The Economist takes a brief look at the homelessness problem in a piece titled, "Gimme a roof over my head." More specifically, the U.K.-based magazine skims the surface of chronic homelessness problem in America. Roughly 150,000 people in America are chronically homeless, and there are rumbles of a federal plan to start moving the chronic homeless from shelters to "supportive housing," where medical care is available. Presumably, the new plan will be cheaper than spending the $1 billion or so the federal government currently spends on them.

Of course, who's to say that chronic homelessness deserves more attention than transient homelessness? Not Donald Whitehead, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. According to the piece, he thinks the rest of the homeless need an initiative too. He reportedly recommends the Bringing America Home Act, an omnibus bill that includes everything from building more affordable housing units to raising the minimum wage.

The Economist is decidedly against taking sides. "Behind all these arguments sits the fact that homelessness is not really one problem, but two: one brought on usually by disability, the other largely by economic misfortune. Chronic homelessness may be the right one to tackle first."

Food doesn't grow in grocery stores. There are actual people who pick the apples from the tree, who pull the grapes from the vine. Often, these people are underpaid (if they manage to get paid) and overworked (14-hour work days are the norm). In New York and in the majority of US states, the worker who picks and packs your apples does not have basic labor rights. Farmworkers do not enjoy the right to overtime pay, a day of rest, or disability insurance. More importantly, collective bargaining laws do not cover farmworkers in New York.

In April 2003, writer Margaret Wolf joined the "Farmworkers' 330 Miles toward Justice," a march to Albany that simultaneously began from both Harlem and Seneca Falls. In an article in WHY Speaks, Maggie tells some of the stories of migrant farmworkers from their perspective.

Key quotes:

"Farmworkers deserve rights and respect," Jason explained to me. "One boss whipped a bottle at my dad. I've seen my dad put in 60 and 70-hour work weeks when we kids barely see him, and, since there's no overtime pay, he has to keep working to pay the bills."



In place of these workers, many allies joined the farmworkers on the march. Steve from Locust Valley explained why he decided to join: "I can [only] come for one day-I have three kids in college that I have to support. But I'm happy that I have that opportunity, farmworkers don't." Kai Excess expressed a similar sentiment of responsibility: "Farmworkers can't take a day off to march; I'm here to represent them. We should realize that every day we benefit from their work. Do we appreciate that?"

The Child Poverty Action Group is launching a campaign in the U.K., asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown to provide an additional five pounds a week for each child living in a low-income home from next April.

The campaign is called "Make It A Fiver, Gordon," calling the prime minister to carpet on a promise he made in 1999 to eliminate child poverty in 20 years. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a boost of three to five pounds a week in th new child tax credit may be needed to ensure the governments first target of reducing child poverty by a quarter by the end of 2004-5 is met.

Key quote:

Martin Barnes, director of the CPAG, said: "The chancellor said in the Budget that he wanted to make faster progress in tackling child poverty. Without a significant increase in the child tax credit, the first milestone target for reducing child poverty will almost certainly be missed.

No more school, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks ... and no federally funded school lunches for thousands of kids across the country. During the school year, about 15.5 million schoolchildren nationwide get free breakfast and lunch paid for with federal funds. But when school ends, so do the free meals, for most. Summer food programs, also funded by the government, are supposed to pick up the slack. But child advocates say the program reaches only about 12 percent of those who need it.

Long-time supporter of human rights and anti-poverty movements Bruce Springsteen endorsed the Poor People's March (see post below) during his concerts in Philadelphia on August 8, 9 & 10.

A wide-ranging coalition of more than 100 groups, including the National Organization for Women, the NAACP, United for Peace and Justice, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Martin Luther King Jr. co-founded and which his son, Martin Luther King III are inviting people to join their walk to fight poverty. The group's "Poor People's March for Economic Human Rights," which began on August 2, plans to decend on Washington, D.C., on August 23 to mark the 35th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's historic Poor People's Campaign.

Key Quotes:

We are marching now because more and more American families are being forced into poverty everyday. We are marching because the growing healthcare crisis has left 71 million Americans without healthcare this year. We are marching because the majority of the 80 million poor people in America are our children. We are marching because, after decades of downsizing and free trade agreements, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, homes, farms and livelihoods. We are marching because we live in the richest country in the world, yet our people die poor in the streets everyday.



The Poor People’s March will bring together poor whites, blacks, latinos and those of all races to demand an end to poverty and economic human rights violations. As we march, we will strengthen our relationships, develop new leaders and share our strategies, struggles and stories. We will educate those we meet and those we march with about the legacy of Martin Luther King, about economic human rights, about democracy and voting, about the FTAA and about the vision, strategies and tactics of building a movement, led by the poor, to end poverty.

British researchers have found recently that heart bypass surgery patients from deprived areas are more at risk for complications or death after surgery. They also found that the patients were more likely to be younger than their financially better off counterparts and were more likely to die within 30 days of surgery. They also had higher rates of heart attack and stroke and tended to stay in hospital longer.

Key quote:

The research, published in the journal Heart, links poverty with greater stress and social isolation, and less access to swift preventative treatment. "It has been argued that targeting aspects of poor health among society's poorer groups may also address the associations found between socio-economic deprivation and poor health," they state in the Heart article. "However, this depends on a political commitment to reducing socio-economic inequalities and on using a complex combination of strategies often involving a multidisciplinary approach."

Anglicare Australia launched a national campaign today to fight policies it claims perpetuates the cycle of poverty among up to 750,000 children.

According to the report by Australia's News.com, Australia now has the fifth highest rate of child poverty of a list of 25 industrialized countries, behind Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Key Quotes:

Bishop Philip Huggins, Anglicare's chairman, said the predicament of children caught in the cycle of long-term unemployment was the single biggest issue facing the nation. "Children growing up in jobless families are highly likely to hand poverty and disadvantage on to their own children," he said.

Children's Minister Larry Anthony said a boost in income support payments would not solve the poverty problem. "No-one wants any child to experience poverty and the long term effects it can have on a whole range of important life milestones," Mr Anthony said at the launch of the campaign. "However, poor outcomes are often the result of multiple disadvantages including low education, health issues, unstable relationships and poor economic participation.