It’s virtually unanimous: Most of us believe that all veterans who have served this country deserve to have roofs over their heads. As a result, cities across the country are working toward the goal of housing all the homeless vets in their communities. (Special props to Phoenix for already accomplishing this.) And now, the mayor of the city with the biggest veteran homelessness problem has pledged to join this quest.
In total, Los Angeles County has 6,300 homeless veterans — more than any other county in the United States. So on July 16, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to end veteran homelessness, at least for the 2,600 living within city limits by 2015.
Garcetti made this vow during the Unite for Veterans Summit, which included First Lady Michelle Obama. “The image of even one of these heroes sleeping out in the cold, huddled up next to an overpass—that should horrify all of us,” Obama said, according to Gale Holland of the Los Angeles Times. “Because that’s not who we are. And the truth is, we know that there are simple steps that we can take — whether that’s in business or government or in our communities — to prevent and solve these kinds of problems,” she said.
Los Angeles has 17 months to fulfill its promise, and it’s already working towards achieving it. The pipe fitters, elevator construction, painters and sheet metal worker unions are lending a hand by giving veterans first priority in their apprenticeship programs. And, earlier this year, construction began on renovating a Los Angeles County VA building into housing and supportive services for homeless veterans.
According to the Los Angeles Times, mayors from 40 states have already committed to the Obama administration’s challenge to end veteran homelessness. So hopefully the country is well on its way to meeting that goal.
MORE: Phoenix Just Became the First City to End Chronic Veteran Homelessness. Here’s How.
Tag: American poverty
This Program Has Been Keeping Low-Income Babies and Their Moms Healthy for Decades
As the endless supply of child-rearing advice books suggest, having a trusted source to help you face the challenges of motherhood certainly helps.
Back in the 1970s, University of Colorado pediatrics professor David Olds worked at an inner-city daycare center and was struck by the enormous odds faced by low-income babies and their mothers. They died far more often than babies from higher income families, and it was difficult for their mothers to travel to clinics that might offer them assistance. Olds wondered if sending nurses out to educate low-income mothers and socialize with the families in their homes would help. Out of this notion, the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) was born.
Dr. Olds began testing his program in Elmira, New York; Memphis and Denver to see if it worked in different populations of low-income mothers and babies. The resounding answer? Yes. So in 1996, after testing and adjusting the program, Dr. Olds began to share it with communities across the country. Then in 2003, the Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office opened its doors.
A recent 20-year study confirms that participation in NFP among low-income families in Memphis reduced the mortality rate from preventable deaths such as SIDS, injuries, and homicides from 1.6 percent to zero. Meanwhile, mothers in the control group who didn’t receive visits from nurses were three times more likely to die than those who did talk regularly with nurses from NFP.
“Death among mothers and children in these age ranges in the U.S. general population is rare but of enormous consequence,” Dr. Olds told Ana B. Ibarra of the Merced Sun Star. “The high rates of death among mothers and children not receiving nurse-home visits reflect the toxic conditions faced by too many low-income parents and children in our society.”
NFP nurse visits begin during pregnancy, educating mothers-to-be about how to stay healthy before and after their babies are born. Studies suggest that this engagement reduces doctor and hospital visits due to injury in kids under age 2 by 56 percent, reduces smoking in mothers by 25 percent, brings child abuse down by 48 percent and even lowers the number of convictions when these children grow up — bringing that rate down by a whopping 69 percent.
In California, NFP currently serves 21 counties, targeting first-time low-income mothers (especially teen mothers), and the program works so well that the California Department of Public Health hopes to expand it to all 58 counties in the state.
Clearly, for those mothers with the fewest financial resources and very little emotional support, visits from a caring, knowledgable nurse can make all the difference — in not only their health, but the wellness of their children, too.
MORE: How Jobs Give Low-Income Mothers More Than A Financial Boost
Could Direct Payments Break the Cycle of Poverty?
A sad fact: Poverty in America is increasing.
