More people in Nebraska, Iowa lacking health insurance

from the Omaha World Herald

The perspective from the farm belt. The numbers with health insurance dropped by 1 million since the Bush administration began. - Kale

BY CINDY GONZALEZ

The percentage of people in Nebraska and Iowa lacking health insurance is rising, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

The figures compare the 2006-2007 average with the average of 2004-2005.

The census figures show that 12.8 percent of Nebraskans were without health insurance coverage in the most current two years, up from 10.5 percent.

In Iowa, the percentage of uninsured went from 8.7 percent to 9.9 percent.

Nebraska and Iowa were among 10 states that had a rate increase.

Both states' rates of uninsured still falls below the nationwide 2006-2007 average of 15.5 percent. The percentage of Americans without insurance in 2005-2004 was 15.1 percent.

The data are part of a new census report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States.

The report says both the number and percentage of people without health insurance nationally decreased in the one year period between 2006 and 2007.

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Johnston girls help others, learn value of home

from the Des Moines Register

The great thing about lending a hand is when your done, you want to do it again. This story profiles 3 girls from Iowa who helped the people of Appalachia. - Kale, Poverty News Blog Editor.

By JULI PROBASCO-SOWERS

Three Johnston High School students have returned from a trip they say makes them look at life more realistically, appreciate family more and be less materialistic.

Haley Johnson, 17, and Kara Highfill, 15, both of Johnston, and Caroline Byrd, 16, of Urbandale just returned from a mission trip to Kentucky.

Three crews totaling 12 people from Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Urbandale repaired and improved houses for families through the Appalachian Service Project.

"I just had such a great experience last time," Byrd said. "I learned so much from it, and it is something I want to continue doing."

That's why she went along on this year's trip, leaving for Barbourville, Ky., on July 5 and returning on Saturday. "You learn that everything is not how it is in Johnston. Johnston is a different community and a lot more fortunate than a lot of places, even places in Iowa," she said.

Last year's trip was to a remote location in the mountains in Virginia, she said. This time the destination was less secluded and she had cell phone service so she could talk to her family daily.

Byrd and Johnson worked on the same team, installing drywall and doing a little plumbing with the other crew members.

Johnson said she got to know the family she was working for better than in the last three mission trips because they had children at home.

"I just thought this family was really cool," she said. "The lady of the house, she used to live in the Philippines and I think that when she lived there she had a lot of things, but not so much since she moved here. But she said she is getting to see her boys grow up and be with her family. It just shows you don't need a lot of things in life to make you happy."

The woman cooked for the crew every day.

Highfill, who was on her second mission trip, worked on a separate crew. Her group scrubbed the walls, primed and painted the kitchen and did other work on the roof of the house.

"I think when I come back from these trips I have a sense of renewal and what is important in my life," she said. "The culture down there is a lot about family and when I come back I understand how important family is."

Byrd said she also bonded more with the family she was helping on this year's trip.

"When we sawed drywall, the little 4-year-old would blow the dust away so we could see the lines. He also would hold a flashlight for us when we did plumbing work."

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Brasher: Food stamps, food banks ravaged by steeper prices

from the Des Moines Register

BY PHILIP BRASHER
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU

Washington, D.C. - The high prices for milk, grain and other commodities are hitting home at places like the Johnson County Crisis Center food bank in Iowa City.

More people are struggling to buy food, even with food stamps. But at the same time, donors have cut back on contributions.

The annual Boy Scout-led food drive brought in eight pallets of food last fall, four fewer than normal.

"A lot of the staple items - bread, dairy products in particular - have had a sharp increase (in price)," said Dayna Ballantyne, the food bank's director. "Across the board, our clients are finding they just aren't able to purchase food like they used to."

The cost of feeding a family of four on a low-income budget has jumped nearly 6 percent since February 2007, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Anti-hunger advocates say the increase in food prices makes it all the more important for Congress to agree on a new farm bill soon and to include increases in nutrition spending, both to raise food stamp benefits and to provide more commodities to food pantries and soup kitchens.

Extending the old farm bill, as some lawmakers have talked about, just won't do, said Ellen Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center, a Washington-based advocacy group.

"We're just going to see the purchasing power for food stamps continuing to erode, and it doesn't do anything to get commodities up on the shelves in the food banks," she said.

The Johnson County Crisis Center has been providing food to 970 families a week recently, up from the typical 750, as families struggle to pay their food and energy bills. But the food bank, strapped for donations, is giving recipients one-third less food than it used to.

The amount of food stamp benefits a family is allowed goes up each fall based on inflation. But that increase is based on an estimate of food costs the previous June, and since last June, food costs have risen 5.2 percent, according to USDA.

"For our clients that do receive food stamps, the amount of food stamps allocated per household hasn't gone up with the food costs. The food stamps they receive haven't gone as far as they used to," Ballantyne said.

