tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32487635972371986592024-03-14T02:11:36.903-07:00Poor People's United Fund's Voice TodayPPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-75210947699051154002019-07-31T05:06:00.000-07:002019-07-31T05:06:31.059-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>President Trump Wants To Cut Food Stamps (SNAP)</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The administration is painting a program that has successfully fed hungry children, seniors and disabled people as rife with fraud. Don't believe it! SNAP is actually on of the most efficiently run programs in the country. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #636363; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif;">"In trying to make a case for the proposal, the Administration argues that states are approving households for SNAP under BBCE without checking their incomes or assessing their need for food assistance. The claim is incorrect. To receive SNAP, </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #636363; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif; margin: 0px;">all</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #636363; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif;"> households, including those eligible under BBCE, must apply, be interviewed, and document that their monthly income and expenses, such as high housing and child care costs, leave them with too little disposable income to afford a basic, adequate diet. Indeed, the Department of Agriculture’s own data show that only about </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #636363; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif; margin: 0px;">0.2 percent</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #636363; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif;"> of SNAP benefits went in 2017 to households with monthly disposable incomes — net income after deducting certain expenses like high housing and child care costs — above the poverty line. SNAP has some of the most rigorous program integrity standards and systems of any federal program." (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)</span></span><br />
<a href="https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/misguided-trump-administration-rule-would-take-basic-food-assistance-from-working">https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/misguided-trump-administration-rule-would-take-basic-food-assistance-from-working</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">People do not stay on this program for a life time. A few months to a few years is the usual profile. See this article in the LA Times.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-07-23/trump-food-stamp-cuts">https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-07-23/trump-food-stamp-cuts</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Cutting food stamps is one of Pres. Trump's methods of getting the money he needs to give a 1.5 trillion dollar break to wealthy people and corporations. The administration is willing to literally take food out of people's mouths. Shameful.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-18492211806906513952018-09-19T07:38:00.000-07:002018-09-19T07:41:59.993-07:00Dedication of Kip Tiernan Memorial- Copley Sq<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFW1Pl5h-zCl_nWhzi7vBX8jL632A_MxFa6t3VpwKB5UkxT9ixzvIimHcBGHKLpV2TEvA26o27OmBkwC4XQE7ISUmx007tePeak_5glB8pgPAcXMU3TUxIP_p2yf9f-6A1Ama75PpZXpG/s1600/KIP+announce-1J+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1311" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFW1Pl5h-zCl_nWhzi7vBX8jL632A_MxFa6t3VpwKB5UkxT9ixzvIimHcBGHKLpV2TEvA26o27OmBkwC4XQE7ISUmx007tePeak_5glB8pgPAcXMU3TUxIP_p2yf9f-6A1Ama75PpZXpG/s640/KIP+announce-1J+page.jpg" width="524" /></a></div>
<br />PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-41147822831736000642018-06-11T06:02:00.000-07:002018-06-11T06:02:49.900-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Twenty- five years </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">since </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sandra Storey & Georgia Mattison published</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h2 class="a-size-medium s-inline s-access-title a-text-normal" data-attribute="Women in Citizen Advocacy: Stories of 28 Shapers of Public Policy" data-max-rows="0" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-weight: 400 !important; line-height: 1.255 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-transform: none !important;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Georgia-Mattison/e/B001KMMII4">Women in Citizen Advocacy: Stories of 28 Shapers of Public Policy</a></span></i></div>
</h2>
<a class="a-link-normal s-access-detail-page s-color-twister-title-link a-text-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/Women-Citizen-Advocacy-Stories-Shapers/dp/089950700X/ref=la_B001KMMII4_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1528721577&sr=1-1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Women in Citizen Advocacy: Stories of 28 Shapers of Public Policy"></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIc3VgfVEUX0emx-YDl7cJX7KWLuyHm-qblFKScu9fDG30fauJqOPKj5ZfTmUACVfD-lHuJWxXpWx_Z3VgGG-2PjWIjhxMtmTsaiW_ZUEmZNvTpze6PnXFtqGJeT-sscRDAW3qh-l9ZJU/s1600/Sandy+%2526+Georgia.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIc3VgfVEUX0emx-YDl7cJX7KWLuyHm-qblFKScu9fDG30fauJqOPKj5ZfTmUACVfD-lHuJWxXpWx_Z3VgGG-2PjWIjhxMtmTsaiW_ZUEmZNvTpze6PnXFtqGJeT-sscRDAW3qh-l9ZJU/s320/Sandy+%2526+Georgia.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-24580755408429754262018-05-02T04:12:00.000-07:002018-05-02T04:12:26.687-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Read JP Gazette Article by Sandra Storey</b></span><br />
<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 36px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 38px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
MA legislature asked to </h1>
<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 36px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 38px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
“Lift the Cap on Kids”</h1>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Right now there are about 8,700 children and families in Massachusetts—1,400 in Boston—who are suffering because of an outdated provision in state law based on myth rather than actuality."</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/2018/04/27/jp-observer-ma-legislature-asked-to-lift-the-cap-on-kids/">Read more...</a></i></span></span>PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-52236655974992687782018-04-10T04:56:00.002-07:002018-04-10T04:56:56.462-07:00<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Read this report-from Mass Law Reform Institute</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Denying Food and Shaming Children: Unpaid School Meal Policies in
Massachusetts</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">"When a child has no money in his/her meal account and no money in hand to pay, school districts use various
practices which are, presumably, intended to shame the parents but that actually humiliate and punish the
child. These include: dumping a child’s lunch tray into the trash and instead serving a cheap sandwich in place
of the hot meal; prohibiting students from participating in any school related extracurricular activities
(sports, field trips, plays); withholding report cards or other documents from the family; and other practices
involving children in the pursuit of debt, which may well violate Massachusetts Debt Collection laws. School
meal debt—something a child has no control over—becomes a badge of shame that unnecessarily creates a
stigma with peers and undermines academic achievement. Meal shaming punishes a child whose family may
be facing significant economic challenges and hardships."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Link to full report </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.mlri.org/uploads/48/1f/481f9f9228712df0601b29be77ad90dc/MLRI-School-Meal-Debt-Report-March-2018.pdf">http://www.mlri.org/uploads/48/1f/481f9f9228712df0601b29be77ad90dc/MLRI-School-Meal-Debt-Report-March-2018.pdf</a></span>PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-77354648237391071312018-01-05T08:34:00.000-08:002018-01-05T08:34:25.711-08:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 28.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.75pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(A big Thank You to the JP Gazette and Sandra Story</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> for permission </span></i><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">to reprint this article.)</span></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 28.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.75pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 27pt;">JP Observer: Speech is money: It’s OK to
voice opinions to other legislators in D.C.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt;">
<i><span style="color: #888888; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">December 22, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">By <a href="http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/author/sandra-storey/" title="Posts by Sandra Storey"><span style="color: #205b87; text-decoration-line: none;">Sandra Storey</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">A
