On September 26, 1990, the Census Bureau released its 1989 figures on poverty and income which showed that no significant progress was made in reducing poverty in 1989, and that gaps between rich and poor and between the wealthy and the middle class hit their widest points in more than 40 years. Although 1989 marked the seventh year of economic…

Increasingly the poor have been receiving federal assistance through goods and services rather than cash. These goods and services have not been counted when measuring the income and poverty of the recipients. This report examines three proposals to change the manner in which poverty is measured. All include ways to calculate the value of noncash…

This study tracks Federal block grant monies and their impact on the poor of Illinois. The hypothesis prompting the study was that the state has distributed a smaller proportion of its Federal block grant funds to those counties with the highest proportion of the state's poor as compared with the proportional distribution of Federal dollars under…

Testimonies and related materials from a Congressional hearing on Medicare and Medicaid reform are presented. Chairman Mike Synar's opening remarks deal with the need to maintain quality health care and access to care in the era of such cost containment policies as Diagnostic Related Groups. The chairman calls for reform of the Medicare and…

Although there are a number of complex political, economic, and ecological issues at the root of world hunger, a number of myths have been perpetuated to explain why hunger exists. One myth says that people are hungry because of scarcity; in fact, hunger exists in the face of plenty. The earth is producing more than enough to nourish every human…

In South Carolina, the children of farmworkers were found to be getting 800 calories of food a day. This case study describes the lifestyle of one of these families and examines problems associated with underemployment and poverty. Study questions and activities are included. (DE)

A review of the history of the failure of public policies to alter the American distribution of income from the early Kennedy administration to Nixon's 1974 budget.

Survey data obtained from 893 very low-income elderly is presented utilizing a poverty, low-income dichotomy. The relationships between income level, sex and marital status are explored for a variety of items related to morale and life satisfaction. (Author)

This article discusses a program that sent students into the community to learn about health problems faced by the urban poor. Knowledge learned while in the field was tested and compared with scores obtained by students taught in the classroom only. (JS)

Project ASSIST (Action Strategies for Implementing Social Transition) is an attempt to assess the needs, concerns, problems, strengths, and preferences of low income area residents within the city of New Orleans by developing primary based data. This report presents the findings of two major surveys, in which 1,306 households in eight low income…

CENSUS DATA SHOW THAT POVERTY IS OFTEN THE RESULT OF SERIOUS WAGE INADEQUACIES. IN 1964, NEARLY ONE-FIFTH OF THE MORE THAN 47.5 MILLION FAMILIES IN THE NATION HAD INCOMES UNDER $3,000. MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION HELPS TO ELIMINATE POVERTY BY SETTING A FLOOR FOR WAGES. FEWER THAN 30 MILLION OF THE MORE THAN 47 MILLION NONSUPERVISORY EMPLOYEES IN…

OUTLINED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AN APPROACH FOR DETERMINING LEVELS OF INCOME WHICH TYPIFY EQUIVALENT LEVELS OF POVERTY FOR FAMILIES IN DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. THE INDEX IS CONSTRUCTED WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SUCH FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES AS NUMBER AND AGE OF PERSONS AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. THE INDEX CAN BE USED TO DEFLATE FAMILY INCOME SO THAT IT IS…

A voluminous body of literature exists on the topic of food stamps including the administration of the federal and state programs and the question of abuses and fraud. This bibliography describes a portion of that material in print. An introduction provides general information and a chronology of the food stamp program and comments on the place of…

A radio placed in each classroom was successfully used as an aid to teaching 1,800 new words to 24,000 middle grade, public school children in St. Louis. The lessons were presented three days weekly over the school system's radio station. Students were tested before and after each lesson. The pre- and re-test answer sheets were scored at the…