Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to record a commentary for NPR regarding the release of new census data showing that 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty last year.

While the official press release stated that there was no statistical change in the poverty rate for female-headed families, the reality is that 4.2 million such families are impoverished. 

That means that nearly a third of all female-headed households live in poverty—a number that shoots up to 40 percent for black and Hispanic families headed by single mothers.

The statistics are staggering when you consider that:

• A fifth of all girls are poor;
• 13 percent of adult women live in poverty;
• Almost twice as many elderly women as elderly men are impoverished;
• Real earnings for women dropped 2 percent to $35,745, compared with a 1 percent decline for men to $46,367;
• The unemployment rate for female-headed families is 12.2 percent, compared to 7.1 percent for married men; and,
• 43.5 percent of children living in female-headed households are poor, compared to 9.9 percent of children living in married couple households.

Despite what should be jaw-dropping statistics, few in the mainstream media have talked about the female face of poverty today.

There is an untold story not only in the numbers themselves, but also in what’s behind the numbers.

It is the story of the millions of women who face insurmountable odds and yet every day, bit-by-bit, they are working to beat those odds and create a better life for themselves and their children.

They are women like Lee, a single mother who fled domestic violence and entered a shelter program with her 5-year-old son. She secured a job with a local retail store and through the shelter received financial education to develop a budget and begin restoring her credit. She worked to relieve medical debt totaling $2,211.  As a result of free tax preparation services, she received a $3,640 refund that was used to further pay down debt and deposit more than $2,000 in her savings account. She is now taking placement tests toward pursuing a degree in emergency medical services.

While Washington Area Women’s Foundation is very proud of the work we’re doing to improve the lives of women like Lee through our Stepping Stones initiative, we know that it’s not enough.

In his final letter to President Obama, the late Senator Edward Kennedy referred to health care reform as “above all a moral issue.”

I would argue that reducing poverty among women and their children is also a moral issue and that everyone needs to be part of the solution.

What will you do?

Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat is The Women’s Foundation’s Vice President of Programs.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.”  It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit www.TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The Times-Picayune features an article about how the young people in the Little Zion Baptist Church service group volunteer in women’s shelters and help to organize poor neighborhoods in New Orleans.

• The Chicago Tribune reported that the St. Paul Diaper Bank Partnership will soon be distributing diapers to low-income single mothers and families in McHenry County.

• In the wake of the President’s healthcare speech last week, the issue of the public option funding abortions, especially for low-income and uninsured women, seems to have been resolved, according to the New York Times.

• Homeless women moved out of a Salvation Army emergency winter shelter to provide room for the men who occupy it during the colder months, as told by the Charlotte Observer.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

•  The New York Times profiles nine-year old Charity Crowell, one of more than one million students whose family is homeless as a result of eviction and foreclosure.

•  The Times-Picayune reports that Mark and Brenda Gebhardt are opening up the Danielle Inn, a home for unwed, expectant mothers. The Gebhardts hope to provide help and education for homeless pregnant women, especially those who are in desperate situations.

• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution highlights the accomplishments of Zicuria Ussery, a low-income student who has started her own smoothie business and was selected as a finalist in the 2009 OppenheimerFunds/National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge.

•  Planned Parenthood of Indiana announced that it will close a clinic in Indianapolis along with four others due to loss of funding, as reported in the Indianapolis Star.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• Alice Smith, 80, is a low-income retiree unable to pay off massive credit card debt. The Washington Post reports that older Americans, like Ms. Smith, are among the most vulnerable age groups in this recession, since they are unable to pay off large debt loads with fixed incomes and dwindling retirement savings.
• In her memoir, Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat, Stephanie Covington Armstrong reveals that eating disorders – traditionally thought to afflict only wealthy white communities – are rampant in poor black communities as well, according to the Boston Globe.
• The Lexington Herald Leader covers the uplifting story of how Jessica Caldwell won a college scholarship. Born into poverty and abandoned by her alcoholic mother, Ms. Caldwell never thought she would be able to attend college.
• In an interview with the New York Times, Mary Gibson Holley, a 74-year-old black retiree living in Alabama, feels apprehensive about community leaders’ plans to fill the local landfill with coal ash from Tennessee.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

In Cosmopolitan.com’s recent “10 things Women do Better than Men List” – just the tip of the iceberg, I assume – a few surprising points stood out among the rest.

