PostWidely content : Poverty

"The number of Americans in state and federal prisons has quintupled since 1980."

Chicago Lawyers' Committee Civil Rights Fellow Shubra Ohri presents on the alternatives to incarceration.

The disparity in suspensions between white and minority students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and in Illinois is extremely troubling. CPS has the right official policies, but doesn’t follow them. CPS should record and publish suspension and expulsion statistics school by school, with details like the race of the student and the nature of the offense, so that school administrators’ decisions can be analyzed and there can be accountability.

How many more citizens will descend into poverty [under the antiquated U.S. poverty line] as a result of the 2013 budget cuts?

Unlike many who face homelessness and experience poverty, StreetWise Vendor Mark Larson says he was blessed with a very happy childhood.

There have been more challenges to the Voting Rights Act in the past 2 years than in the previous 45 years combined.

According to this article, many experts believe that "the impact of the recession on the young has created a disillusionment about politics in general." It is a heart-breaking read, but it gives rise to very important questions. Why do people who feel oppressed or discouraged by their current circumstances steer away from political activity? What kind of impact will this trend have on politics in the future? Will politics continue to be increasingly a game for the well-off? How do we change it?

Truly an American Hero -- consistently fighting for this country to realize that children are categorically different than adults and should be treated accordingly.

Bryan’s death earlier this year on the streets of Chicago left staff and clients alike at The Night Ministry shocked and grieving. Bryan had been on the list of Chicago’s most “vulnerable” individuals on the street: those most likely to die if they were not housed. Tragically, a temporary “bridge” housing unit was available prior to his death; however, Bryan never took the steps to actually visit the apartment. Also, he was eligible for a permanent supportive housing unit whenever one became available.

This week’s cover story features the 100,000 Homes Campaign, its efforts to house the most vulnerable homeless, and how this project came too late for one Chicagoan, (see page 10 of StreetWise Magazine). The person in question, “Bryan,” was a client at a number of social service agencies.

Certain groups, namely ones that tend to have a lower income than other Americans, actually pay more for car insurance. I think this quote sums up the issue nicely: “We are somehow talking about poverty traps. By all appearance, financial benefits seem to stay with those who already have them. The important task is to know the mechanisms and to overcome them; ultimately to join the club of those who are better off. There is no systemic reason why a member of a minority group should not enjoy the same rates as any 'average citizen’. High auto insurance rates should not just be taken as destiny.”

Chicago consistently has some of the worst gun violence numbers in the country. The Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago are fighting back with a gun turn-in event on Saturday, June 23 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Turn in your gun and receive a $100 MasterCard gift card. No questions asked. Really. No questions. This is not the first time the City has hosted such an event. As such, people should know about it, even those who do not own a gun. I think this is a very interesting way to fight crime violence. Thoughts?

University of Chicago law students are participating in some really valuable work through the Exoneration Project, a clinic that "engages law students in vital cases, representing prisoners convicted on flawed evidence." The program gives students experience in cases that a large number of full-time attorneys do not take. Moreover, it instills the importance of pro-bono work. Please read to find out how many convicts they have released since 2008! It is quite impressive.

This is a fascinating race question. Moderate race matching in adoption cases, which is premised on the idea that same-race adoption is more suitable than interracial adoption, is not strictly illegal. It is also an interesting social justice issue insofar as the policy disproportionately impacts black youth, who comprise a large proportion of orphans in the United States and who do not have a sufficient number of black adults willing to adopt them.

This is by far the cutest- and most creative- nonprofit partnership I've ever seen.

Even with housing prices plummeting

Disparate treatment in discipline along racial lines not only negatively impacts educational outcomes but also dramatically affects students' perceptions of justice and fairness.

Diana Thomas is a very unique personality. Her character is just as colorful as her clothing and with her bright eyes and energetic demeanor, she brings life into every room she enters.

Jimmy is a perfect representative and vendor for StreetWise because of his attentive ways to EVERY person; whether they purchase the magazine or not.

Jimmy has been a vendor with StreetWise for five weeks. He has a regular walking route and a few business locations where he sells the magazine.

Paul Knight has only been working at Streetwise for a few weeks and is still looking for a good location to sell the magazine. This is actually a very important and difficult part of beginning as a vendor. I like to listen as vendors help each other with suggestions and encouragement regarding this important step to selling the magazine.

A new mural project entitled, Progress Happens Here, is in the works to benefit the Families in Crisis Program at the San Jose Obrero Mission in the Little Village community.

Stacy Edsall and Leroy Grant are new participants in the Writing Workshop this week. We met at the lunch table and I conducted an interview with them so that we could get to know each other. They ate hot dogs with relish for lunch and wanted to tell their stories (through me) to the readers of StreetWise Magazine.

The Art Institute of Chicago brings together nearly 160 works of art for its new exhibit Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, the largest showing of its kind ever compiled. Including pieces spanning more than four decades, this exhibit is the first major survey of the namesake artist’s work since his death in 1997. It is a remarkable, in-depth look at the long and fascinating career of the famed Pop artist.

Many people make light of the problem of homelessness. But homelessness is not a laughing matter. In fact, homelessness is a very serious problem, and yet, each year, the problem gets worse and worse.

Everyone who cares about race and poverty should be reading Deepak Bhargava's essay on Social Justice Movements in a Liminal Age in this month's PRRAC newsletter, Poverty & Race.

Here is an article about our food pantry, the S.O.U.P. Center.

Great article about harsh sentencing of youth and particularly, the reasons that kids often get sentenced more harshly than adults.

Phenomenal work. We need more programs like this- as well as a concentrated, nation-wide push to eliminate questions about whether job candidates have criminal records in roles in which these would not be relevant, to allow them back into the legitimate economy and break the stigma of incarceration.

I'm particularly worried about the disparate impact this will have to further stratify the wealth of US workers and their families. Not everybody can afford the education to obtain a white collar career.

Kristof's comment about property rights brings to mind the research done on how the rule of law and effective property rights regimes make the difference between wealthy societies and underdeveloped ones. But one also notices the lack of a wider critique about reservations' abandonment by the larger society.

The product of a transformative school with transformative teachers. We must explore how these results can be replicated countrywide in all schools.

This shocked me.

In direct counterpoint to the Manhattan Institute study