Currently, 20 percent of children in the U.S. grow up in poverty. That’s 16 million kids struggling to get by. And sadly, the percentage of poor kids in this country continues to grow.
What to do about this problem is a hotly debated question. Some advocate universal preschool, while others vote to improve access to affordable housing.
One economist has offered a somewhat radical proposal: Austin Nichols of The Urban Institute writes that we could reduce child poverty levels to 10 percent by providing each kid with a $400 monthly stipend. Added to that, Nichols believes that if one member of a poor family received employment, earning just $15,000 a year, the poverty rate would drop to 1 percent.
The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds — many countries have such programs. Germany provides $250 per child each month to families, Japan gives $130 per child monthly, and the U.K. ponies up $140 for each child every month. Interestingly, most of these benefits go to all families with children, not just poor families.
Lane Anderson of Deseret News looked into whether such cash transfer programs work. The findings? A study by the World Bank and GiveDirectly.com suggests they do. For instance, when low-income Kenyans received a stipend, they reported gains in assets and general well-being and decreases in hunger.
The Urban Institute estimates that poverty-related expenses cost the U.S. $550 billion per year. Nichols’s proposal would cost just $76 billion annually, according to an article in TalkPoverty written by Zach McDade of the Urban Institute. In theory, this would save the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars currently spent on child poverty.
McDade writes, “Dramatically reducing poverty is in fact the financially prudent thing to do, and helping 16 million American children out of poverty is the moral thing to do as well.”
In recent years we’ve seen many examples of how housing-first programs are saving states and cities money by reducing chronic homelessness. Could a cash-benefit program for poor kids have a similar effect?
MORE: Here’s Why We Should be Investing in Single Moms
Short on Cash? That’s No Problem at This Farmer’s Market
The way it typically works at a farmer’s market (and with just about every retailer, in fact): You pay money and in exchange, you go home with a bunch of fresh produce.
But at the go-go fresco farmer’s market in Charlotte, North Carolina, if you don’t have enough money to pay for your greens, you don’t have to worry.
Huh?
If you’re telling yourself that there must be a catch, there’s not. The farmer’s market frequently operates on the pay-what-you-can principle that’s already the basis for many cafés across the country.
Even better: You might not have to drive across town to visit go-go fresco, since it visits 10 different locations each week, with the goal of bringing fresh produce to people who might not be able to access it otherwise.
Two of the locations are designed to reach low-income families and that’s where patrons can pay what they care to — either the suggested price, a bit more to help another shopper out, or less if that’s all they’ve got. Go-go fresco also accepts food stamps and often donates produce (which it buys from local farmers) to the non-profits that host their mobile market: The YWCA and the Children and Family Services Center.
“We have good weeks and some bad weeks, but it balances out,” Nick Knock (who founded go-go fresco with Leconte Lee) told Mark Price of the Charlotte Observer. “It’s inspiring to see the hearts and generosity of people who don’t think twice about paying more so someone in need can get fresh food.”
Knock told Price that there have been a few times when he wondered if patrons were taking advantage of the pay-what-you-want option, “But then I saw that they only had $3.19 left on their (food stamp) account, and I got choked up. They were spending what little money they had left at our market. It was mind-blowing when you think they were able to get food because of us.”
MORE: The Restaurant Without A Cash Register
One Key to Higher Test Scores? Affordable Housing
It’s no real surprise that research shows that affordable housing increases families’ health, security, and well-being.
And now, a new study by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore discovered that another benefit: Kids that live in modest homes perform better on tests.
More specifically, “Families spending about 30 percent of their income on housing had children with the best cognitive outcomes,” Sandra J. Newman, the director of Johns Hopkins Center on Housing, Neighborhoods, and Communities, told Phys.org. “It’s worse when you pay too little and worse when you pay too much.”
The study, whose findings are reported in the Journal of Housing Economics and Housing Policy Debate found that when families used more than a third of their income to cover housing expenses — which was the case for 88 percent of the lowest-income families surveyed — they spent less on education boosters such as books, computers, lessons, and trips to museums and performances. The families that spent 20 percent or less on housing tended to live in distressed neighborhoods where the instability impacted the kids’ cognitive performance.
