2 out of 3 Americans support providing more generous government assistance to the poor

In a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 63% of Americans favor more generous government assistance to the poor while 31% are opposed. There are sharp differences between race, and political standing, but for the large part Americans as a whole seem to support this type of assistance.

In addition, majorities of all religious groups favor more government assistance to the poor, and support is especially high among black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics.

This seems to contrast the widespread message that government benefits should be the first items slashed as we attempt to balance budgets at the state and national levels. I believe that Americans feel sympathy for those struggling due to economic conditions and feel the government should help support them.

See the full report at: http://pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Few-Say-Religion-Shapes-Immigration-Environment-Views.aspx#1

Survey: Half of unemployed workers with job offers said pay was below 25 percent of previous salary

A survey conducted by personified, CareerBuilder's talent consulting arm, shows that 17 percent of unemployed workers have received at least one job offer, and of those workers, 92 percent rejected it.

Basically, jobs are offering lower and lower salaries than workers are used to, with many reporting a 25 percent decrease in salary from their previous job.

Rather than jumping on the first job offer that comes their way, workers are assessing which opportunities really make the most sense for them in terms of compensation and long-term potential," said Mary Delaney, President of Personified.

Insufficient pay was the number one reason unemployed workers turned down a job opportunity. Fifty-four percent of those who rejected an offer reported the pay was more than 25 percent below the salary they earned in their most recent position.

On the other hand, not everyone is spending their full time and resources job searching.

The survey also found that 62 percent of unemployed workers apply to 10 or more jobs each week. However, not everyone treats finding a job like a full-time job. According to the survey, 18 percent of unemployed workers in the survey spend less than five hours a week looking for a job. Thirty percent said they spend more than 20 hours a week job searching.

The statistics seem to suggest that people simply are lazy and aren't spending enough time job searching. However, I will argue that there simply aren't enough jobs out there in most communities to spend more than 20 hours a week searching, especially in Michigan. Being unemployed a few years ago and looking into the abyss again this winter, I can attest that activities such as networking and volunteering lead to better opportunities than traditional job searching techniques.

http://www.mlive.com/michigan-job-search/index.ssf/2010/09/survey_half_of_unemployed_workers_with_j.html

Kalamazoo County home foreclosures worsen; Local agencies strategize how to help

Kalamazoo Foreclosures have continued to rise in Kalamazoo County as many residents cannot pay their taxes or mortgages. A meeting scheduled 6pm next week at the Douglas Community Center will highlight free foreclosure counseling services, hardship exemptions and payment plans for city and county property taxes, legal aid and a program to return foreclosed properties to private ownership.

This particular meeting focuses on prevention,” said Kristen Ramer, outreach and operations coordinator for the Kalamazoo County Land Bank. “We want to see people maintain home ownership.”

Last month, 266 homes were in some stage of mortgage foreclosure in Kalamazoo County, a 20 percent increase over August 2009, according to California-based RealtyTrac Inc. Meanwhile, foreclosures dropped year over year by at least 24 percent in Allegan, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties.

And so far this year, about 1,800 properties in Kalamazoo County face tax foreclosure, Ramer said. That’s up from about 1,500 properties at this time last year, she said.

“It’s been increasing by almost 100 percent a year for the last three years,” she said of the number of people unable to pay their property tax bills.

There is help available for people facing foreclosure, and homeowners don’t have to pay for the service, said Larry Winling, foreclosure counselor for Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. Winling will provide information Tuesday on the federally funded agency’s free services.

“We know there are more people hurting and in need (of foreclosure help) than we’re seeing,” Winling said. “We do the foreclosure prevention counseling free of charge. We’ll work with them to get some relief from their lender.”

The Poverty Reduction Initiative and the Affordable Housing Partnership will be diving in depth on this issue for the 2009-2010 video on homelessness in Kalamazoo. The video will talk about what programs exist to prevent foreclosure and eviction in Kalamazoo.

For more information on the meeting:

Foreclosure meeting
What: “Foreclosure Prevention and Outreach Forum,” a free informational meeting on help that’s available in the community to keep people from losing their homes.
Where: Northside Association for Community Development, 612 N. Park St., Kalamazoo. When: 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Sponsors: Northside Association for Community Development, Kalamazoo County Treasurer’s office, city of Kalamazoo, and the Kalamazoo County Land Bank.

Read the full article at: http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/09/kalamazoo_county_home_foreclos.html

October 4 is the Deadline for Voter Registration for November Election

The Michigan secretary of state says the voter registration deadline is nearing for the Nov. 2 election.

