CTDOT Hosts Job Fair

On Wednesday, May 24, the CT Department of Transportation will be hosting a job fair showcasing numerous career opportunities for individuals interested in working in the transportation industry.

Click on the flyer below for more information:

Proposed Budget Could Erode Services for Seniors

"Advocates for seniors say Governor Dannel Malloy's proposed budget would put Connecticut seniors at risk. According to AARP, the governor's budget would erode seniors' access to vital programs, affecting everything from prescription drugs to home health care.

Claudio Gualtieri, advocacy director at AARP, notes that the state has a growing senior population, but the governor wants to cap access to the Home Care Program for Elders, which provides health care and services that seniors need to live independently at home."

Gualtieri made the following explanation on this matter, "So it will be timed to only serve the people who are on the program now, and to the extent, someone in the future could get a slot, they will be on a wait list."

Source: Public News Service, 4/18/17, Read More >

Wait List For CT Child Care Subsidies Grows

Thousands of low-income families hoping to receive child care subsidies are stuck in limbo as a wait list for the program swells. About 3,400 families are now on the wait list to receive Care4Kids subsidies. That number could grow to 5,000 families by this summer, say advocates who expect 2,200 more families seeking summer-only subsidies to be turned away as well.

The program’s current challenges emerged largely because of new federal regulations put in place last year, after Congress approved changes to the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act two years earlier. These regulations required Care4Kids to increase the program’s enrollment period to one year – up from eight months – while limiting paperwork for parents by reducing a number of stringent eligibility requirements. The reporting requirements often had tight deadlines for submitting information, and resulted in many families being kicked off the program even while they still qualified. Currently, about 12,000 families are enrolled in Care4Kids, receiving child care subsidies that range from $38 to $320 per week. Governor Malloy has called for limiting enrollment until 2019 to curb costs in the program, which is running a $33 million deficit.


Source: CT Mirror, 4/11/17, Care4Kids

Rescuing healthy food...

One in eight Connecticut residents struggle with food insecurity. Foodshare makes every effort to educate our friends, partners and neighbors on the causes of, and solutions to, hunger. We are fortunate to have some wonderful partnerships with the Connecticut food industry that help connect our neighbors with good, healthy food that would otherwise be wasted.

Check out this video on food waste in the U.S. and learn how paying closer attention to the problem could solve hunger here at home!

Become a part of the solution...train to be a Retail Pick-up volunteer and bring surplus food from our local retail partners to neighboring food pantries!

Gender Equity Is a Root Cause of Hunger

"Women in the U.S. disproportionately experience hunger and poverty compared to American men.

About 10 million households with children in the U.S. are headed by a single mother, and 28.2 percent of these families live below the poverty line, compared to 14.9 percent of single fathers. According to USDA’s most recent report, single-parent, female-headed households are also significantly more likely to be food-insecure than single-parent, male-headed households (30.3 to 22.4 percent)."

FRAC has proposed three solutions that policymakers and advocates should utilize in their approach to reducing food insecurity among women in the United States: strengthening federal nutrition programs, closing the wage gap, and supporting paid leave policies.

Source: FRAC, 3/30/17, Learn more>

Deportation Fears Lead to Cancelling Food Stamps

"Groups that help low-income families get food assistance are alarmed by a recent drop in the number of immigrants seeking help.

Some families are even canceling their food stamps and other government benefits, for fear that receiving them will affect their immigration status or lead to deportation. Many of the concerns appear to be unfounded but have been fueled by the Trump administration's tough stance on immigration."

Source: NPR, 3/28/17, Read More >

Hunger Effects a Child's Academic Progress

"Growing up in a hungry household in the first couple of years of life can hurt how well a child performs in school years later, according to a new study. An estimated 13.1 million children live in homes with insufficient food, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Many of those children experience hunger during their first few years of life, or their parents are hungry and stressed out about food during those years – the most crucial time for a child's development."

