Rural Poverty News
"The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has received a $2 million grant that it plans to match with another $2 million to help up to 10 low-income and rural communities."
"Larry Green is superintendent of a rural school district that stretches alongside the Mississippi River, and he knows how challenging life can be for children from poor families."
"The scene last week in Clairton, where about 20 percent of the population lives below poverty level, was not what many would imagine when thinking of the Cub Scouts, a division of the Boy Scouts of America. They might instead picture a leafy suburb, an earnest father, a camping trip."
"A lack of transportation, poverty, and a harsh winter climate are among the many factors preventing Northern California residents from receiving adequate health care."
"... Louisiana ranks 49th among the states in life expectancy, has the second-highest rate of infant mortality, comes in fourth in violent crime..., and ties for second in percentage of people living below the poverty line."
"In 1998, NBC News reopened the case of the migrant, paid pitifully low wages and given no job security or benefits for picking fruits and vegetables destined for more fortunate citizens in the Land of Plenty."
"Increasing broadband access to rural and low-income families and small businesses is a major part of the National Broadband Plan issued by the Federal Communications Commission early this year."
"In contrast, the counties receiving the most cash from the state are those in California's impoverished north, like Del Norte and Yuba counties, and especially in the agrarian Central Valley, including Tulare County the top recipient of state help but also Kern and Kings counties."
"The U.S. Census Bureau will increase its advertising efforts in the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta to encourage people to respond."
"The grant would allow local rental property owners to make significant improvements on properties intended for use by low-income families. The grant also allows for public agencies ... to assist very-low and low-income homeowners to make repairs... to properties..."
"Only a few tents' tops poked above the floodwaters Wednesday where dozens of homeless once lived along the still-swollen banks of the Cumberland River. 'Being a minority, we're the last on the list. That's just the way it is,' said Troy Meneese, a 47-year-old custodian..."
"African-Americans comprise two-thirds of Georgia's prisoners and less than one-third of the state's population. Nearly 15 percent of Georgians live in poverty. Only half the prisoners say they're middle-class, according to Corrections officials."
"More than one in five of the nation's counties have outperformed their 2000 rate by five percentage points or more... [M]any large cities have low response rates, as do some rural areas with many residents who are considered difficult to count. Typically, they are low-income..."
"Yet the head of the EPA under the Obama administration, Lisa Jackson... say[s] the movement's achievements -- including significantly cleaner air and water throughout much of the USA -- have not been equally shared by low-income and minority communities..."
"The government subsidizes telephone service in sparsely populated and low-income areas where there aren't enough customers to cover costs. The $8 billion-a-year program is financed by a surcharge that businesses and consumers pay on long-distance calls."
"Representatives from four of the tribes said their economic activities haven't been diminished much by the global economic recession... But the tribal leaders also said unemployment and poverty are still major problems despite their recent economic growth."
"The average graduate leaves dental school with $250,000 in student loan debt, so few dentists think they can afford to practice in rural areas, which generally have a higher concentration of low-income patients, he said."
"The FCC said Wednesday that the ruling would hamper key portions of its national broadband plan, such as its goal to bring high-speed connections to rural and low-income areas."
"While Kennedy claimed West Virginians are being impoverished and poisoned by the coal industry, Blankenship repeatedly linked coal mining to prosperity, homeland security and freedom."
"Most residents work for low wages on farms and in orchards in the Central Valley. It is unknown how many people here are illegal immigrants, but the number is thought to be substantial. Only 225 people are registered to vote. Politicians rarely visit."
"The down economy has only magnified the lack of access rural residents have to legal representation, say attorneys with the Georgia Legal Services Program. The 39-year-old organization provides legal aid to low-income Georgians outside of metro Atlanta..."
"Arbogast noted that the proposals to increase competition and adoption rates among low-income and minority communities will be well received by Congress."
"An amendment by Rep. Mario Goico, R-Wichita, to restore the cuts failed on a voice vote. Goico expressed worry that cuts to Medicaid, which offers health insurance to low-income people, would harm nursing homes or cause them to close down, particularly in rural areas."
"Despite great strides in the effort to improve dental access for Maryland's poorest children, few dentists accept Medicaid patients on the Lower Shore."
"Disconnections for low-income customers jumped 28% statewide from September 2008 to August 2009, compared with the previous 12 months, according to an independent arm of the Public Utilities Commission."
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