Return-Path: <nifl-workplace@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f98Ffs004422; Mon, 8 Oct 2001 11:41:54 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 11:41:54 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <p05001907b7e777f20063@[146.186.96.31]> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-workplace@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-workplace@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-workplace@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Barb Van Horn <blv1@psu.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-workplace@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WORKPLACE:314] HandsNet WebClipper Digest X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Status: O Content-Length: 5428 Lines: 115 HandsNet WebClipper Digest The following information is from WebClipper Digest, HandsNet's weekly overview of cross-cutting human services news from throughout the World Wide Web. For daily Headlines news, Alerts and Discussions, and to start your personal clipping service, visit WebClipper at http://www.webclipper.org. Free trial WebClipper memberships are available on our public site at http://www.handsnet.org. ************************************ OCTOBER 5, 2001 ** Poverty and Income: UPTURN IN UNEMPLOYMENT COMBINED WITH WEAKNESSES IN SAFETY NET RAISE RED FLAGS FOR 2001 - Says analysis from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Even in 2000, when poverty rates fell, there were troubling trends. Those who remained poor have become poorer, on average, in recent years. Income disparities between high- and low-income families -- as well as between high- and middle-income families -- remained at or near the highest levels since before World War II, having grown significantly in the 1990s as shown in a recent Congressional Budget Office study. http://www.centeronbudget.org/9-25-01pov.htm POVERTY ROSE FOR CHILDREN IN WORKING FAMILIES - The number of American children living below the poverty line fell to 11.6 million in the year 2000, the lowest in 20 years, according to new U.S. Census data. However, child poverty rose in full-time working families: the number of poor children who live in families with a full-time year-round worker rose to 4.1 million in 2000, up from 3.8 million in 1999 - a rise of 326,000 children - according to an analysis by the Children's Defense Fund. http://www.childrensdefense.org/release010925.htm LOW WAGE WORKERS IN THE NEW ECONOMY - A collection of essays from the Urban Institute explores how our nation can help these and all working Americans pull themselves out of poverty through work. They describe the extent and contours of the challenge facing our nation's working poor, draw lessons from practice and policy about promising approaches to helping low-wage workers advance into the economic mainstream, and recommend both principles and specific policy interventions for state and federal policymakers. http://www.urban.org/pubs/low_wage/index.html RAISE THE FLOOR: WAGES AND POLICIES THAT WORK FOR ALL OF US - A new publication by the Ms. Foundation for Women shows that the Census Bureau poverty definition is out of date: families need more than double the federal poverty threshold to make ends meet. http://www.raisethefloor.org ** Unemployment Insurance: UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FALL SHORT - The percentage of lost income replaced by UI has declined since the 1980s, now replacing less than a third of lost income, reports Economic Policy Institute. http://www.epinet.org/webfeatures/snapshots.html UI BENEFITS CALCULATOR - Not only do unemployment insurance benefits vary widely depending on a worker's wage level and number of dependents, but every state is also allowed to set its own benefit levels, resulting in great disparities in between states. EPI's new UI benefits calculator is a tool for policy makers and people applying for benefits. http://www.epinet.org/datazone/uicalc/index.html ** Welfare Reform: LEAVING WELFARE, LEFT BEHIND - State data show former welfare recipients continue to bear the brunt of economic downturn, finds a new study by the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, part of its new MAKE TANF WORK! campaign. Despite the myth of success surrounding welfare reform, former welfare recipients have remained poor, had difficulty finding employment and experienced other hardships such as hunger. http://www.nationalcampaign.org/foodstamps/alert807.asp A VIEW FROM THE FRONTLINES: Innovations in Delivery of Welfare Services - One of the most important, and often overlooked, elements of welfare reform is how new policies included in the 1996 law have actually been implemented in state and local offices around the nation. The law gave states unprecedented flexibility over implementation, including the ability to contract with a wide range of private entities. With the reauthorization of the welfare reform law approaching next year, it is important to examine what is happening on the front lines. The Brookings Welfare Reform & Beyond initiative and the Center for Public Service are co-sponsoring an OCT 17 discussion of recent research. http://www.brookings.edu/wrb/ THE NEW WORLD OF WELFARE: An Agenda for Reauthorization and Beyond - The Brookings Institution's Welfare Reform & Beyond initiative announces a volume of papers by leading scholars and policy analysts on welfare reform. http://www.brookings.edu/wrb/publications/books/newworld.htm ANALYSIS OF TANF SPENDING - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines how state spending on low-income families has changed dramatically in the five years since the 1996 welfare law created the TANF block grant. http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/stasaf.htm -- ****************** Barbara Van Horn NIFL-WORKPLACE List Co-Moderator Co-Director, Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy Co-Director, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University 102 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802-3202 Phone: 814-865-5876 Fax: 814-863-6108 E-mail: BLV1@PSU.EDU "Moving adult literacy from the Margins to the Mainstream"
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