Source: NPR, 3/23/17, Learn More >

CT Budget Cuts Could Jeopardize Anti-Poverty Agencies

"Proposed state and federal budget cuts threaten Connecticut's most vulnerable citizens.

Gov. Dannel Malloy wants to cut funding for the Human Services Infrastructure Community Action Program by 20 percent. Individuals and families with limited income depend on the agencies for help and referrals for child care, senior services, food, housing and home-heating assistance."

Source: Public News Service, 3/24/17, Read More >

Majority of SNAP Recipients are Working Poor

"According to a recent report from the USDA, an increasing share of individuals who receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, also known as food stamps, live in households where at least one person is working.

Nearly 32 percent of SNAP households are home to at least one wage-earner, according to the most recent data on the program, compared to only 19.6 percent in 1989, as far back as USDA data is available."

Source: The Huffington Post, 03/16/17, View Article >

Cuts in Funding for Anti-Poverty Programs?

"The majorities in Congress have advocated capping or “block granting” federal spending on Medicaid and SNAP — and the Trump administration is also expected to pursue a budget that restructures them. Over time, the effect would be major cuts to these programs. The more immediate effect would be to eliminate the programs’ ability to automatically adjust to meet increased need, whether from a weakened economy, natural disaster or public-health crises such as the opioid epidemic. Low-income programs that depend on annual appropriations are also at risk if the president and Congress follow through on plans to bring domestic spending to historically low levels."

 Source: Washington Post, 3/10/17, Read More->

Millions of Kids in U.S Go To School Hungry

"Unfortunately, for over 13 million kids in this country, going to school hungry is the norm. [They] live in food insecure households, which means they lack consistent access to enough food."

Lucy Melcher, Director of Advocacy and Government relations for Share Our Strength, publicly conveyed the following details on this issue: “There are food insecure and hungry kids in every Congressional district and every demographic.” 

Melcher views food as a basic necessity for students, recognizing the impact of hunger on a student's ability to learn within the classroom.

Source: The Washington Post,03/09/17, Hungry Students In U.S

A Child's Mind Altered By Poverty

Kimberly Noble, a Neuroscientist from Columbia University, recently conducted a study which indicates that there is a direct correlation between poverty and the brain architecture of a low-income child.

Noble and her colleagues utilized a standard psychological testing method, to evaluate the cognitive skills of children from various socioeconomic backgrounds. They discovered that there was a significant difference in language skills, along with other cognitive measures, among children of low income households as compared to high-income households.

Source: Care2, 3/10/17, Learn More >

New Budget Proposal Cuts Funding for Vital Programs

Governor Malloy’s recent budget proposal cuts $77,000 from the state’s nutrition assistance program, which helps fund food pantries, outreach, and the state food stamps program. It also cuts the Care4Kids subsidy by 7.7 million (6%) in fiscal year 2018, which starts this June, and over $12 million in the following year. Care4Kids helps low-income families pay for childcare.

Family resource centers in Hartford, East Hartford, and New Britain, among other cities which provide school-aged children with childcare before and after school, as well as adult education classes for people with limited English proficiency, would lose nearly $4 million. And school-based health centers would lose over $1 million next year, a 10% cut.

Source: CT Mirror, 2/14/17, CT Budget Tracker

Poverty has Moved to the 'Burbs'

Poverty in the United States has long been associated with large urban centers or rural communities, where it has historically been most concentrated. However, between 2000 and 2015, suburbs accounted for nearly half of the total national increase in the poor population. For the first time, suburbs became home to more poor residents than cities—those just outside of the country’s largest metro areas saw the number of residents living below the poverty line grow by 57%.

In 2015, 16 million poor people lived in the suburbs, outnumbering the poor population in cities by more than 3 million, small metro areas by more than 6 million, and rural areas by more than 8 million.

Source: Brookings Institution, 2/15/17, Poverty in the Suburbs

The Chance of Poverty is Strong For Children in U.S

"Out of all age groups, children are still most likely to live in poverty, according to new research from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Using the latest available data from the American Community Survey, NCCP researchers found that in 2015, while 30 percent of adults have low incomes, more than 40 percent of all children live in low-income families -- including 5.2 million infants and toddlers under 3.