record-breaking number of people contacted Washington with their opinions
during the first two months this year, according to an article in the March 6
New Yorker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Members
of Congress claim that, Senate-wide, the call volume for the week of Jan. 30,
2017, more than doubled the previous record; on average, during that week, the
Senate got 1.5 million calls a day,” the article reported. “Three of those
days—Jan. 31, Feb. 1, and Feb. 2—were the busiest in the history of the Capitol
switchboard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Analysts
say advocacy groups urge members to contact Congress, but people seem to be
organically driven by the news to express themselves these days, as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Contact
your senator/representative right away and urge them to [fill in the blank],”
is a common request. Since Republican Donald Trump became president last
January accompanied by a majority Republican House and Senate, many liberal
solicitations urge people to express their dislike of a piece of legislation,
regulation, or nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Up
to now, it has been commonly accepted by pretty much everyone that people
should only contact their own senators (two per state) and representative (one
from the district where the person lives) about national issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">It’s
strangely disappointing for those of us in Jamaica Plain to hear all the ways
the tax bill is terrible, for example, and then be exhorted to call our federal
elected officials. At first, it’s like, “Yeah I’m going to do that! This bill
needs to be defeated!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Then
we remember, all three of our federal legislators have said they hate the tax
bill and all the other radical Trump proposals. They may have already even
voted against them, too. Darn. Nobody for us to contact after all, except to
thank our local senators and representative one more time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">It
happens to liberals here and in other blue states and cities again and again.
Probably to conservatives in conservative states, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Speaking
at a benefit for Health Law Advocates in Boston in 2015, Sen. Elizabeth Warren
pointed out the positive voting record of Massachusetts Congress people on
health care issues. She encouraged people to contact friends and relatives in
other states to ask them to talk to their federal elected representatives about
important issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Even
that can be frustrating when we realize we don’t have friends or relatives in
red states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Modern
information technology and social media are bringing people of different
regions of this country together nowadays like never before. Decisions made at
the federal level affect millions of us, and everyone is more aware of that.
Jamaica Plain people love to discuss, learn about, and take action on nation
issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
informal prohibition against contacting federal legislators in other parts of
the country feels outdated, clumsy and unnatural, and needs to be ignored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Earlier
this month I was calling Republicans identified as possibly open to voting no
on the tax bill. I very politely suggested that the bill was too radical and
gave just a couple of brief examples usually on voice mail, but occasionally to
a staff person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I
came across several ways the officials in Washington D.C. deal with the
location of their callers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Many
senators and representatives are subtle, since there are no official rules. A
recording or person simply asks callers who want to express their opinions to
leave their ZIP Code or address. The intimidating implication is that you
should say nothing and hang up if you don’t have a “correct” one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Some
recordings and statements are more direct. The voice of Sen. Todd Young of
Indiana says, “Hoosiers wishing to leave their thoughts or opinions on
legislation or a confirmation in the US Senate, press one.” No choice was
offered for non-Hoosiers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">A
recording by a senator from Oregon says he would like to hear from
“Oregonians.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">People
who sounded like young staff assistants or interns answered the phone at three
representatives’ offices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">A
staffer at one office asked me for my ZIP Code and then said, “Thank you for
calling.” I asked, “Are you going to pass on my comment?” He said snippily,
“Thank you for calling.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">So
I was happily surprised when aides in two other offices asked my ZIP Code at
the end of the call, but then said firmly and somewhat enthusiastically, it
seemed, “I will pass on what you said to the representative.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">An
inexplicable recording of several verses of “Hail to the Chief” played while I
was on hold for staff of one senator. It was then I had an epiphany. And it
welled up from a Citizens United source, of all places. (Maybe it was the
influence of all the Republicans I was calling.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Money is speech.</span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">And
it occurred to me that all of us should feel free to call any federal elected
official we see fit, and not just because their decisions affect all of us,
which is the best reason. And not just so they can hear from regular US people
who might have a fresh view on issues, though that’s good, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">As
long as elected officials take campaign contributions from outside their
districts, those officials can and should consider thoughts and opinions from
people around the country, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">If
money gets treated the same as speech, (US Supreme Court, Jan. 2010) then
speech has to be treated the same as money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I
am about to make some more calls to Republicans from around the country, asking
them to vote no on the tax bill that came out of the conference committee. I
plan to proudly say I am a Bay Stater this time. (I may also tell them who a
Bay Stater is, since most people don’t know, I read recently.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Then,
for the ones who limit whose opinions they want to hear to people in their
districts, I will remind them of those donations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">None
of us should feel intimidated about calling any elected legislator’s office in
Washington. Everyone should be encouraged to contact senators and
representatives of either party and any state in the US in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">There
will be more important, heinous bills, regulations and appointments to oppose,
no doubt. And maybe, if 2018 elections make a positive difference, there will
be those we want to support.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sandra Storey is founder and former publisher and editor of the
Jamaica Plain Gazette.</span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-11990080478876753152017-10-12T09:30:00.000-07:002017-10-12T09:30:37.812-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">PPUF encourages your attendance at the wonderful Lift the Cap on Kids Cap and Mittens Event to be held at the MA State House Members Lounge on Thursday, October 26, 2017 from 11:30am-12:30pm. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">This worthy event brings into sharp relief the burdensome ‘Family Cap’, which imposes a strict reduction in welfare benefits for the most vulnerable, children. Join us in protesting this severe restriction fortified with caps and mittens to benefit low-income families and to ‘lift the cap’ on the sweetest among us!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWH8voSfWLXwNos__cNp3McTBg6PLqoUXJR5ZTWCl9ziNvpjI108Y46vHaOzbF9hleLyNidULp_Vm1H3JtwUGlNNDISFHd8lELojiYiK7JYVXOedAGQ9rq9T3c5c4R0aQjZZzM3u9yo6N/s1600/lift+the+cap+2017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="642" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWH8voSfWLXwNos__cNp3McTBg6PLqoUXJR5ZTWCl9ziNvpjI108Y46vHaOzbF9hleLyNidULp_Vm1H3JtwUGlNNDISFHd8lELojiYiK7JYVXOedAGQ9rq9T3c5c4R0aQjZZzM3u9yo6N/s640/lift+the+cap+2017.png" width="486" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-35917922660811054162017-10-04T03:40:00.001-07:002017-10-04T03:40:42.085-07:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">Book Review: <u><i>Evicted</i> </u>by Matthew Desmond</span></b><br />
<i>(Review by Margaret Rhodes)</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his important, recent book, <i>Evicted</i>, Matthew Desmond
provides a devastating appraisal of the U.S. housing crisis. He follows eight families in Milwaukee as
they move from one dilapidated apartment to the next, and then finally to
homelessness. On average, tenants spend 60 or 70 percent of their income on housing,
with little leftover for other expenses.