It turns out that, according to Cosmo, the fairer sex is more financially secure.  A few of the list’s findings:

4.  We’re more recession proof.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that of the six million Americans who have lost jobs since December of 2007, when the recession started, 80 percent of them have been men.

There are several factors to this startling statistic, one of them being the fact that the economic downturn has taken a major toll on male-dominated businesses such as construction and manufacturing. Strong fields among women such as nursing and education have persevered much better.

Author Catherine Kaputa, who wrote “The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business,” claims it’s not just a difference in profession but a difference in management style helping women survive company cutbacks.  She writes, “In general, women are most comfortable with a management style that is more collaborative and less concerned with rigid hierarchy and top-down directives,” she told CNN Money. “As it happens, that more inclusive, collegial style is what gets results in global companies today.”

5.  We graduate college more often.
Cosmo points out college enrollment rates for women have been higher than those for men for decades, but it seems women continue to out perform men once they get to campus.

"Department of Education statistics show that men, whatever their race or socioeconomic group, are less likely than women to get bachelor’s degrees — and among those who do, fewer complete their degrees in four or five years," the New York Times reported. "Men also get worse grades than women."

While women are certainly breaking academic stereotypes and buffing up on intellectual intensity, the reasons behind this trend may have more to do with race than gender, the article said.

"In recent years, the gender gap has been widening, especially among low-income whites and Hispanics," the Times reported. "When it comes to earning bachelor’s degrees, the gender gap is smaller than the gap between whites and blacks or Hispanics, federal data shows."

9. We’re better managers, especially in this economy.
Multitasking is simply second nature to most women I know. Juggling 20 tasks and seeing things through from start to finish makes women stand out in the workplace, according to the New York Daily News.

"It’s a very service-oriented economy, so you need employees to be motivated and excited about what they do," says Jay Forte, author of “Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition."  Forte also says women’s emotional sensibilities come in handy.

"Women are stronger communicators and better connectors than men, and they’re more astute about knowing how to activate passion in their employees. When workers feel connected and positive, they perform better."

10. We invest better.
Last on Cosmo’s list was a surprising statistic to those used to the image a stock room floor full of invigorated, screaming men. Though fewer women than men are investing, they are making more for their money.

The UK’s MSN Money reported women embody the traits of good investors because they "tend to be more cautious, less confident of their ability, less likely to follow investment fads and have a longer-term approach to investing."

MSN cites several examples of studies showing females’ portfolios outperforming men’s, including a study from May 2004 to May 2005 showing women’s investments averaging an 18 percent return, while men averaged 11 percent.

In a volatile market where cooler heads have prevailed, men’s tendencies to chase hot trends in stock markets have made them more vulnerable to fluctuations than their steady-handed counterparts. This trend might get weaker as more and more women, providing more variety among them, enter the financial world.

Alexis Matsui is a Senior Associate, Client Services at The Bivings Group, which designed and helps manage TheWomensFoundation.org on a pro bono basis.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.”  It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every week.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The Washington Post tells the story of how Lawanda Madden and her children became homeless. Her family joins an influx of recently homeless single-mother families now relying on relatives for shelter and food.
• The Times-Picayune profiles Looking Good, a nonprofit founded by Hope Encalada that provides low-income women with professional clothing, makeovers and a self-confidence boost in preparation for job interviews.
• Many low-income mothers will be left without affordable childcare if day care centers close due to budget cuts, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• The Boston Globe features a piece on a movement in Providence to close down “spas,” or thinly veiled brothels.  Rhode Island is the only state in the U.S. that permits indoor prostitution.
• The Times Picayune reports on a teen panel on poverty and drugs, which included suggestions from several young women living in impoverished neighborhoods.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

The good news is that the Washington Post yesterday discovered the plight of women-headed families struggling in the recession and this economy.

The bad news is the Post focused on a woman-headed family that was, in the words of the headline, “squeaking by on $300,000” and in New York, no less.

The nicest thing I can say about the article is that it represents a serious failure in news judgment and demonstrates a poor sense of reality about the many woman-headed families, including in our region, working to get by on one-tenth of that or less.

Meanwhile, median income for women-headed families in the U.S. was $33,370 in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, more than 65,000 women-headed families with incomes of less than $40,000 live in our region, according to data collected by the Urban Institute for The Women’s Foundation.

I challenge Post editors and writers to “squeak by” on that, and I challenge the Post to pay attention to that.