Despite significant gains in household income and reductions in the overall poverty rate in recent years, 43 percent (30.6 million) of America's children are living in families barely able to afford their most basic needs, according to Basic Facts about Low-Income Children, the center's annual series of profiles on child poverty in America."

Source: NewsRoom, 2/9/17, Read More >

Poverty Outlaws?

"America’s desire to prosecute homelessness, and even the act of begging, has led to policy measures implemented across the country that are aimed at attacking our most vulnerable citizens instead of helping them. This includes state restrictions on the use of public property, stern enforcement of permit requirements, and the outright banning of homeless encampments."

The National Coalition of the Homelessness published a report entitled, Share No More which revealed that there are thirty-one cities throughout the U.S that have restricted or eliminated the act of sharing food with those in need, along with cuts to social security, Medicare, and many other welfare services used by the underprivileged.

Source: SPIN, 2/06/17, Read More >

Financial Insecurity Takes a Toll On Cities

Having a high proportion of financially insecure residents (those with less than $2,000 in savings) can cost cities millions of dollars in lost revenue, unpaid public utility bills, and public benefit use, according to a new report from the Urban Institute. Residents with little or no savings are less likely to own homes and pay property taxes, more likely to miss water and other public utility payments, and more likely to become homeless and need financial help from the city.

The authors argue that cities should make financial empowerment for low- and middle-income families a priority, including financial coaching and providing incentives for savings.

Source: Urban Institute, 2/8/17, Financial Insecurity Costs Cities

First Food...Now Child Care Deserts?

Food deserts are areas where fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful foods are hard to find due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers' markets, and healthy food providers. But a recent study shows that finding a child care program near home can be a struggle for many working families, too.

The study examined the location of child care centers in eight states that together comprise 20% of the U.S. population under the age of five. It found that 42% of these young children live in “child care deserts”—a ZIP code containing more than three children for every child care center slot.

On the whole, rural areas are more likely to be deserts than suburban or urban areas. But cities are not immune to limited child care supply: the study found Chicago to be the largest urban child care desert, with five out of every six children under the age of five living in a desert. Communities with high poverty rates are not necessarily more likely to be child care deserts. Areas with a poverty rate of 10 to 20% were most likely to qualify as child care deserts.


Source: Center for Law and Social Policy, 2/1/17, Child Care Deserts

A New Prescription (Rx) Boosting Health Nationwide

"...for the last six years, Wholesome Wave has worked quietly on an equally ambitious initiative: getting healthcare providers to write prescriptions for produce, rather than just pills. It’s called FVRx (Fruit and Vegetable Rx) and its ready to storm the nation—starting with downtown LA."

FVRx primarily serves families that are living at or below the poverty line along with children who are obese/overweight. The majority of families that participate in this program are also SNAP recipients. Through SNAP each member of the family receives an average of four dollars per day, and as recipients of FVRx families would receive an additional four dollars per day which must be spent exclusively on produce. 

Source: Modern Farmer, 1/3/17, The Power of Produce Prescriptions

CT Could Lose Housing Vouchers In 2017

Connecticut could lose between 435 and 1,775 federal rental housing vouchers in 2017 if lawmakers do not boost appropriations. That’s because a continuing resolution freezes voucher funding for all of 2017 at 2016 levels. A growing gap between rents and tenant incomes has increased the cost of renewing housing vouchers in 2017.

Due to this gap, along with policymakers’ recent actions to restore vouchers lost under sequestration and reduce homelessness among veterans, the cost of renewing all housing vouchers in 2017 has risen to an estimated $18.86 billion.
That’s higher than what the House and Senate appropriations committees approved last year in their respective 2017 funding bills for housing programs. While the Senate bill would provide some funding, it would leave housing vouchers for at least 25,000 low-income households unfunded in 2017. The House bill would leave an even deeper shortfall.


Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 1/30/17, Housing Vouchers