“The markedly poorer performance of children in families with extremely low housing cost burdens undercuts the housing policy assumption that a lower housing cost burden is always best,” Newman said. “Rather than finding a bargain in a good neighborhood, they’re living in low-quality housing with spillover effects on their children’s development.”
When families saw the percentage of income they had to pay to cover their housing decrease, the money they spent on their kids’ enrichment increased. “People are making trade-offs,” study researcher C. Scott Holupka told Phys.org, “and those trade-offs have implications for their children.”
MORE: These Seniors Needed Affordable Housing, And These Kids Needed Love. Together, They’re Beautifully Solving Both Problems.
There’s More Than Meets the Eye to This Picnic in the Park
During the school year, lunch often isn’t a problem for low-income kids because they benefit from subsidized meals. But when summer rolls around, well, it’s another thing: Hunger becomes a real threat.
In Idaho, that situation is a bigger problem than you might realize. In fact, more than 90,000 kids experience hunger, according to the Idaho Foodbank.
The nonprofit doesn’t want these children to spend an entire summer with rumbling stomachs, so this year they are continuing their popular Picnic in the Park program — a massive effort to provide 60,000 meals to needy kids in the Boise area.
The initiative has 27 lunch giveaways planned for the summer— the majority of which will happen in public parks. During the noontime gatherings, Parks and Recreation Department employees and volunteers will be on hand to lead kids in exercise and games and the Idaho Commission for Libraries will bring bookmobiles to the events. The Idaho State Department of Education, the Boise School District, and Old Chicago Restaurant are also involved, contributing various things.
“I don’t know if there’s a better collaborative effort than this,” said Boise Mayor Dave Bieter told George Prentice of Boise Weekly. “Getting kids moving, reading, making good friends and developing healthy habits…this just gets better every year.”
Marty Zahn of Old Chicago explained to Prentice how the events work. “As the kids are eating their lunches, we begin some interactions…some small talk, asking them about their plans for the summer and whatnot. Then, it’s just natural to ask them to play some games.”
And after a nutritious lunch, the kids certainly have plenty of energy to play, read, and make friends.
MORE: This Young Child Has Big Plans to Feed His Hungry Peers
When These Low-Income Women Needed Help, They Found an Answer in Each Other
For all the recent innovation and developments in technology and more, it’s easy to forget that some of the best ideas for solving national challenges are relics of the past.
That’s the case with Black Women’s Blueprint, a network for women to barter for goods and services that also runs a sou-sou, or money pool, an ancient savings technique through which the members of the pool each contribute a monthly amount of cash and take turns receiving the lump sum. Through this service, Black Women’s Blueprint strives to elevate the lives of black women socially and economically.
The group is run by Farah Tanis, a woman who has spent her life helping people, from working with refugees living with HIV in New York City to serving on the board of Girls for Gender Equity, an organization that seeks to provide comprehensive development to girls and women. These roles, combined with her many projects focused on combatting domestic violence, led her to be named a U.S. Human Rights Institute fellow in 2012.
“Through our barter network we were able to barter food for the week, for a car ride for the week, and that’s what sustained many of us,” Tanis said on a panel discussion sponsored by GRITtv. “It prevented homelessness, starvation and kids being left at home alone by themselves. The barter network builds community and it builds trust.”
Tanis told Laura Flanders of Yes! Magazine that the idea came to her when she was talking with a group of low-income women about the challenges they faced. “Most of us had grown up in poverty and we started looking at what were the systemic causes of poverty for us. We started looking at economic security as a human right and an extension of the Civil Rights.”
As Black Women’s Blueprint’s barter network proves, sometimes the best ideas are the old ones.
MORE: Here’s How An Ancient Banking Technique Can Help America’s Poor
Minnesota Looks to a Historic Structure to Help End Veteran Homelessness
First, the building served as a fort. Its second life? A Civil War induction station. Next, it was the Military Intelligence Service Language School during World War II, where soldiers learned Japanese. For its fourth incarnation, the fort was decommissioned and turned over to the Minnesota Historical Society and became a military museum. Now, the historic structure is being called to service once again — this time as housing for homeless veterans.
