Page 33 - Poverty Issues News Today

Employers are increasingly using whats known as "fair-chance hiring" to help the nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults with criminal records gain access to living wage jobs. Advocates for formerly incarcerated people said they are a motivated and skilled pool of workers who can add to the diversity and growth of a business while also helping alleviate a nationwide labor shortage. ...

Workers in Washington state are holding a march this weekend ahead of May Day, which commemorates the workers rights movement around the world. The march will take place on Sunday in Mount Vernon, a town in northwest Washington with a large farmworker community. Lelo Juarez, an organizer with Community to Community Development, a grassroots organization dedicated to food sovereignty and immigrant rights thats hosting the march, said it is meant to bring together laborers of every kind. ...

From Buffalo to Montauk, New York State is in the midst of an affordable-housing crisis. The National Low-Income Housing Coalitions Out of Reach report found someone working at the current minimum wage would need to work 99 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom rental. Along with stagnant wages, rising inflation has also led to higher housing costs. ...

Public opposition to legislation requiring stricter fire-safety standards at Maines recovery residences has led lawmakers to consider studying the system as a whole. Advocates for Mainers with substance-use disorders say legislation to require the addition of costly sprinkler systems and fire doors would close up to 30 recovery homes and endanger lives at a time of record drug overdoses. State Rep. ...

A new report found thousands of Michigan families using Housing Choice Vouchers are often left out in the cold by landlords who refuse to rent to them. A bill in the General Assembly would protect people who need affordable housing from discrimination based on their income source. The report from the Michigan League for Public Policy showed children forced to live in substandard housing are excluded from high-performing schools as well as safe, healthy homes and neighborhoods. ...

As Fair Housing Month gets underway, a Virginia group feels more can be done to enforce fair housing laws. Along with the federal Fair Housing Act, most states have their own fair housing laws preventing housing discrimination. Virginia updated its Fair Housing Law in 2020 to ensure if a person uses money from a rental assistance program or subsidy, they cannot be discriminated against. ...

By Sonali Kolhatkar for Yes!Magazine.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the YES! Media-Public News Service Collaboration The United States incarcerates more people than nearly any other country in the world. Among the millions in detention at any given time are hundreds of thousands being held in jails. ...

A new report outlines ways that states like Virginia could rethink long prison sentences and how to use them more sparingly. The Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Long Sentences makes a series of policy recommendations for more judicial discretion in sentencing, and for promoting more individual accountability. They focus on allocating more resources to rehabilitation, through behavioral healthcare or trauma services. ...

A recent report from the Prison Policy Initiative calls for better state laws to keep incarcerated parents close to their kids. It finds 12 states including New York have measures designed to improve a childs access to incarcerated parents, but not all of these laws have the same protections. New York has a proximity law, which means theres a maximum distance allowed between a child and an incarcerated parent. ...

As families struggle with inflation and high gas prices, Ohio schools said they are seeing a staggering rise in the number of students whose parents cannot afford to pay for lunch, but who do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Lindy Douglas, coordinator of whole child and wellness programs for Alexander Local Schools in Athens County, said school lunch debt has more than doubled this year from pre-pandemic levels. She pointed out cafeteria workers are being forced to deny children fo...