.

· In an op-ed in the Washington Times, Cheryl Wetzstein discusses the findings of a recent study on the effects of marriage support and relationship counseling on low-income, unwed parents, ultimately concluding that only the couples in the Building Strong Families (BSF) program in Oklahoma City saw benefits.

To learn more about Spotlight visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org

To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity team

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Metro_Access_van_Rfc1394In today’s rundown: The shared-ride transit service for elderly and disabled residents could see cutbacks in service and a rate increase.  |  The metro region has been named the fittest in the country.  |  A condom shortage at nonprofits battling HIV and AIDS is being blamed on a city paperwork issue.

— Metro is planning to scale back its service for elderly and disabled people, according to the Washington Post.  MetroAccess, the shared-ride service for people who can’t use standard bus or subway service, will also see tougher eligibility requirements and a possible rate increase.  Metro is facing a $189 million budget gap.  Click here for more.

— The D.C. metro area has been named the fittest in the country by the American College of Sports Medicine’s American Fitness Index.  According to the index 90.2 percent of residents have health insurance and the region has below average rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  Click here to see what else contributed to the rankings.

— Some D.C. nonprofits have been running low on condoms because of “billing issues.”  Advocates say the city — which provides the condoms — has failed to pay a supplier on time.  But the health department said it’s a paperwork issue that will be resolved within days.  Click here for more.

Photo credit: Rfc1394 via Creative Commons

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Medical symbol [credit cogdogblog]In today’s rundown: D.C. could become the first jurisdiction to take advantage of new Medicaid health-care savings.  |  Two Grantee Partners are featured in a story about child trafficking.  |  The National Capital region has the second strongest economy in the country.

–The District has become the first jurisdiction to ask the federal government for permission to add thousands of low-income adults to the Medicaid program as part of the new federal health-care law.  If the request is approved, 35,000 D.C. residents would be switched from a city taxpayer-funded insurance program to the federally funded program.  Click here for more.

— The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area has been named the second strongest local metropolitan economy in the county, despite the economic downturn.  According to POLICOM Corp., this area ranks second only to Seattle.  Click here for the details.

— It is estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk of sex trafficking.  NPR’s Allison Keyes spoke with people from two Women’s Foundation Grantee Partners — The Rebecca Project for Human Rights and FAIR Fund — about the issue.  Click here to listen.

Photo credit: Cogdogblog via Creative Commons.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Purchase CNBC photoIn today’s rundown: How women and men think about retirement.  |  Dating violence on the rise at local colleges.  |  The dividing line between a healthy and not-so-healthy D.C.  |  A local middle school forms an all-girls robotics team with the help of some special mentors.

— Are women more worried about retirement than men?  CNBC posed the question to African American Giving Circle co-chair Donna Purchase and her daughter Deborah.  Click here to watch the story and find out how retirement concerns are affecting them.

— A career fair in D.C. for older workers drew thousands of resume-toting people to Nationals Park Stadium earlier this week.  More than 3,000 showed up for AARP’s “Promoting Yourself at 50+” event.  About half the people at the career fair were under the age of 50.  Click here for more.

— Dating violence is on the rise at local colleges, according to statistics from the FBI and universities in the Washington region.  Five out of eight local universities have seen an increase in sexual assaults.  They’re also reporting an increase in stalking and harassment.  Click here for more.

— The Anacostia River is the dividing line between District residents with poor diets and those with healthy diets.  At a conference earlier this week local officials found that residents living east of the river have access to fewer grocery stores and have a higher rate of obesity.  They also found that women in the District are more likely to be obese than men.  Click here to read more.

— D.C.’s Howard University Middle School has a new all-girls competitive robotics team.  The girls are getting started with help from the SpelBots — the campus robotics team from Spelman College in Atlanta.  Click here for the story.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

In today’s rundown: More than 100 D.C. child welfare workers have been laid off.  |  A controversial stance on female circumcision in the United States.  |  Do women make better doctors?

— More than 100 D.C. child welfare workers have been laid off from their positions at the Child and Family Services Agency.  The cuts were announced at a meeting yesterday.  Click here for more.

— The American Academy of Pediatrics is taking a controversial stance on circumcision rituals performed on girls.  The Academy has suggested that American doctors be given permission to perform a ceremonial “nick” on girls whose families want a circumcision ritual.  The Academy hopes the move will prevent families from sending the girls to other countries for a full circumcision.  Opponents of the idea say there’s no medical reason to perform the procedure and the current ban should be left in place.  Click here for more.