I would be happy to help connect Post writers and editors with these women and their families, to whom our Grantee Partners are providing job training, financial literacy/wealth creation and early care and education services through our Stepping Stones initiative.

Washington Post, if you’re listening: Please call me.

Gwen Rubinstein is a Program Officer at The Women’s Foundation.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The Times-Picayune profiled Ms. Grace, one of the first women to be helped by a federally-funded housing program for the disabled  and homeless.
• The Orlando Sentinel reports on the plight of several uninsured, low-income women. These include Michele Townsen, who let an infection fester for three weeks because she feared high medical bills.
• Evelyn Coke, who as an elderly, low-income woman devoted herself to fighting for fair treatment and better pay for herself and other overworked in-home aids, died this week at the age of 74, as reported in the New York Times.
• Virginia’s infant mortality rate has reached an all-time low, which state officials attribute to the creation of a commission on infant mortality in 2006 and better prenatal care for low-income women. This includes information on pregnancy and young children, according to the Washington Post.

 

• The Los Angeles Times highlights the story of 16-year-old Jazmine, who was able to temporarily escape her life of drugs and homelessness at a camp this summer thanks to a program from American Family Housing, a transitional housing program that provides counseling and life-skills training to low-income families.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Irene, a woman who lives at Calvary Women’s Shelter, recently said, “Calvary’s where you go when you’re serious about making a change.”

Irene credits her own new direction in life to the support she has received at Calvary. “Now, I do what I have to do. I just work on changing from the inside out.”

The J. Jill Compassion Fund was created to help women like Irene.  Each year it awards grants to organizations that help low-income and homeless women become self-sufficient. Calvary Women’s Services was selected as one of 28 organizations across the country to receive a $10,000 grant from the Compassion Fund. This grant helps us continue to provide homeless women in Washington, D.C. with “a safe, caring place for tonight; support, hope and change for tomorrow.”

Each year, we support 150 women as they journey from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Many of the women in our programs have experienced both drug addiction and mental health problems.  Many are survivors of domestic violence.

And all of them have known what it’s like to be without a safe, stable place to live.

Our programs work with women as individuals to empower them to take control of their own lives—helping them not only find permanent housing, but also to address some of the reasons they became homeless. Because our programs are small, our staff can provide personalized support to each woman as she works to become self-sufficient.

Each year, 60 percent of the women who come to Calvary move into their own homes. Many others take positive steps to prepare for independent living.

Earlier this year, The Women’s Foundation recognized Calvary’s work with a Leadership Award in recognition of our work with low-income women and their families.  In addition, they have been providing support for our communications and marketing efforts as part of their technical assistance "beyond the check."     

Kris Thompson is the Executive Director of Calvary Women’s Services, recognized as a 2009 Leadership Awardee by The Women’s Foundation.  Learn more about them on their Web site or on Facebook.

As part of our ongoing commitment – in partnership with The Urban Institute – to providing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones, please find below a summary of recent research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families. This research is summarized and complied for The Women’s Foundation by Liza Getsinger of The Urban Institute, NeighborhoodInfo DC.

Below are excerpts of the research update.  For the full research update, including summarized key findings, click here.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News

The National Council of Negro Women conducts a study to identify potential lending disparities in gender and race among African-American, Hispanic, and Caucasian borrowers, particularly as the foreclosure crisis spreads.  (Full text) 

Jobs and Business Ownership News

The Brookings Institution publishes research on the extent to which the recession has affected urban and suburban communities across the country and looks looks within the nation’s 100 largest metro areas to examine recent unemployment trends in their cities and suburbs. (Abstract) (Full text)

Child Care and Early Education News

A new Child Trends study commissioned by the Council of Chief State School Officers finds disparities between poor, at-risk children and more advantaged children as early as 9 months of age–extending prior research that primarily focuses on disparities at kindergarten entry and beyond. (Abstract) (Full text)

Health and Safety News

The Urban Institute identifies ways to reduce obesity using many of the same strategies used in the war against tobacco.  (Introduction) (Full text)

Other News and Research

The Economic Mobility Project investigates neighborhoods and the black-white mobility gap, including whether neighborhood poverty in childhood impacts the ability of both black and white adults to move up or down the income ladder relative to the position their parents held and whether changes in neighborhood poverty rates experienced by black children affected their adult incomes, earnings, and wealth. (Abstract) (Full text)