Inevitably they fall behind on rent, often resulting in an
eviction. After an eviction, landlords
are less willing to accept tenants, forcing them into worse neighborhoods where
landlords are less choosy and apartments in worse repair. Families find it even
harder, with fewer landlords accepting children. Desmond found that one in
eight renters in Milwaukee experienced at least one forced move. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The personal stories Desmond relates are filled with misfortune,
often stretching back generations, misfortune fueled by poverty. Through the stories Desmond ably conveys the
stress of facing homelessness and hunger, the sadness of not being able to give
your children what they need, as well as the incredible resilience and often
resourcefulness that his subjects demonstrate. As Desmond points out in the
conclusion, home gives us our sense of safety and well-being. For most of us in
stable housing, it is a refuge from the rebuffs of society. It is where we find
community, have time with our children, heal from the rebuffs of daily life. When your housing keeps changing or is taken
from you, it is a traumatic experience, sometimes resulting in your furniture
being piled on a sidewalk outside. It can mean sudden changes in your
children’s schooling, food stamps not being sent to the correct address, and of
the community supports that are found in a stable neighborhood. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We already know these stories, but Desmond focuses our
attention on how the private housing market, with its often exploitative rents,
has become a key factor in families’ slide into extreme poverty. At times he
argues that it is the central cause: he states that the problems endemic to
poverty “…stem from the lack of affordable housing in our cities.” (333) This
overstates what he has shown, but still he is making an important point, backed
up by the eight tenants he follows and the statistical evidence he presents.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Equally important, although he paints a grim picture of
eviction, he does not view the problem as hopeless. He argues in the conclusion
that the suffering he has pictured throughout the book is unnecessary.. One of
the biggest problems to a solution, according to Desmond, is the exploitative
rental practices in the private housing market. Apartment prices are often
increased in areas where tenants have little choice, and since housing is
scarce in many cities, landlords can charge what they want. Desmond suggests
that the solution does not reside in more public housing, but in making
available a housing voucher for any poor family. He suggests ways to monitor
its use, so that neither tenant nor landlord can use it exploitatively. He also
argues for legal representation for any poor tenant facing eviction. A legal program in the South Bronx for poor
families that ran from 2005-8 prevented eviction in 86% of the cases (1300
altogether.) It cost $450.000. but saved the city more than $700,000 in
estimated shelter costs.. Solutions are possible, but they depend on our
acceptance of housing as a basic right and a public willingness to bear the
cost.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his final section, “About this project,” Desmond
addresses some of the problems and challenges of doing this sort of
ethnographic work. He raises the question of his exploitation of those he has
interviewed, though he does not address it fully, beyond expressing his
gratitude and guilt and detailing a few ways he tried to help those whose lives
he was documenting. He does not discuss
the ethical issues he confronted, leaving me wondering about them. What sort of
permission did he obtain from each of them? Did he show what he had written to
them before he published it? What sort of responsibility does he feel towards
them now? I wish he had said more in answer to these questions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The book is an important one, and his affection for those he
interviewed shines through, as well as his outrage that so many in our society
are forced to live this way. Read it. <o:p></o:p></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-45500624854244600002017-07-25T05:21:00.000-07:002017-07-25T05:21:15.300-07:00<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><u style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Defending Medicaid: A National Village</b></u></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b>PPUF has been part of a National Coalition to Fight the $8 Billion in Medicaid cuts in the Congressional Health Care bill since last January. The bill would change Medicaid into a state block grant much like the Welfare Block grant in 1996. By 2026 Medicaid would be swiftly disappearing as an entitlement program as Welfare has by now virtually disappeared.(<a href="https://youtu.be/MqOaSpoIehw">See PPUF video, the danger of Block Grants</a>) </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b> Because cuts to Medicaid will hurt poor people. the elderly and disabled, PPUF has been attending frequent webinars with The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities CBPP to coordinate national strategy based on the proposed health care bill. Protests have been organized around the country especially at town hall meetings. </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b>Since Massachusetts has a solid delegation of Democrats against the Repeal and Replace Bill, we have supported our Republican Governor Charlie Baker on his work in the National Governors Association against this bill. </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b>We have contacted Republican Governors and Senators in States that would lose the most in Medicaid coverage. These states voted for Donald Trump. Millions of Trump's voters would lose their Medicaid coverage. </b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><b>The strategy was to talk about that ALL states would be devastated by these catastrophic cuts. It was a strategy that has so far kept congress from completing it's passage when it was expected to be finished in January. There is one more possible chance of a vote in the Senate this week. Whatever the outcome there are many back-up strategies to delay the bill until the August recess. </b></span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-43047668103155608752017-05-22T07:42:00.000-07:002017-05-22T07:42:17.274-07:00<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-size: x-large;">May 17, 2017- </b><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Women Telling MA Legislators </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>How The Cap on Kids Impacted Their Families </b></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCvMPHwh6YKzfsjh7fN23C14LX_bMNR76Q7qitsXLQxzvMZ-vkL9g7a_Wl1tiJtevoQlTQNXLG_kdXTziBeZcYFmp14e5WAytSWkd9sOfpV7ojQQFqdTUkej3-oAcbJyq2DtOYxf-DOTY/s1600/lift+cap+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCvMPHwh6YKzfsjh7fN23C14LX_bMNR76Q7qitsXLQxzvMZ-vkL9g7a_Wl1tiJtevoQlTQNXLG_kdXTziBeZcYFmp14e5WAytSWkd9sOfpV7ojQQFqdTUkej3-oAcbJyq2DtOYxf-DOTY/s320/lift+cap+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">More Information on the CAP on Kids...