— The New York Times explores which gender makes a better doctor.  Turns out — it depends on the patient.  Click here to find out why.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

In today’s rundown: A new program in D.C. will open 10,000 new bank accounts.  |  President Obama eulogizes Dorothy Height.  |  What the homeless will gain under the new health care reform law.

— A new program in D.C. will help 10,000 residents open new bank accounts.  About 12 percent of D.C. households do not have bank accounts.  Many cash their checks at stores or gas stations that charge high interest rates.  According to WAMU, this results in about $800 a year in fees.  Click here to learn more about the program.

— President Barack Obama eulogized civil rights leader Dorothy Height earlier today, saying that she lived a righteous life and changed the country for the better.  Click here to watch his eulogy and other videos from today’s service.

— Under the new health care reform legislation homeless Americans will have increased access to health care due to an expansion to Medicaid and increased spending on community health centers.  Click here to read more about how health care reform will impact the homeless.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Foot on Soccer Ball [TheBusyBrain]In today’s rundown: Using sports to keep kids out of gangs in Northern Virginia.  The proposed Montgomery County budget hits homeless outreach programs hard.  And health care reform may not have eliminated the practice of “gender ratings.”

— A gang task force officer in Northern Virginia is using soccer to keep local kids out of gangs.  Click here to listen to a report about one of his soccer tournaments held at Northern Virginia Family Services, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner.

–When the Montgomery County budget is finalized next month, homeless outreach programs will likely see some serious reductions in funding due to a $761 million dollar budget shortfall in the county.  One group — Volunteers of America Chesapeake — will likely lose about 40 percent of its budget and could go under.  Click here for more.

— The health care reform bill was “heralded as a way to stop health insurers from charging women higher premiums.  But loopholes still allow ‘gender rating,’ and Lisa M. Codispoti, senior counsel of the National Women’s Law Center, says women’s groups will have to fight them.”  Click here to read Codispoti’s interview with “Women’s E-news.”

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

Medical symbol [credit cogdogblog]In today’s rundown: D.C.’s ahead of the game when it comes to health insurance.  |  An open letter from the Meyer Foundation about the impact of the economy.  |  Letters about eligibility to restore voting rights were accidentally sent to hundreds of felons in Virginia.

— In a report scheduled to be released today, Washington, D.C. officials will announce that 6.2 percent of District residents don’t have health insurance.  That’s less than half the national average.  According to the Washington Post, “the District’s success — all but 3 percent of District children are covered — stems from recent efforts to invest tens of millions of dollars to extend coverage to the uninsured through Medicaid and other locally funded programs.”  These efforts mean that the new federal health-care reform bill will actually save the city money.  Click here for more.

— The Meyer Foundation has posted an open letter on their website explaining how the foundation and their grantmaking efforts are being affected by the economy.  Click here to read the letter.

— Letters that went out to over 200 felons in Virginia telling them that they had to write a personal letter to the Governor to get their voting rights restored were sent out by mistake.  A spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell said that the potential requirement is a “draft policy proposal,” and the letters were sent by a staffer who did not have approval to release them.  Yesterday, the Washington Post compared the requirements to the Jim Crow laws.  Click here for more.

— And don’t forget to vote in the 2010 Leadership Awards online vote!  The nonprofit of your choice could win $5,000!

Photo credit: Cogdogblog via Creative Commons

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Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending April 2, 2010)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

Pregnant Woman_WSJThe latest news, analysis and opinion on the state of low-income women and their families from Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity.  This week: Why extreme poverty can lead to pregnancy problems…. Plus, cuts could be made to a monthly stipend that former Florida foster children depend on.

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.

Here’s this week’s news:

  • The Wall Street Journal reports that women facing difficult circumstances and stress, including extreme poverty, have a higher risk of problems during pregnancy.
  • The Los Angeles Times interviews several low-income immigrant women who miscarried or gave birth to children with birth defects, problems that they attribute to a nearby polluted dump in rural Kettlemen City.
  • The South Florida Sun-Sentinel profiles 21-year-old student Tamarra Lestage.  Lestage would be homeless if not for a monthly stipend given to former foster children, a program which may be cut due to Florida’s budget crunch.
  • The Portland Press Herald highlights the opening of Florence House, a $7.9 million facility that will house 40 homeless women in apartments or semi-private bedrooms.
  • Seven months after being fired from the Hyatt in Boston, Lucine Williams and almost 60 other mostly female former housekeepers still struggle to find work, according to the Boston Globe.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.”  It’s a section of the Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.  Along with these daily updates, continue to visit Washington Area Women’s Foundation for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.  To learn more about Spotlight visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Photo credit: Stephen Maturen for the Wall Street Journal