Michigan Changing Food Stamp Eligibility Rules

An undetermined number of Michigan's nearly 2 million food assistance recipients will lose the help under new eligibility requirements the state will begin using in October.

Michigan has determined food assistance eligibility based only on income for roughly a decade. A new policy will include a review of certain financial assets starting Oct 1. The requirements will affect new applicants right away and existing recipients when their cases come up for review, which typically happens once every six months.

Those with assets of more than $5,000 in bank accounts or some types of property would no longer be eligible for food assistance. Other assets that would count against the cap include vehicles with market values of more than $15,000 and second homes, depending on how much is owed on the properties.

Some assets, such as primary residences and 401k accounts, would not be considered for determining food assistance eligibility.

The Michigan League for Human Services says the policies will make it harder for those who are out of work or underemployed to qualify for the assistance. The organization says need is increasing as the state's unemployment rate rose to 11.2 percent in August, the third-highest rate in the nation and up from 10.2 percent in April.

moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/news/michigan-changing-food-stamp-eligibility-rules/6301165/#ixzz1YX1713Em

Two Views on School Reform

The following is an article in the Washington Post which discussed school reform and the issues faced by schools in high areas of concentrated poverty. Julie Mack from the Kalamazoo Gazette also discussed a similar issue in the following post. Thus, two views on school reform: one from a national reporter, the other from a local Southwest Michigan reporter.

Here's the view from the Washington Post reporter:

The numbers are nauseating. According to the just released new Census Bureau data, based on 2010 data:

*22 percent of American children live in poverty

*39 percent of black children live in poverty

*35 percent of Hispanic children live in poverty

The federal government set the poverty level in 2010 for a family of four living with an income of no more than $22,314 or a single person with an income of no more than $11,139. And, according to this Washington Post story, the total number of Americans living below the line is at the highest level in the last 52 years. That’s 46.2 million Americans, or 15.1 percent of all Americans.

And if you consider that, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, a family of four needs an income of about twice the poverty threshold to cover basic expenses, more than 42 percent of American children live in low-income families.

So what does this have to do with school reform?

Almost everything.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/public-educations-biggest-problem-gets-worse/2011/09/13/gIQAWGz2RK_blog.html

Is it fair to expect teachers in high-poverty schools to be miracle workers?

Think about three different scenarios:

• A doctor who specializes in hard-to-treat patients.

• A farmer struggling with drought.

• A cop assigned to a high-crime neighborhood.

Would you expect these three to experience outcomes — such as number of patient deaths, size of crop yields or number of cases solved — similar to those of their counterparts who face fewer challenges?

Sure, we expect the same professional standards regardless of work environment; being in a tough spot is no excuse for incompetence.

But an expectation of results is typically adjusted based on circumstances.

It only makes sense.

Yet, when it comes to schools, this kind of logic goes out the window.

www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/09/is_it_fair_to_expect_teachers.html

Behind the poverty numbers: real lives, real pain

At a food pantry in a Chicago suburb, a 38-year-old mother of two breaks into tears.

She and her husband have been out of work for nearly two years. Their house and car are gone. So is their foothold in the middle class and, at times, their self-esteem.

"It's like there is no way out," says Kris Fallon.

She is trapped like so many others, destitute in the midst of America's abundance. Last week, the Census Bureau released new figures showing that nearly one in six Americans lives in poverty — a record 46.2 million people. The poverty rate, pegged at 15.1 percent, is the highest of any major industrialized nation, and many experts believe it could get worse before it abates.

The numbers are daunting — but they also can seem abstract and numbing without names and faces.

Associated Press reporters around the country went looking for the people behind the numbers. They were not hard to find.

There's Tim Cordova, laid off from his job as a manager at a McDonald's in New Mexico, and now living with his wife at a homeless shelter after a stretch where they slept in their Ford Focus.

news.yahoo.com/behind-poverty-numbers-real-lives-real-pain-151738270.html