</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://news.wgbh.org/2017/05/18/politics-government/cap-kids-cruel-massachusetts-should-lift-it">http://news.wgbh.org/2017/05/18/politics-government/cap-kids-cruel-massachusetts-should-lift-it</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">&</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/05/13/welfare-cap-laughable-and-cruel/lztLIyF7rOq6PnKgP5P1AM/story.html">https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/05/13/welfare-cap-laughable-and-cruel/lztLIyF7rOq6PnKgP5P1AM/story.html</a></span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-34615228121533925922017-05-22T07:03:00.000-07:002017-05-22T07:03:21.292-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Thinking About Basic Income...</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Bootstrap Documentaries</u> has a series of videos that present people talking about what providing a basic income could do for us.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Here is a link to the first in the series. Check it out!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWFwmmWVCNo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWFwmmWVCNo</a></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-75118424029825468372017-05-09T08:42:00.000-07:002017-05-09T08:42:28.722-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Reliable Information on Health Care Bill</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b>House Bill cuts assistance for low and moderate income people </b><b>while cutting taxes for wealthy and medical industries.</b></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Check out this link....</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.cbpp.org/blog/house-aca-repeal-bill-would-be-largest-robin-hood-in-reverse-transfer-in-modern-us-history">http://www.cbpp.org/blog/house-aca-repeal-bill-would-be-largest-robin-hood-in-reverse-transfer-in-modern-us-history</a></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-29333385411984364622017-03-01T06:04:00.000-08:002017-03-01T06:04:22.004-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hAuSAHzjY4AXWbt8-5dE0xciDlkReL8h89RUKiN9eaIUxAgKVbgfGteCwcrjDk-P_TjB0fCYhQ3D4gJxeikZlLMhDgUBC6E4YoM0Q7C1YYaxSU0kts1DF7HR0lajwPQIP5vT4nokXCxR/s1600/j0422831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hAuSAHzjY4AXWbt8-5dE0xciDlkReL8h89RUKiN9eaIUxAgKVbgfGteCwcrjDk-P_TjB0fCYhQ3D4gJxeikZlLMhDgUBC6E4YoM0Q7C1YYaxSU0kts1DF7HR0lajwPQIP5vT4nokXCxR/s200/j0422831.jpg" width="160" /></a>
<li><b><span style="font-size: large;">Problems Changing Entitlement Programs Like </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: large;">Food Stamps to Block Grants</span></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Get more info on this issue from <i>Center on Budget and Policy Priorities</i> at </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://www.cbpp.org/the-problems-with-block-granting-entitlement-programs">http://www.cbpp.org/the-problems-with-block-granting-entitlement-programs</a></b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">State by State Impact of a Repeal of the</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-size: x-large;">Affordable Care Act</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">Get more info from <i>Center on Budget and Policy Priorities</i> at</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.cbpp.org/research/health/impact-of-affordable-care-act-repeal">http://www.cbpp.org/research/health/impact-of-affordable-care-act-repeal</a></b></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-46446728605081730232017-02-06T06:22:00.000-08:002017-02-06T06:22:17.626-08:00<div class="caps" id="prttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><u>FOOD INSECURITY</u><br /><br />Housing and Urban Development Report</span></div>
<div class="caps" id="prttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="caps" id="prttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">RENTERS MORE LIKELY TO BE FOOD INSECURE THAN HOMEOWNERS</span></div>
<div id="prsubttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">New American Housing Survey Statistics Provide Insight on U.S. Food Insecurity, Housing and<br />Neighborhood Topics </span></div>
<div id="prsubttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div id="prsubttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;">"<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first time in its 42-year history, the American Housing Survey included questions on food security status, which allowed HUD to assign households a “food security status” score. Using these categories, about 10.5 million occupied households were classified as having “low” or “very low” food security, which is commonly known as being “food insecure.” "</span></span></div>
<div id="prsubttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div id="prsubttl" style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div id="prsubttl" style="font-stretch: normal; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #3a3636; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2016/HUDNo_16-178" style="background-color: white;">https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2016/HUDNo_16-178</a></i></span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-80811085799819599902017-01-30T04:54:00.001-08:002017-01-30T04:54:34.486-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Thought for the day...</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">"Social justice does not come from good intentions or
noble theology, but rather from the development of social policy, which will
change the distribution of power and goods, as well as access to political
decision-making. Prophetic hope means that people like you and me can make a
difference. And the pilgrimage of faith and the journey to justice must be made
in the company of others. I personally believe that people are basically good
and caring. I must believe that. But we have been sadly misinformed for too
long by those who would divide us and make us alienated from each other. When
we learn once again to stand together, in unity, we will arrive at a proper
ethic and moral principle.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> "</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">(Kip Tiernan)</span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-14471763741043262402017-01-02T09:19:00.000-08:002017-01-02T09:19:13.744-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBCCPitzqP0dy5ToG-BiUBRwBMRFyeLJk0Y-x9mDLc2ME6-pZ4jHZhFyBSyeBGl0GGBPJToLEwNq2kc_M_PwZSSAzf4S7urh8i-3SMD1suzEKHZn-cI4nIOxCR8x9BVP7CkDgIkBOef_C/s1600/women%2527s+march+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBCCPitzqP0dy5ToG-BiUBRwBMRFyeLJk0Y-x9mDLc2ME6-pZ4jHZhFyBSyeBGl0GGBPJToLEwNq2kc_M_PwZSSAzf4S7urh8i-3SMD1suzEKHZn-cI4nIOxCR8x9BVP7CkDgIkBOef_C/s640/women%2527s+march+2017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<h4>
