– The new supplemental poverty measure released by the U.S. Census Bureau earlier this week finds that Latinos are the poorest group of Americans, according to DCentric. The new measure puts the nationwide Latino poverty rate at 28 percent.  The official measurement finds that African Americans have the highest poverty rate in the country.

– The cost of Thanksgiving dinner is on the rise, reports the Virginia Farm Bureau.  This year, feeding a group of 10 adults turkey, side dishes and dessert will cost $48.03.  That’s nearly $5 more than last year, reports WAMU.

– A free health education text messaging service aimed at medically under-served women is reaching a number of goals, according to the White House Council on Women and Girls’ blog. Text4Baby sends three text messages per week to subscribers with information on doctor’s visits, immunization and Medicaid.

– Cable companies around the country will begin offering discounted services to families with an annual income of $29,055 or less, reports DCentric. Cutting costs will make having the internet more affordable to low income residents.

Tags: women, girls, maternal, health, low, income, cable, poverty, latino, african, american

Few have paid attention, however, to the potential overall effects of changes in Medicare and Medicaid on women – both young and old.

It is time to take a gender lens to these programs. Reducing the reach and coverage of Medicare and Medicaid – through any means – will affect millions of women, particularly low-income women.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:

• Medicaid provided 20 million low-income women with basic health and long-term care coverage in 2007.
• Women make up the majority of adult Medicaid recipients (69 percent of the total – even higher among the oldest recipients).
• If this percentage holds true in our area, any changes to Medicaid will affect nearly 1 million women in the District, Maryland and Virginia.

The same holds true for Medicare. Again, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation:

• The majority (56 percent) of Medicare beneficiaries are women.
• Any changes to Medicare will affect more than 1 million women in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
• As we learned from our 2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area, this number is likely to grow dramatically in the next decade. Between 2000 and 2008, the population of women over 65 grew by 18 percent in the region, compared to an overall 5 percent increase in the total population of women.

Isn’t it time we started talking about this?

Gwen Rubinstein is Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s Program Officer.

Tags: federal, buget, healthcare, cuts, medicare, medicaid

– DCentric takes a look at how a federal government shutdown could impact DC’s most vulnerable residents.

– “Less than one-third of a representative sample of grantmakers that support health-related issues in the United States have made the needs of underserved communities a top priority” according to a new report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.  Click here for details.

– A new report from the Center for WorkLife Law shows that low-wage workers are discriminated against at work based on their caregiving responsibilities at home.  Click here to read “Poor, Pregnant and Fired.”

Tags: government, shutdown, impact, public, benefits, discrimination, women, girls, working, mothers, healthcare

– “Part-time workers in the Washington region suffered some of the worst pay losses in the nation during the recession,” reports The Washington Post. The median pay for women slipped from the highest in the country to fourth place.

– NPR reports that climbing out of poverty is nearly impossible for former inmates and explores the long-term effects of incarceration.  The U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with more than 2 million people in prison.

– D.C. Public Schools are now serving dinner to an estimated 10,000 students, according to The Washington Post. The $5.7 million dinner program is meant to help fight childhood hunger, reduce the rate of obesity among students, and get more children into after school programs.

– A new report on Alzheimer’s finds that women take on most of the caretaking burden.  The Shriver Report on Alzheimer’s finds that the majority of patients and caretakers are women.  More than half of them report serious emotional and physical stress.

Tags: washington, dc, dcps, children, hunger, food, women, inmates, poverty, alzheimer, shriver report

In today’s rundown: Local women politicians commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. | A look at food stamp recipients whose benefits barely last an entire month. | And one politician asks the federal government to bar food stamp recipients from being able to purchase one type of item.

– Today, D.C.’s Congressional representative Eleanor Holmes Norton will join the City Council’s three women members to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  “D.C. has the highest breast cancer rate in the country, and also has the highest cancer death rate,” reports WAMU.

– Today, WTOP features a story about food stamp recipients who go on late night grocery runs so that they can purchase much-needed items as soon as the benefits go into their accounts at midnight.

–And New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has requested federal permission to ban New Yorkers from using food stamps to buy sugary drinks like soda.  Some public health experts say that the ban could stigmatize people who use food stamps, reports The New York Times. The Agriculture Department denied a similar request from Minnesota in 2004.

Tags: eleanor, holmes, norton, breast, cancer, awareness, dc, women, girls, food, stamps

The latest news, analysis and opinion on the state of low-income women and their families from Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. For the week ending 9/17/2010: How sports can help homeless women get back on their feet.  Plus, fundraising helps women fight breast cancer with free treatments.

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.

