Tag: mississippi

The Newspaper That Tells Tales of Homelessness, How to Help the Poor Build Credit and More

Posted on by robbie

 

On the Streets with a Newspaper Vendor Trying to Sell His Story, CityLab

It can be uncomfortable shelling out change to a beggar living on the street, but would you be willing to pay $2 for a newspaper about homelessness and poverty? Robert Williams, a Marine Corps veteran who writes for Street Sense, a biweekly broadsheet in Washington, D.C., hopes so. For every copy he sells, he keeps 75 percent, his only source of income.

Banking on Justice, YES! Magazine

In the impoverished Mississippi Delta region, most locals can’t borrow from large banks such as Citibank, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase because small loans don’t make enough interest to be worthwhile. Instead, residents are increasingly turning to Community Development Financial Institutions, known as CDFIs, which receive federal assistance in exchange for making capital available in low-income areas.

When Teachers Take A Breath, Students Can Bloom, NPR

Educators have it rough. If keeping up with children’s energy levels for six hours isn’t enough, they also need to help students cope with difficulties outside the classroom and meet the rigors of state testing and federal standards. That can lead to a lot of stress, which is why CARE for Teachers trains educators in meditation techniques proven to reduce anxiety and burnout.

MORE: Mindfulness at Work: 7 Places Where Employees Benefit from Meditation

A House That’s Actually Affordable to Those in Poverty, Stories of Innovation from Coast to Coast and More

Posted on by robbie

 
This House Costs Just $20,000 — But It’s Nicer Than Yours, Fast Co.Exist
Is it possible to build a house that’s cost-effective to someone living below the poverty line? The answer is yes, according to students at Auburn University’s School of Architecture, who worked on the design and construction dilemma for more than 10 years. Last month, they revealed two tiny houses in a community outside of Atlanta that cost just $14,000 each.
How America Is Putting Itself Back Together Again, The Atlantic
As writer James Fallows says, “As a whole, the country may seem to be going to hell.” But as he’s discovered while visiting various towns across America in his single-engine prop plane, there’s actually a groundswell of renewal and innovation already happening — from impressive economic growth in an impoverished area of Mississippi known as the Golden Triangle, to an investment in the Michigan public education system and a creative movement in more than 10 cities where artistic ventures are being celebrated.
Here’s What Happened When This School Made SATs Optional on Applications, Mic
Along with prom and getting your driver’s license, taking the SAT or ACT is a teenage rite of passage. But that’s no longer the case for some college-bound students. In a bold move, George Washington University made standardized test results optional for undergraduate applicants. The positive outcome: A more diverse candidate pool, including a sharp uptick in applications from African-American, Latino and first-generation college students.
 
MORE: Meet the Courageous Man Who Has Housed 1,393 Chronically Homeless Individuals in Utah
 
 

When an Elderly Veteran Tried to Build a Wheelchair Ramp, These Volunteers Didn’t Let Him Go at it Alone

Posted on by robbie

Eighty-six-year-old Navy veteran John Walker of Gulfport, Miss., is used to taking care of himself. So when his wife Kathleen broke her leg, he decided to build a wheelchair ramp to make it easier to get her in and out of the house.
But when the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of Harrison County (RSVP), learned about the situation, the group contacted Disability Connection, a nonprofit that helps with emergency home repairs and modifications for veterans, the disabled and low-income families.
Disability Connection executive director Janie O’Keefe tells Trang Pham-Bui of WLOX that after Walker build his ramp, “We came and inspected it and it did not look like it was as safe as it should be. It did not look like it would survive long term, so we agreed to basically start over and give him a fresh, brand-new ramp.”
At first Walker refused the help. “I’m used to doing for myself, for my family,” he said. But he soon realized he and his wife could use the support of people like U.S. Army Specialist Kegan Wood, who pitched in to build the new ramp using materials that the Home Depot donated. Pham-Bui asked Walker how he felt to see so many people volunteering to work on the project and he says, “It makes me want to cry.”
“If anybody deserves it, you and your wife do,” O’Keefe tells Walker.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
MORE: Two NFL Players Surprise a Veteran Dedicated to Helping Service Members

