In today’s rundown: Thousands of local residents will lose their jobless benefits by Friday. | Before the recession there was a skyrocketing number of women and minority-owned small businesses. | The government unveils a plan to combat HIV/AIDS. | A mother speaks to her son about domestic violence and the death of Yeardley Love.
— According to the National Employment Law Project, by the end of this week 7,600 people in D.C., 17,700 Maryland residents and 30,900 people in Virginia will lose their federal jobless benefits. With five unemployed workers for every job opening in the U.S., NELP and others are calling for the Senate to restore extended unemployment insurance. Lawrence Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, writes that extending these benefits is critical for the national economy.
— Census numbers show that in the years leading up to the recession, there was a boom in the number of minority and women entrepreneurs. According to The Washington Post, “by 2007, minorities owned one in five small U.S. businesses, and women owned almost one in three.”
— The federal government has unveiled a new plan to combat HIV and AIDS. The plan seeks to cut new infections by 25 percent over the next five years and will treat 85 percent of patients within three months of a diagnosis. For details and local reaction, please click here.
— Doorways for Women and Families, one of our Grantee Partners, has a new entry on their blog by a volunteer who writes about being troubled by her 11-year-old son’s reaction to the death of University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love.