The House and Senate have passed separate versions of a new farm bill that would increase food stamp benefits and make it easier for some low-income families to qualify for the program:

- The minimum monthly benefit for a one- or two-person household has been fixed at $10 since the 1970s. It would be raised immediately under both bills and increase in following years based on inflation.

- Benefits also would go up for other families because of new rules that would, for example, remove limits on how much they pay for child care.

- A cap on how much money families can have in savings would be raised by both bills and indexed to inflation. Under current rules, most families can have no more than $2,000 in the bank and qualify for food stamps. In some cases the cap includes retirement savings and college funds.

Both the Senate and House versions of the farm bill also would expand a commodity-distribution program that food banks depend on for commodities they provide to food pantries and soup kitchens.

Funding for the program, now set at $140 million a year, would be raised to $250 million and indexed to inflation under the House bill to account for rising food costs.

The Senate bill would fix the program's funding at $240 million annually.

Whether Congress can pass a farm bill at all this year remains to be seen. The chairmen of the House and Senate agriculture committees tentatively agreed recently to a framework for a compromise bill that would increase nutrition spending by $9.5 billion over 10 years.

However, lawmakers have been at a stalemate on other issues, most notably over what committees would control a new agricultural disaster assistance program.

Existing farm programs are set to expire April 18. If lawmakers can't finish a new farm bill by then, they could decide to put the legislation off until 2009 or later, a prospect that concerns nutrition groups.

"There really isn't any good alternative other than passing" a new farm bill, said Karen Ford, executive director of the Food Bank of Iowa.

Reporter Philip Brasher can be reached at (202) 906-8138 or pbrasher@dmreg.com

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City plans poverty simulations to raise awareness

from the Rapid City Journal

Alderman proposed idea after National League of Cities meeting
By Scott Aust,

Say you're a single parent, behind on your rent, and your son walks in the door and hands you a stereo system he obviously didn't have the money to buy. Do you ask questions about where he got it, or do you pawn it to keep your family under a roof for another month?

That's the kind of scenario policymakers, community leaders and service providers will get a chance to experience vicariously through poverty simulation workshops designed to raise awareness about the reality of living at or below the poverty line.

"You don't realize how tough it is for some people, just getting food and transportation," Alderman Lloyd LaCroix said after Wednesday's legal and finance committee meeting.

LaCroix and Barb Garcia, community development specialist, participated in a poverty-simulation seminar in San Antonio last September during a National League of Cities meeting.

As a result of that experience, LaCroix proposed to the city council buying a poverty-simulation kit from the Missouri Association for Community Action so that Rapid City can conduct its own educational workshops.

"It's a real eye-opening workshop. I thought I knew what poverty was until I went through it," LaCroix said.

According to information provided by the city, the simulation presents real-life family scenarios such as interacting with social-service workers, managing finances and meeting family demands and unexpected life events.

The kit, which costs about $1,500, comes with 30 real-life family scenarios and accessories such as play money, appliance cards and transportation passes, as well as instructions and accessories for community resources such as a welfare office, pawn shop, school, bank, police station and grocery store.

Garcia said "services" people frequently use are set up around a room, and "family members" play out an entire month of scenarios in 15-minute blocks for about an hour. Afterwards, participants talk about the experience with people in the community who volunteer to share their personal stories.

"What it does is bring to light very quickly the struggles and how difficult our social-service system is to work within for a low-income person. It helps in a very short time to bring those realizations to you," she said.

LaCroix said the simulation in Texas moved some people to tears.

"When it was all done, they said, 'Now you know how we felt (in those situations),'" LaCroix said. "After being through this, it opens your eyes to the many factors that affect poverty. Whether it's mental illness or alcohol problems, there are so many factors that there's not just one fix."

The legal and finance committee agreed to buy the poverty kit, and some council members noted it as an example of something learned during a National League of Cities conference. The council has been criticized in recent months over the frequency of trips to public-policy seminars and conferences.

"I think this is a good way to say how we demonstrated the cash flow and made good use of it when we do travel," Alderwoman Deb Hadcock said.

Alderman Malcom Chapman praised LaCroix's leadership in highlighting the issue and noted the importance of streamlining social-service efforts because of decreasing amounts of federal funds for those services.

"I think the community is going to have to put in an infrastructure whereby we understand how to deal with some of these issues locally. The only way you deal with it locally is to bring more and more services and people to the table that truly understand the issues that are in place," Chapman said.

LaCroix envisions tailoring the kit to Rapid City's poverty and homeless issues and offering several workshops during the year to increase community awareness. He isn't sure when the kit will arrive, but he hopes the city can hold a workshop sometime this summer.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com

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Iowa's working poor stuck in the middle

from the Des Moines Register

By REID FORGRAVE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Claudia Goldstone scrunches over the kitchen table in her Ames apartment. Before her sits a pile of bills, many of them medical bills for her 15-year-old autistic and mentally retarded daughter, Jacinda.