When a Wounded Veteran Needed to Get Back on His Feet, This Toy Helped

Posted on by robbie

Who better to know what a veteran needs to recover after being injured than a fellow wounded soldier?
Back in 2010, while Dave Flowers was recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, following the loss of his leg and several other injuries, he began playing the Nintendo Wii Fit at the suggestion of his physical therapist. “Within about nine days of just playing that thing every single day, not even very long, just a couple hours a day, I was able to start walking with a walker, and then a few days later just two canes,” he told Michelle Basch of WTOP.
Because the game helped him find success, Flowers created the program Wiis for Warriors to provide free Wiis to other vets.
Flowers won a Bronze Star Medal for his valor in Afghanistan. In 2009, when he was a Staff Sergeant with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Airfield, he was clearing a weapons cache site with his team when he stepped on a mine. His left leg was shattered and he lost his right leg below the knee, but he prevented fellow soldiers from being injured when he fell back into the hole the blast created.
Flowers’s selflessness doesn’t stop with his actions on the battlefield or Wiis for Warriors. Now living in Mississippi, he started the Dave Flowers Foundation as a way to honor and assist wounded veterans of a prior generation who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“I know for a fact, told to me by my surgeon, if it wasn’t for the field medic tactics generated during Vietnam, I wouldn’t be alive,” Flowers told Patrick Ochs of the Sun Herald. “I kind of feel like I owe those guys a little bit…When you’re told that in Vietnam they would have stepped over you because they couldn’t have saved you — they developed those techniques because of the people in Vietnam.”
Flowers’s goal is to help older veterans in southern Mississippi with any needs they have that aren’t covered by VA benefits. He notes on the foundation’s website that some older veterans are reluctant to ask for help because of pride or past negative experiences when seeking assistance.
“I’m alive because of a different generation,” he told Ochs. “You have to help them.”
We couldn’t agree more.
MORE: This Amazing Nonprofit Helps Wounded Warriors Rebuild Their Lives

Inside the Movement for Free Community College

Posted on by robbie

With the rising costs of a college degree, our country’s total student loan debt has soared past a staggering $1 trillion. We’ve read the stories of crippling debt and the consequences it carries. So, in an effort to buck this worrying trend, lawmakers in three separate states have proposed big plans for higher education: free community college.
Tennessee
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Bill Haslam proposed that all of the state’s high school graduates could attend Tennessee’s community and technical colleges for free for two years. The plan, called the “Tennessee Promise,” would be funded by $300 million in state lottery money. “We are fighting the rising cost of higher education, and we are raising our expectations as a state,” Haslam said. “We are committed to making a clear statement to families that education beyond high school is a priority in the state of Tennessee.” If the plan passes, Haslam said that Tennessee would become the only state to offer this guarantee — unless these next two states don’t beat Tennessee to the punch.
Mississippi
Although it didn’t make a big splash in the news, Mississippi also has plans for free community college. Their state legislature passed a bill that would make all 15 of the state’s community colleges tuition-free for high school students who enroll within 12 months of graduation, Inside Higher Ed reports. The bill still needs approval from the Appropriations Committee and the full House, but if it passes, the program would cost less than $4.5 million per year for the 75,000-student system. The catch? Mississippi would only step in to cover a student’s tuition after they tap out federal and institutional financial aid.
MORE: The Surprising University That’s Educating a Huge Number of Olympic Athletes
Oregon
Lastly, the Oregon senate unanimously approved a bill that would study the idea of free community college in the state. The study would help determine whether or not the state should take up this issue next year. Lawmakers suggested that two years of tuition for the state’s 32,000 high school graduates would cost between $100 and $200 million, so the study would help determine where funding would come from, Oregon Live reports. Granted, Oregon has taken a small first step, but it’s an important one to get things going. As Sen. Mark Hass said after the bill’s approval, “Next year when you see this concept hopefully on the floor, the homework will be done, the rules will be in place and the options will be clear.”

Why These Fourth Graders Are Singing the Blues

Posted on by robbie

The Mississippi Delta is famous for its blues musicians, but the fourth graders at Tunica Elementary School are learning about rhythm, rhyme and chord progressions in a whole new way. By incorporating the blues into science, math, social studies and English, the school is helping students to retain more information through song while teaching them about their state’s musical history. In teacher Chevonne Dixon’s class, students follow the Mississippi Blues Trail Curriculum to write blues songs about the weather and about being a kid. And they study classic blues lyrics to learn about the challenges of growing cotton, the civil rights movement, media and transportation. The school’s principal, Eva McCool-O’Neil, says she wants to see other classes happily singing the blues next year. “I see student engagement really, really, really high,” she told the Associated Press. “Students love to do things other than just the traditional.”

Are Marketing Tricks the Secret to Making Healthier Choices?

Posted on by robbie

Forrest General Hospital in Mississippi wants fewer heart patients. The hospital partnered with the American Heart Association to commemorate National Eating Healthy Day and the “My Heart, My Life” program, and they brought cafeteria revolutions to a new level. They didn’t stop at swapping out fatty, high-sodium foods for healthier options. And they didn’t stop at adding low-calorie and diet drinks. They took a marketing-minded approach, implementing strategic steps like rearranging vending machines to put the healthy options right in front of everyone’s faces. They connected with nearby colleges as well—students contributed recommendations based on the latest research, while chefs, culinary developers, and nutritional developers have been rotating in to create a well-rounded menu. The project became a comprehensive community-based program that can help people learn to make permanent diet changes.