It’s great to be on Nuns on the Bus (NOTB) back home in the heartland of Iowa. Day one was powerful. The sun on the golden dome of the Capitol in Des Moines with the bus in the foreground served as the backdrop for the stage where Sister Simone Campbell, executive director…
Archives: Voices
New Census Data Confirms Too Many Are Still Stuck in Poverty
With the Census Bureau’s release of 2013 income, poverty, and health insurance coverage data this morning, and it’s been a flurry of activity at CHN and in the wider human needs arena all day. CHN’s Deborah Weinstein released a statement noting that, while poverty did decline from 2012 to 2013, the…
Are You Ready to Use the Census Bureau’s Newest Poverty Data?
On September 16 and 18, the Census Bureau will release 2013 findings from national income and poverty data and the American Community Survey, respectively. Get prepared for the newest release of Census poverty data on September 11 with CHN’s annual webinar training, The New Poverty Data: Using it to Show What Works (and What Doesn’t)…
Fact of the Week: One in Seven U.S. Households Is Food Insecure
More than 17.5 million American households had trouble providing adequate food for everyone in their family at some point in 2013, according to new data released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service. Despite being one more year out of a recession that officially ended in 2009, the percentage…
Head Smacker: Taking Blaming the Victim to New Lows
Central American Children Seek Refuge from Violence;Some in Congress Say The Children are the Threat Children fleeing Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have been streaming into the U.S. and other nearby nations. Some members of Congress who oppose funding services for them have simply wanted to deny children entry and…
How We Should Really Honor Labor Day
For many of us who are lucky enough to have full-time jobs and paid holidays, Labor Day usually means a 3-day weekend, one last chance to go to the beach before summer ends, getting the kids ready for the new school year, or a barbeque with friends. In short, a…
Fact of the Week: 1 in 7 Americans Rely on Food Pantries
More than 46 million Americans, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors, rely on food pantries and meal programs to feed themselves and their families, according to a study released last week by Feeding America. That’s 1 in 7 people in the U.S. Hunger in America, the study produced…
Head Smacker: Corporations Change Citizenship to Avoid Paying Their Fair Share
Corporate inversion has been all over the news lately. It’s the process by which American corporations renounce their U.S. “citizenship” and, often by buying a smaller company overseas, incorporate in a foreign country, without much change in its operations. This allows these companies to get all the benefits of being…
Fact of the Week: Millions of Part-time Workers are Still Looking for Full-time Work
“Vicki Lira lost her full-time job of 20 years when the printing plant she worked in shut down in 2006. Then she lost a job processing mortgage applications when the housing market crashed. Vicki faced some very difficult years. At times she was homeless. Today she enjoys her part-time job…
When Enough Gets to be Enough
{Editor’s note: We at CHN, like so many nationwide, are dismayed by the violence taking place in Ferguson and want to share the perspectives of people like Tamika Middleton who are taking action. We welcome comments and additional posts.} On Monday night, thousands of people marched through downtown Atlanta in the…
Unemployment Insurance: A 79-Year Old Promise to American Workers That Needs Renewing
This post was originally published on the Center for Effective Government’s blog on August 14. “What was the New Deal?…It was, I think, basically an attitude…that found voice in expressions like ‘the people are what matter to government,’ and ‘a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the…
Help Create Hunger-free Schools with Community Eligibility
The start of this school year marks the first time that schools in every state will be able to offer the Community Eligibility Provision, a new program that aims to give all students in high poverty schools access to the proper nutrition to learn and thrive. Community eligibility allows schools with…