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Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity leads research and consulting initiatives that identify and address barriers to economic well-being.
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The New York Times, October 09, 2012: Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School
"Dr. Anderson is one of the more outspoken proponents of an idea that is gaining interest among some physicians. They are prescribing stimulants to struggling students in schools starved of extra money -- not to treat A.D.H.D., necessarily, but to boost their academic performance. It is not yet clear whether Dr. Anderson is representative of a widening trend. But some experts note that as wealthy students abuse stimulants to raise already-good grades in colleges and high schools, the medications are being used on low-income elementary school children with faltering grades and parents eager to see them succeed."
USA Today, October 09, 2012: A big step toward retirement security
"The average Social Security retirement benefit is less than $15,000 per year. This lack of access threatens to plunge millions of people into poverty when they can no longer work. A new program emerging in California shows great promise in addressing those problems. It stands to help more than 6 million Californians who don't have a retirement plan at work, providing a means to supplement their Social Security at no cost to taxpayers."
The Lexington Herald Leader, October 09, 2012: Use of antipsychotic drugs up sharply among poor children in Kentucky
"Antipsychotic drugs given to poor children under Kentucky's Medicaid program jumped 270 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to a report prepared by the University of Kentucky's Center for Business and Economic Research. Minority children received these drugs at three times the rate of white children, and the incidence of prescribing varies wildly from region to region, county to county."
The New York Post, October 08, 2012: Safe at home
"Beloshkurenko - who says she also wants to give something in return to people in this country who gave me an opportunity' - is director of Home Services at the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. She oversees Project Metropair, the nonprofit's free home-repair program for low-income seniors. It installs grab bars, smoke alarms, window guards, door locks, chains and peep holes."
USA Today, October 08, 2012: In Fla. county, no hungry school-age child left behind
"Last May, The Children's Hunger Project started in co-founder Sam Jordan's kitchen in Melbourne and began packing meals for 27 impoverished students at Riviera Elementary in Palm Bay. The fast-growing non-profit now feeds about 500 kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at a dozen elementary schools."
Chattanooga Times Free Press, October 07, 2012: Hamilton County schools' to-do list just keeps growing
"Hunger among some students has become so common that one elementary school teacher keeps a bagful of Froot Loops near her classroom door. When kids arrive with clothes too ragged or dirty -- or don't come at all because they lack clothing -- schools make sure they have something decent to wear."
The Washington Post, October 07, 2012: Montgomery County education leaders aim to boost college enrollment of minorities
"Students who go through the program will attend Montgomery College after high school. After earning an associate degree from the college, they then transfer to the Universities at Shady Grove to earn a bachelor's degree through the University System of Maryland. The coaches provide one-on-one support for students through the years, with mentoring, campus visits and tutoring help from start to finish. The program is geared toward African American, Hispanic and low-income students - groups typically underrepresented on college campuses."
The Union Leader, October 07, 2012: There's no vacancy at just-completed senior housing in Plymouth
"Sixteen new housing units, which are available to low-income people who are at least 62, are now open after a winter and summer of construction, said Phil Grandmaison, senior projects director for SNHS. This project means that SNHS has about 790 apartments available to seniors in 23 complexes in the Granite State and one in Berwick, Maine."
The Bellingham Herald, October 06, 2012: Report: 823 Whatcom County students are homeless
"A total of 823 Whatcom County students were homeless last school year, according to the most recent data sent recently to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. That total for the 2011-12 school year was just two more than the number of homeless students in the county's public schools reported in the previous year - but well above the pre-recession total of 516 students in the 2006-07 school year."
The Detroit News, October 05, 2012: (Op-Ed) Burgess-Proctor: Families with truant children need more help, not less welfare
"It is clear chronic student truancy is a symptom of family dysfunction rooted in poverty, yet the solution proposed by Snyder and DHS is to further impoverish poor families. This policy exacerbates the very problem it purportedly aims to solve while creating more work for already overburdened school district and DHS employees."
The Washington Post, October 05, 2012: Low-income D.C. college students awarded more scholarship money from the city
"Nearly 200 students enrolled in colleges and universities in the District were surprised to learn late this summer that they would receive thousands of dollars from a new scholarship fund started by Mayor Vincent C. Gray and the D.C. Council using extra money in the budget. The new scholarships were awarded to graduates of D.C. high schools who are from low-income families, as determined by the federal student aid application, and in good standing at their school."
The Times Herald, October 04, 2012: (Editorial) Truancy rule carries taint of class war
"Education is a vital means for breaking the chains of poverty, something on which leaders of all political perspectives agree. The Michigan Department of Human Services' new rule, which took effect Monday, could be viewed as a way to ensure children on welfare don't waste their chance for an education. The MDHS is monitoring the school attendance of children on welfare ages 6 to 15 years old. If any of them are found to be consistently absent from class, their families will lose their cash assistance."