Outgoing Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is reminding Michigan residents that Oct. 4 is the last day to register to vote.

www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100921/News01/100929909/1011/News

Just Faith: Teaches Advocacy for the Poor

Spend some time talking with local Just Faith graduates and you’ll frequently hear the word “life-changing.”

Whether they devote more time to advocating for the poor, see Jesus in new places or change their buying habits, the Just Faith program tends to have a lasting impact on their lives — and sometimes on entire communities...

Area churches offering the Just Faith program include First Presbyterian Church of Richland; St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Benton Harbor; and, starting this fall, St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church, in Kalamazoo Township, which is offering the program in partnership with Open Doors Kalamazoo, formerly known as Open Door and Next Door Shelters.

www.mlive.com/living/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/09/justfaith_is_all_about_justice.html

1 in 7: 43 Million Americans Live in Poverty

The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/16/AR2010091602698.html?hpid=topnews

Black Male Middle School Students 3X More Likely to Be Suspended than Their White Counterparts

Middle schools across the country are suspending children with alarming frequency, particularly in some large urban school districts, where numerous schools suspend a third or more of their black male students in a given year, according to a new study by education researchers Daniel J. Losen and Russell Skiba, and published today by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The study found that African-American children are suspended far more frequently than white children, in general, with especially high racial differences in middle school, causing them to miss valuable class time during a crucial period in their academic and social development.

In a national sample of more than 9,000 middle schools, 28.3 percent of black males, on average, were suspended at least once during a school year, nearly three times the 10 percent rate for white males. Black females were suspended more than four times as often as white females (18 percent vs. 4 percent).

For all students in the schools examined, the suspension rate was 11.2 percent. Hispanic males faced a 16.3 percent risk of suspension.

www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/new-study-finds-big-racial-gap-in-suspensions-of-middle-school-students

Central Michigan 211 helpline expands as demand increases

The informational referral service hot-line 2-1-1 is expanding to make access to services more widespread in Central Michigan. The service, which currently covers 7 counties in the Jackson area, will expand to include Genesee and Shiawassee counties. With the two added counties, Central Michigan could go from serving about 900,000 to 1.4 million people.

The call center received 61,850 calls — 22,450 calls in Jackson — in 2009, and is on pace to top that this year. The center took more than 40,400 calls in its coverage area — 13,804 in Jackson County — between January and July of this year, according to the most recent reports.

Most of the callers find the help they’re looking for. For example in July, 211 took 5,452 calls in its coverage area. Of those calls, 4,988 — or 91.5 percent — were from people whose needs were met.

Read the full article: http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/09/central_michigan_211_helpline.html

Underemployment Affects 9 Million Americans

Beyond the 15 million Americans who have no jobs at all, millions more are caught in part-time or limited jobs that don't pay them enough to maintain their standards of living.

Economists have a technical term for these people: underemployed.But there's nothing technical about it for David Linehan of Quincy, Mass., who lost his job as an analyst for an energy-trading firm during the recession, along with his $30,000 salary and benefits.

The 43-year-old now tries to get by on less than one-third that amount as a driver for a rental car company. His new employer limits his work to less than 30 hours a week because any more would make him eligible for company-provided health insurance.

"I'm so sick of news about the recovery," said Linehan, who has some college and technical-school training.

The latest Labor Department report shows there are nearly 9 million people such as Linehan who want full-time jobs but can't find them. In some cases, their formerly full-time employers have reduced their hours because of a lack of business.

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100912/NEWS03/9120501/For-many-working-just-isn-t-enough

Poverty Rate Expected to Increase Dramatically

The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is on track for a record increase on President Barack Obama's watch, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on poverty.

Census figures for 2009 — the recession-ravaged first year of the Democrat's presidency — are to be released in the coming week, and demographers expect grim findings...

Interviews with six demographers who closely track poverty trends found wide consensus that 2009 figures are likely to show a significant rate increase to the range of 14.7 percent to 15 percent.

Should those estimates hold true, some 45 million people in this country, or more than 1 in 7, were poor last year. It would be the highest single-year increase since the government began calculating poverty figures in 1959. The previous high was in 1980 when the rate jumped 1.3 percentage points to 13 percent during the energy crisis.

Among the 18-64 working-age population, the demographers expect a rise beyond 12.4 percent, up from 11.7 percent. That would make it the highest since at least 1965, when another Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson, launched the war on poverty that expanded the federal government's role in social welfare programs from education to health care.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100911/ap_on_bi_ge/us_poverty_in_america