<br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">On January 21, 2017, we will unite in Boston to march in solidarity with communities most affected by the hate, intolerance and acts of violence being perpetrated throughout the nation -- among many are communities of women, immigrants, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQIA and people with disabilities. </span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">We stand for religious freedom, human rights, climate </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">justice, racial justice, economic justice and reproductive justice. Together, we will send a message to our leaders and the world that the United States of America stands for values of human decency, equal rights and freedom from discrimination.</span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">ALL ARE WELCOME. This is a march for all of us. Our goal is that on the day after the Inauguration, people from Massachusetts and hundreds of thousands of Americans from other cities, towns and schools across the nation will march together.</span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Please sign up on Facebook and share with all your friends and family.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">*If you know people interested in marching in other communities across the country, please refer them to our national page: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/wmfa2017/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>wmfa2017/</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4b4f56; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">If you can: DONATE the money you would have spent going to DC- to non-profits and organizations that are working to better the lives of women and their allies.</span></span></h4>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-60495532363753530602016-12-15T11:01:00.001-08:002016-12-15T11:02:02.898-08:00Homeless Person Interfaith Memorial<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="No automatic alt text available." src="https://scontent.fbos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15492521_1161178917269332_4772110827912091010_n.jpg?oh=dcc498ed63f7cb6905823647c08e65c3&oe=58F9B61F" /></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-21339608155940839592016-12-02T11:39:00.001-08:002016-12-02T11:42:01.902-08:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>What the heck is a Block Grant </b></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>and why are they sometimes not a good idea?</b></h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "postoniwide" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 56px; font-weight: bold; word-spacing: -1.12px;">Block granting SNAP </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "postoniwide" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 56px; font-weight: bold; word-spacing: -1.12px;">(food stamps) would break a crucial anti-poverty program</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNcM0k4sdU8ombPC-kTso4968ZQyE6qJF8HybqImFlPO23E5BVpVUZvleAJ_4-Hx1HpqRzsVwcgSlzcPnAxqdXJI-SR8z3PFiuIgYL2t6QBEVy92s-Ft498Yj6xhc1hdMQ2-NWePfOqun/s1600/graphic-incentive2167.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNcM0k4sdU8ombPC-kTso4968ZQyE6qJF8HybqImFlPO23E5BVpVUZvleAJ_4-Hx1HpqRzsVwcgSlzcPnAxqdXJI-SR8z3PFiuIgYL2t6QBEVy92s-Ft498Yj6xhc1hdMQ2-NWePfOqun/s320/graphic-incentive2167.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "postoniwide" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 56px; font-weight: bold; word-spacing: -1.12px;">Read this Washington Post article.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "postoniwide" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 56px; font-weight: bold; word-spacing: -1.12px;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; text-align: start; word-spacing: -1.12px;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "postoniwide" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/01/11/block-granting-snap-food-stamps-would-break-a-crucial-anti-poverty-program/?utm_term=.3017d93da355">https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/01/11/block-granting-snap-food-stamps-would-break-a-crucial-anti-poverty-program/?utm_term=.3017d93da355</a></span></span></h4>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-32629157202334576752016-11-14T06:18:00.002-08:002016-11-14T06:18:11.998-08:00Debtors Prisons?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HNcFECOuYZRHF9G0spK91N-zOE5z1Fbvp3mVJy1w1XoO-9jJelM7ojJvvFidBR_8azGksP7h1w43947-tj_vuxd3ZyrPeulD2KvjXWtwXDK5WgAiIw7XGcSiJCHD7C92G8_k3x9KL4z-/s1600/CwqmwaKWEAEuoyq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HNcFECOuYZRHF9G0spK91N-zOE5z1Fbvp3mVJy1w1XoO-9jJelM7ojJvvFidBR_8azGksP7h1w43947-tj_vuxd3ZyrPeulD2KvjXWtwXDK5WgAiIw7XGcSiJCHD7C92G8_k3x9KL4z-/s640/CwqmwaKWEAEuoyq.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Source: Sen Mike Barrett-<span style="background-color: white; color: #1234ff; font-family: ff14, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap; word-spacing: -3px;">Report of the Massachusetts Senate Post Audit and </span><span class="w6" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #1234ff; display: inline-block; font-family: ff14, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-weight: bold; height: 1px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; width: 6px; word-spacing: -3px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1234ff; font-family: ff14, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap; word-spacing: -3px;">Oversight Committee</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/330325447/Fine-Time-The-Report-Nov-7-2016#from_embed"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.scribd.com/document/330325447/Fine-Time-The-Report-Nov-7-2016#from_embed</span></a></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-22449515131069520772016-04-11T04:11:00.000-07:002016-04-11T04:11:59.585-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Alarms Sound for Poor Families in the
Commonwealth <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>by Georgia Mattison</i></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By making several alarming changes this March the Department
of Transitional Assistance DTA will make Transitional Assistance for Families
with Dependent Children (TAFDC) in Massachusetts even harder to access.
Meanwhile, the TAFDC caseload is shrinking significantly every month. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, DTA plans to require the 1,100 households that are
exempt from the work requirement because they take care of a disabled parent or
grandparent or sibling, to put their family member in a nursing home in order
to comply with the work requirement. Deborah Harris from the Massachusetts Law
Reform institute in a letter to legislators wrote: “The requirement that a
caregiver should put her disabled relative in a nursing home is cruel and
irresponsible.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, nursing homes cost the Commonwealth more in one
month than the average TAFDC grant for a year. If a caregiver refuses to put
her disabled relative in a nursing home, she loses the benefit for her and her
children. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second alarming change in March will be a stricter
disability standard for exemption from the work requirement which will affect
2,200 households.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The third and worst
major change will be the pre-application work search requirement which is
predicted to keep an estimated 50-80% of applicants from accessing TAFDC.