Fort Snelling, which sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, was built in the 1820s. To ready the structure for its new purpose, construction workers broke ground on May 29 to begin converting five of its historic buildings into 58 affordable housing units for homeless military veterans and their families — the CommonBond Veteran’s Housing.
Studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom units are available. The complex will include medical and psychological health offices, job training services, and academic support. Residents will work with counselors to help get their lives back on track.
Collaboration between public and private groups, including United Health Group, the Home Depot Foundation, Neighborhood Works America, and many others raised the $17.2 million required for the project, which should be completed by spring 2015.
“I’m very proud of the progress that we have made. After years of hard work, Minnesota now has the lowest homeless rate for veterans in the country,” Senator Al Franken told Reg Chapman of CBS Minnesota. Minnesota has 320 homeless veterans, and state leaders have set a goal to end homelessness among veterans in the state by 2015.
Formerly homeless Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Jerry Readmond, who now serves as an advocate for homeless veterans, told Chapman, “We’re all trained in the military how to survive but when we come home we have to start surviving all over again.”
This new use of the old fort should make that quest for survival easier.
MORE: The City of Miami Steps Up for Its Homeless Service Members
The City of Miami Steps Up For Its Homeless Service Members
Over Memorial Day weekend, the city of Miami put the phrase “thank you for your service” into action.
The Southern Florida city gathered hundreds of volunteers together in an effort to offer homeless service members a wealth of services during Operation Stand Down. The three-day event, which had 100 organizations participating (such as the City of Miami Veterans Services Department and the Florida Veterans Foundation), helped more than 200 veterans.
In a tent city on the property of an American Legion post, volunteers distributed clothing and performed medical and dental exams. Miami-Dade Judge Steve Leifman was on hand, running a court to resolve any outstanding minor infractions on the homeless vets’ records, such as petty theft or traffic violations. Showers, hot meals, and haircuts were also provided; homeless vets stayed on cots housed in the tends during the weekend.
Veteran Arthur Woods told Natalie Zea of CBS Miami, “It’s helping me out considerably as far as me getting my act together and a lot of things I don’t have due to the fact that I’m homeless…I need dental. I need some eyeglasses. I mostly need a place to stay and I need some income.”
The nonprofit Operation Sacred Trust even provided two of the homeless veterans with their own homes. Coast Guard veteran Gregory Lewis, one of the recipients, said he was “elated.”
“To open that door is gonna be great because it’s going to open other doors. I have two kids and four grandkids and they’ll be able to visit me. I’ll have a stable environment.”
MORE: Giving Homeless Vets A Helping Hand–And A New Uniform
Big Bets: How a 12-Month Bootcamp Transforms Low-Income Youths Into Whiz Kids
Gerald Chertavian first met David Heredia, a 1o-year-old boy from the Dominican Republic, nearly 30 years ago; the relationship would prove to have lasting impact. Through a Big Brother program, Chertavian spent most of his Saturdays with the boy and his family in Rutgers Houses, one of New York City’s most dangerous housing projects at the time. “Talking with David and his four older brothers — seeing where they were starting from and what was in their grasp, listening to their dreams and hopes…that absolutely changed my life,” he says. Chertavian had a successful career on Wall Street and built a technology firm, which he and his partners sold for $83 million. But he never forgot Heredia and other low-income youths he met that weren’t part of the mainstream economy. So in 2000 he founded Year Up, a job training program for disadvantaged young adults that guides them into careers at large corporations.
In this first episode of our Big Bets series, Chertavian discusses the challenges he faces as he aspires to take Year Up from an organization that helps thousands of kids escape poverty to one that helps millions.
Since the original publication of this story, Gerald Chertavian, founder of Year Up, has become a NationSwell Council member.
MORE: America the Brave — 8 Ideas Set to Change Our Country