Here’s this week’s news:

·Once a single mother living below the poverty line, Janet Gray tells the Californian that she is back on her feet and trying to help those who face difficult financial situations by competing in a triathlon to raise money for Salinas’ Dorothy’s Place,  a homeless shelter.

·Aisling Rose O’Grady, a 21-year-old who has been living in shelters for months, believes she will have a second opportunity to create a better life when she heads to Brazil to compete against other homeless women in the Homeless World Cup, according to the Oregonian.

·The Daily Press interviews Deloris Borum about the Natasha House, a shelter Borum just opened that will house women who have recently become homeless due to job loss or divorce.

·The Orange County Register reports that thanks to money raised by the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, homeless women that have been diagnosed with breast cancer, like Geraldine Watts, are able to receive free treatment.

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

Tags: women, breast, cancer, treatment, soccer, triathlon, homelessness

The latest news, analysis and opinion on the state of low-income women and their families from Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. For the week ending 9/10/2010: Meet “Girlzilla,” the robot created by a group of young women in New York.  Plus, an initiative by one women’s fund to raise money and awareness.

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.

Here’s this week’s news:

·An initiative by the Cincinnati’s Women Fund, 1,000 Women Strong, aims to raise $240,000 in order to create awareness of women’s issues as well as award grants to local women and girls facing homelessness and domestic abuse, as reported in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

·The New York Times interviews a group of young teens about their robot “Girlzilla,” a project sponsored by the Lower East Side Girls Club, which teaches entrepreneurial and technical skills to girls from low-income families.

·The Times-Picayune profiles Keeshler Pittman, who, in honor of her mother’s dedication to helping the homeless, has opened the New Life Women’s Center to assist abused women and their children.

·Patrick and Libby White, two residents at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, have started a program to educate the homeless on health issues at Gateway 180, the largest 24-hour emergency shelter for single women and families in Missouri, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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

– Craigslist appears to have shut down its adult services section after being pressured by 18 attorneys general around the country and a number of anti-trafficking advocates, including The Women’s Foundation Grantee Partners FAIR Fund and Rebecca Project for Human Rights.  If you go to the online marketplace today, the adult services link has been replaced with the word “censored.”  Click here for more details.

– Four years after Gardasil — known as the cervical cancer vaccine — entered the marketplace, sales have plummeted and the drug is being called a dud.  This CNNMoney.com article takes a look at why the drug that protects against the STD that causes cervical cancer failed to become a best seller.

Tags: craigslist, adult, services, women, girls, trafficking, gardasil, cervical, cancer

The latest news, analysis and opinion on the state of low-income women and their families from Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. For the week ending 8/27/2010: A look at one foundation’s achievements in helping low-income and at-risk girls find confidence and empowerment.  Plus, more than half of babies born into poverty are being raised by mothers who show symptoms of depression.

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.

Here’s this week’s news:

·The State highlights the achievements of the DIVA Foundation, founded by Monicka Carey-Green to help low-income and at-risk girls find confidence and empowerment.

·A new study recently found that more than half of babies in poverty are being raised by mothers who show symptoms of mild to severe depression, potentially creating problems in parenting and in child development, as reported in The Washington Post.

·In an editorial in the Courier-Post, Donald Norcross criticizes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for vetoing a bipartisan bill authorizing $7.4 million to help thousands of low-income women and their families receive vital health care services.

·Carrie Morgan Handy, 63, tells the Times-Picayune that after Katrina destroyed her house, she illegally squatted in a foreclosed building for three years until she was discovered by UNITY of Greater New Orleans, who reports that squatters are four times more likely to be elderly and usually choose to avoid shelters.

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

Tags: spotlight, on, poverty, girls, women, depression, poverty, healthcare

– Originally intended for luxury condos, a downtown Silver Spring building is being converted into affordable housing after sitting empty for over a year.  The Argent on Blair Mill Road will open next month.  During construction, condos in the building — which was supposed to open in 2009 — were expected to sell for $300,000 or more.  Now, monthly rent will range from $842 to $1,272.  Click here for more details.

– How can we respond to the HIV epidemic both locally and abroad if sex workers are marginalized?  That’s the question Aziza Ahmed is asking on the Open Democracy blog. Ahmed, who works to educate sex workers, says some laws and attitudes impede access to health services for sex workers.

– Earlier this week, TBD.com, a local news website, was launched.  TBD is being called a blueprint for other online news sites because of the amount of community participation involved.  The Social Citizens blog says this could be beneficial for nonprofits and causes, in particular.

Tags: silver, spring, affordable, housing, apartments, argent, hiv, sex, workers, tbd