Currently the caseload is approximately 35,000 households according to the DTA
website. The program is losing 3-4,000 households a month. The Welfare
coalition attributes this alarming decline to routine denial of appeals once a
24 month time limit has been reached, and the uptick in the application of
sanctions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Welfare Coalition cannot get statistics or information
on these appeals and sanctions. We are going up the legal chain to try to get
this public information released. And the continuing problems with the new DTA
access system have put both TAFDC and SNAP (Food Stamps) under threat of
serious caseload declines. This is all happening even before the new
requirements are implemented! The Coalition has been meeting weekly to work
against this tide of shameful effort to deny families the benefit they deserve.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Welfare Coalition has expanded its membership to
advocacy groups for the disabled and the elderly. We have been meeting with
legislators since last August to file a bill to eliminate the new disabled
standard and pre-application work requirement from the welfare reform law
passed last year. A bill is due out of the Senate soon. The caretaker change
which is a policy rather than a regulation or a law has been a subject of
meetings with legislators and the DTA Commissioner. DTA has now delayed the
caregiver exemption change until next October.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DTA has also announced a delay until next December of the
drastic change in the Disability Standard till next December. But a new DTA
plan just announced is to deny the benefits severely disabled parents receiving
Supplemental Social Security Income SSI the TAFDC benefits they are receive
just for their children. This will terminate benefits to 6900 households by
next July. The Coalition will be working with Legislators to block this current
proposal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the caseload
declines there is a simultaneous uptick in families living in deep poverty in
the Commonwealth. Given the unreasonable and systematic denial of benefits, in
a year or two, there may be virtually no families in the program. Families will
get SNAP, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children’s Program), and Medicaid, but no
cash assistance. Currently according to the Center for Budget and Policy
Priorities, there are 120,000 households in Massachusetts in deep poverty. Deep
poverty is defined as 50% and below of the federal poverty line. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Massachusetts may soon mirror most of the United States with
virtually no TAFDC benefit. In 1996 Congress passed the Welfare Reform Act
changing the program from a federal entitlement program to a state block grant.
Block grants essentially capped participation in the program. SNAP is a federal
entitlement; therefore, all applicants who are eligible receive the benefit.
For the most part states can do anything they want with this money and they
have. The number of families in the United States and Massachusetts has slid to
a quarter of the households that were receiving the benefit in 1996 when it was
a federal entitlement program. The Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has proposed
making SNAP a block grant.) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the book, “$2 Dollars a day: Living on almost nothing in
America,” authors Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer found most of the poor did not
believe the TAFDC benefit still existed. The book described a vast pool of
people who live in deep poverty, who struggle to survive, find work (often
perilous work), and avoid homelessness. Only one in four U.S. jobs can support
a family of four. Housing instability is a hallmark among those in deep poverty
as housing subsidies are rare. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Georgia Mattison is
the PPUF Project Director. She is a member of the Welfare Coalition, the SNAP
Coalition and a Governor’s appointee to the Boston DTA Advisory Board.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-86091725901192785272016-02-26T13:36:00.000-08:002016-02-26T13:45:35.207-08:00Congressman Spends Night In A Shelter<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTvAFIdfjMQ&authuser=0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTvAFIdfjMQ&authuser=0</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #1f497d;"><img alt="cid:image006.jpg@01D0B89C.F4E3C080" class="CToWUd" height="139" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=3439ab82df&view=fimg&th=1531f775ba7e707f&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=3d9e28d6a86459bf_0.1&attbid=ANGjdJ9HN-KZBLDxjL5eTIvSBgtnPsOLm2XCGsJfujl9oT0JnxujkQDXxUbG_1wuG7SGnTlQ7lX38pi7yl7hOOCJz4sF7Q3WajfAC-W1GXtyXlZEbzmAj2MjUdW1TsI&sz=w1248-h278&ats=1456521887658&rm=1531f775ba7e707f&zw&atsh=1" width="624" /></span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><span style="color: #888888;"></span><span style="color: #888888;"></span><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" style="margin-left: 47.1pt; width: 677px;"><tbody>
<tr style="height: 30.55pt;"><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; height: 30.55pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0.75pt; width: 253.9pt;" width="339"><div style="line-height: 14.72px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b>:<u></u><u></u></div>
<div style="line-height: 14.72px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
February 25, 2016<u></u><u></u></div>
</td><td style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; height: 30.55pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0.75pt; width: 247.5pt;" width="330"><div align="right" style="line-height: 14.72px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<b>CONTACT</b>:<u></u><u></u></div>
<div align="right" style="line-height: 14.72px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
Abraham White <a href="tel:202-308-8430" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" value="+12023088430">202-308-8430</a><u></u><u></u></div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 2.15pt;"><td colspan="2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; height: 2.15pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0.75pt; width: 503.6pt;" width="671"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 14.72px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 14.72px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18pt; letter-spacing: -0.6pt; line-height: 27.6px;">McGovern: Here’s Why I Stayed at a Homeless Shelter<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 14.72px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 14.72px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">WASHINGTON, D.C. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">– Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02) spoke on the House floor today about his recent overnight stay at the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) of Greater Worcester, a local homeless shelter. This was Congressman McGovern’s second time staying at the shelter and part of his ongoing efforts to raise awareness about homelessness and increase support for efforts to reduce it in Massachusetts and across the country.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTvAFIdfjMQ&feature=youtu.be" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Click here to watch the video of today’s speech</a>.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Full text of Congressman McGovern’s speech is below:</span></b><b><i><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Last week during our district work period, I spent the night at the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a family homeless shelter in Worcester, Massachusetts. This was my second time spending a night there in recent years. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear firsthand the stories of families who are facing tough times and to see the incredible support provided by groups like IHN.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In today’s media environment where every development in the presidential campaign gets a breaking news banner, it’s easy to lose sight of the real issues impacting real families and homelessness is one of them. In 2015, more than 500,000 Americans were homeless on any given night. Of that number, more than 200,000 were people in families and nearly 50,000 were veterans.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Even in Massachusetts, one of the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/09/21/americas-richest-states/2845525/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">richest states</a> in the nation, homelessness continues to be a challenge in many of our communities. In recent years, state budget cuts have led to a record number of homeless children in Massachusetts and the overall uptick in homelessness has led to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/03/3238771/massachusetts-homeless/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">overcrowding</a> in shelters with thousands of families being turned away.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In the richest country on the planet, it is simply astonishing that anyone is homeless, but the fact is this continues to be a persistent problem. Fortunately, there are amazing organizations like the Interfaith Hospitality Network that are making a difference.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“IHN works in partnership with the faith community to provide shelter and assistance to families with children who are homeless. Their primary goals are to assist families in increasing their income and to help them secure permanent housing, while providing the critical support services necessary for them to succeed.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s a ‘community bed shelter’ that provides private bedrooms and shared living areas for six families at a time who are homeless but don’t qualify for state-funded shelters.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“One of the points that the people I met made very eloquently was that sometimes life is very complicated and sometimes things don’t work out as you expect them to.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Many of the families that I met during my stay included at least one working parent. But they had fallen into the gap where they earned too little to make ends meet but too much to qualify for other housing assistance programs.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Some of the residents included college-educated parents with families that fell on hard times - maybe a parent is sick or a child’s sick, or a parent got laid off from a job. Those families are not there because they made poor choices; there were a series of events that led to this. One thing parents at the shelter have in common is that they love their kids more than anything and are working tirelessly to get back on their feet.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The families at IHN are not charged rent and work with a caseworker to budget and save money for their own apartments. The caseworker also helps families access necessary health care or counseling, learn job skills, enroll in job training or educational classes, and assists them with other life issues.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“IHN is a very special place. It’s a home. It’s comfortable. It’s safe. Families prepare and eat dinner together. Children do their homework together, color in coloring books, and play games. IHN provides a sense of normalcy during times of turmoil and uncertainty for families.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“With each visit to the IHN shelter in Worcester, I am inspired to see that within our community, there are so many wonderful people who care about their neighbors who are going through difficult times and who want to get back on their feet. The volunteers and staff are incredible people. Places like IHN represent the best of our community and there is a real need for places like this.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Too often in this chamber, I have heard colleagues demonize and disparage America’s poorest families. But those who are homeless don’t fit into a stereotype. Every family faces different challenges. It’s hard work to be poor in America and the families I met are working hard for a better life for their kids. We should be helping them get back on their feet, not kicking them while they’re down, and certainly, we should not be indifferent to their struggles.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“To help more of these families get ahead, we must do more at the national level to strengthen the social safety net to better address homelessness, food insecurity, and poverty and many other issues which deserve to be front and center.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Looking at the big picture, we need to be talking about how we can make sure that work pays enough so that all working families can afford rent and place to live, and be able to put food on the table for their kids. We might start by increasing, at long last, the federal minimum wage so that it’s a livable wage. If you work in this country, you ought not to be poor and you ought certainly not to be homeless.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In the richest country on the planet, I know we can solve homelessness. Spending a night at a homeless shelter is an incredible experience and I encourage more of my colleagues to do the same in their districts.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Those of us who serve in Congress are blessed that we don’t have to worry if we’ll have a roof over our heads on any given night. But there are many families, too many families, in this country who do. We need to do a better job of listening to their stories and lending a helping hand so they can get out of their difficult situations and move on to a better life.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I urge my colleagues to listen what I said today and do what I did and spend a night at a homeless shelter in their district.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.72px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">###</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-8078212578274729932015-10-21T14:35:00.000-07:002015-10-21T14:35:30.804-07:00<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.71429; margin-bottom: 1.71429rem;">
<strong style="background-color: white;">October 21, 2015</strong></div>
<h2 style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.71429; margin-bottom: 1.71429rem; text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">We need addiction treatment beds ASAP!</span></strong></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_14zT6O5aU9clA_kuwtuseEcK4EKJFGFARK3jwo6vIjugPfH9QHkP2v2czc9dJ1orts_gIzPBbf0pW8Md8UqoMCXxuDvLFBC8JGUWrj32oVtjfpn-2GpDD3vZGZC1G41yqor2iziMjJ0v/s1600/IMG_1731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_14zT6O5aU9clA_kuwtuseEcK4EKJFGFARK3jwo6vIjugPfH9QHkP2v2czc9dJ1orts_gIzPBbf0pW8Md8UqoMCXxuDvLFBC8JGUWrj32oVtjfpn-2GpDD3vZGZC1G41yqor2iziMjJ0v/s640/IMG_1731.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.71429; margin-bottom: 1.71429rem;">
<span style="color: white;">Photo shows the <strong>Homeless Solidarity Committee</strong>, <strong>Boston Warm</strong> and <strong>PPUF</strong> at a meeting with <strong>Health and Human Service Sec. Mary Lou Sudders</strong>. We asked for a meeting in order to communicate our sense of urgency around replacing the addiction treatment beds lost when Long Island Shelter was closed. Also particating, were parents who lost their sons and daughters to addiction relapse after the closing. Sec Sudders listened well and reported about the efforts that are underway to get 70 more beds by January of 2016. The group will keep an eye on the timeline as addiction is claiming lives.</span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-88443881336471402002015-01-16T12:02:00.000-08:002015-01-16T12:02:24.742-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCN4FFI_1jfEYmrWsWeap6HZ_3TYP2LfnVrAi3nY08G4iZ6pZRrHW97MKHIOKvyzIUpzpmOoEkYwX7yQlAeAnsciUoDedepENbjSV6jfOOHqvrm2nKItsR8ujPCM8OWUiFjf5dodQLps4/s1600/homeless+wman+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCN4FFI_1jfEYmrWsWeap6HZ_3TYP2LfnVrAi3nY08G4iZ6pZRrHW97MKHIOKvyzIUpzpmOoEkYwX7yQlAeAnsciUoDedepENbjSV6jfOOHqvrm2nKItsR8ujPCM8OWUiFjf5dodQLps4/s1600/homeless+wman+2.JPG" height="320" width="269" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #373737; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nearly since its founding Poor People's United Fund has been
sheltered by the generosity of Old South Church. We have always been proud to
be a part of this historic revolutionary community. We are proud yet again!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In response to the abrupt closing of the Long Island Bridge,
and the consequent uprooting and evictions of over 700 homeless persons from
Long Island’s shelters and services, Old South has had a bold and compassionate
response to a dire situation. This Sanctuary in the City will
offer refuge to Boston’s most vulnerable.<br />
<br />
On Monday morning, January 19, beginning at 9:00 am, Old South Church will
become the site of the new BOSTON WARM DAY CENTER. This is a
temporary day center, operating through March 31, 2015. By April, the City of
Boston expects to have created sufficient beds, recovery programs, and storage
to finally accommodate the Long Island Refugees, bringing them all in from the
cold.<br />
<br />
The Boston Warm Day Center will operate Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am to
3:00 pm. It will be located in the church's Club Room. A large adjoining
storage room will provide a secure place for people’s personal
belongings. This will be an enormous help. People have had to carry their belongings with them day and night. People who had jobs were unable to go to them because they had no where to store their stuff.<br />
<br />
The Boston Warm Day Center is the labor of Religious Leaders for Long Island
Refugees. For months we have been worrying over and advocating on behalf of the
increasingly dire plight of the Long Island Refugees. Many of them have been
struggling to make it day to day under inhumane and deplorable circumstances.
While the City of Boston has been focused on a long-term solution, our most
vulnerable sisters and brothers have suffered in these coldest and harshest of
times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes permanent housing is the solution to homelessness.
But protecting people from harm until we get there is absolutely
necessary. Thank you Old South! Kippy would be proud.<o:p></o:p></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-45965585172096387672014-11-16T10:24:00.002-08:002014-11-16T10:24:46.031-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The <b>Poor People’s
United Fund</b>, joined hundreds of others concerned about the 700 homeless
people displaced from Long Island Shelter when the bridge to get to the island
was declared unsafe. They had 4 hours notice to evacuate the facility. People
were forced to leave their meager yet important belongings behind…medications,
family photos, letters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600"
o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f"
stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/>
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/>
</v:formulas>
<v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/>
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/>
</v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_s1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;
margin-left:-5.4pt;margin-top:14.9pt;width:279pt;height:160.05pt;z-index:-251658240;
mso-wrap-edited:t' wrapcoords="-39 0 -39 21531 21600 21531 21639 14 -39 0">
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\fran\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg"
o:title="2014-11-12_17-06-59_570" croptop="7495f" cropleft="8456f"
blacklevel="11796f"/>
<w:wrap type="tight"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhX2mvlJI11phrCWzWf7fuuXUEymAJflrMOf9kmKfb4r61Ore4zI-1aGHPOGMpQhh3_7-_tIt1aQ1s6Ia5kXMzwUaXYx77s32OUL3qmnOzcNay9LrkzLwb_L9DU7Hs6K8KkPnSPaDSI0Wj/s1600/long+island+hearing1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhX2mvlJI11phrCWzWf7fuuXUEymAJflrMOf9kmKfb4r61Ore4zI-1aGHPOGMpQhh3_7-_tIt1aQ1s6Ia5kXMzwUaXYx77s32OUL3qmnOzcNay9LrkzLwb_L9DU7Hs6K8KkPnSPaDSI0Wj/s1600/long+island+hearing1.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The City of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:city> is finding it difficult to find
adequate shelter for them. Some have
found shelter and are sleeping on cots on gym floors, and on mats in hallways.
At the gym which is housing 250 people but there are only 2 toilets. The temporary
shelter at that local fitness center is for men only. Women displaced from <st1:place w:st="on">Long Island</st1:place> are having more trouble finding safe places
to sleep so many are sleeping in cars and under bridges. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75"
style='position:absolute;margin-left:264.6pt;margin-top:34.45pt;width:239.4pt;
height:134.25pt;z-index:-251659264' wrapcoords="-38 0 -38 21533 21600 21533 21600 0 -38 0">
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\fran\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg"
o:title="2014-11-12_17-28-51_575" blacklevel="7864f"/>
<w:wrap type="tight"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Poor People’s United Fund’s, Fran
Froehlich,</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> testified at the event
expressing a sense of urgency urging the city to find a short term solution
before winter sets in --- one woman has already died. “This situation has
demonstrated that the current shelter system can not handle the growing
homeless population. It is yet another indication that the system is broken. As
PPUF has been saying for over 30 years…. We must begin to invest in a long term
solution. The chickens of inequality have come home to roost! Good people
everywhere have got to say, Enough is enough!”</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgcY2GYjypUxMEv5eT3BCSoQ23cbLS7P5vwxY2wJ28VpSOhEPBhOigVRU6kSootK7UpxqG3b2yApZULpzM2bsQCtNgyB668_38gRTlo2oAzqZLlM-FENDffi00rKck3J-JpJos28Zap-E/s1600/2014-11-12_17-29-01_489.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgcY2GYjypUxMEv5eT3BCSoQ23cbLS7P5vwxY2wJ28VpSOhEPBhOigVRU6kSootK7UpxqG3b2yApZULpzM2bsQCtNgyB668_38gRTlo2oAzqZLlM-FENDffi00rKck3J-JpJos28Zap-E/s1600/2014-11-12_17-29-01_489.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> One homeless woman asked a great question,
“Why hasn’t the Mayor declared a state of emergency? Seven hundred of his
residents have been displaced.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3248763597237198659.post-17630718192266606382013-11-26T04:20:00.000-08:002013-11-26T04:20:01.147-08:00<div class="article-head feature-top top-no-photo" style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 19.1875px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 30px 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<h2 style="font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Reprint from Harvard Gazette</span></i></h2>
<h2 style="font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 36px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">
At Schlesinger Library, Community Works explores women in poverty</h2>
<div class="meta" style="border-top-color: rgb(108, 108, 108); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #6c6c6c; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px;">
November 18, 2013</div>
</div>
<div class="article-byline disclaimer" style="color: #6c6c6c; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">
News from Harvard schools, offices, and affiliates</div>
<div class="article-body" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; margin: 0px 19.078125px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 19.078125px;">
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="initial-cap" style="color: #99283c; display: inline; float: left; font-size: 5em; line-height: 0.4em; margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0.15em 0.3em 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">T</span>he number of homeless families in Massachusetts seeking shelter in hotels and motels is at an all-time high, while one in seven in Massachusetts relies on food stamps. Yet the Massachusetts legislature is considering a wallop directed at people in poverty—a welfare reform act aimed at fostering economic independence but which make access to cash assistance even more difficult.</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
Fran Froehlich, director of Community Works, an umbrella organization of 34 nonprofits that come together with a common vision, opened a panel discussion with these facts on November 12. She went on to describe Community Works and its membership as groups that “imagine what the world would actually look like if it were just, fair, and inclusive.” Together, the social justice organizations that make up Community Works work toward realizing that vision.</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
Marking seven years of collaboration between the Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library and Community Works of Boston, the library hosted a program, “Women Living in Poverty,” with brief presentations from seven activists who lead organizations combating poverty and its cruel effects. The annual event remembers Kip Tiernan, founder of Rosie’s Place, with speakers and a panel discussion around issues affecting women. <a href="http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library/collection/kip-tiernan" style="color: #99283c; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kip Tiernan’s papers</a> are among many treasured collections held by the Schlesinger Library that document women’s work for social justice.</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
Story link.... <a href="http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news/in-news/community-works-explores-women-in-poverty-schlesinger-library" style="line-height: 19.1875px;">http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news/in-news/community-works-explores-women-in-poverty-schlesinger-library</a></div>
</div>
PPUF Voiceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06404484521764905227noreply@blogger.com0