Goldstone lists the financial shortcuts she takes to ensure that her working-poor family holds its precarious financial position:

She cuts her own hair. She visits the food pantry monthly for 26 pounds of groceries for her family of four. And she picks up college kids' beer cans and work colleagues' pop cans because "those 5 cents adds up," Goldstone says, then she laughs her big laugh - one tinged with worry.

Sounds like a family living at the poverty line, right?

Not quite. Goldstone, 49, and her husband work full time and make a combined $50,000 a year. That's more than double the 2008 federal poverty guideline for a household of four people: $21,200.

"I'm not trailer trash, as you see, but we're not really making it either," Goldstone said recently. "When you're middle class or working poor, you're between two worlds, and we're getting smooshed."

In this presidential election year, many candidates have brought the lower classes to the center of the national dialogue, especially among Democrats. Before he dropped out of the race for the White House, Democrat John Edwards spoke of "two Americas," one making it and one not. He called poverty "the great moral issue of our century." Republican Mike Huckabee calls fighting poverty and stabilizing families a "faith position," not a political one. He says fighting poverty is consistent with what he calls his party's pro-life politics. Democrat Barack Obama refers to this country's "empathy deficit" and encourages the government to help society's have-nots.

But the quieter issues of the lower middle class - people who, like Goldstone, aren't below the poverty line but still live on the edge of severe economic struggles - have crept into the debate, too. Democrat Hillary Clinton has accused the Bush administration of turning the middle class into "invisible Americans," and Obama has unveiled a plan to cut the tax burden on middle-class Americans. Several candidates have focused on the health care and economic inequality issues that affect those living on the edge - people well above the poverty line and therefore ineligible for government benefits.

"Most people agree the current measure of poverty is clearly a conservative measure," said Cindy Fletcher, professor of human development and family studies at Iowa State University.

And throw in unique family needs, like Goldstone's expenses with Jacinda, and the poverty formula is thrown into flux.

"If you have a special-needs situation, that whole dollar amount changes as far as what it takes for a family to get by," said JaneAnn Stout, associate dean of the College of Human Sciences at ISU and director of the university's Extension to Families program.

Goldstone's family bests the common indicators of poverty. They have health insurance, though Jacinda's co-payments add up, and the family has food on the table. "But because of the burdens I have with a special-needs child, it has taken more money out of our lives to survive," Goldstone said.

So the family gets by on a Spartan lifestyle, the only extravagance being the occasional restaurant pizza for the kids.

Here's Goldstone's irony: She works in the Alzheimer's unit at Northcrest Retirement Community. Goldstone feels devoted to making a difference in residents' lives, no matter how their disease and their society has left them behind.

Yet Goldstone, with her daughter's issues, feels left behind by that same society.

Jacinda is a freshman at Ames High School. She has doctor's appointments twice a month in Des Moines, and she visits a psychiatrist regularly - lots of gas money. She's frequently hospitalized with delusions or aggressive behavior. Her medications, more than a half dozen including a digestive enzyme, a mood stabilizer and an anti-agressor, come with $30 co-pays after Goldstone's husband got a job and Medicaid dropped the family because they made too much to qualify.

And there are the unexpected costs. Like when Jacinda threw all her socks away, forcing the family to buy new socks. Or when they spent $70 for a potty chair.

"Every time I turn around, there's some kind of expense," Goldstone said.

The bills pile up on her kitchen table. Rent: $799 a month. Utilities: $115.46. Health insurance: $300. Dental insurance: $95. School bus transit: $25.25. Car payment for her husband's 1997 Volvo: more than $300 a month, since his bad credit meant he couldn't get a good loan.

They don't qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches, so $168 a month goes to school lunches.

And then there was the $10,000 bill for Jacinda's recent seven-day stay in the hospital, an all-too-common occurrence given her daughter's frequent, violent tantrums. Insurance paid $8,000 of it, but Goldstone's still battling for the remaining $2,000.

The financial issues would be mitigated if Jacinda were to live in an institution, where the state could pick up much of her tab.

But Goldstone doesn't want Jacinda in an institutional life. Her daughter belongs at home, around people who love her, Goldstone said.

In many ways, Jacinda is a normal teen. She loves to dance, swim, draw, watch the Disney Channel.

In many ways, she's far from normal. She sometimes balls up sheets of paper and chews them. She says things like, "God put a baby in my stomach."

"She wants to be a teenager like every teenager," Goldstone said. "But she's not. And that's the most frustrating thing for her."

So Jacinda stays at home, and Goldstone cuts corners to make do - barely.

Goldstone shops at Goodwill and Dollar General. She makes a lot of rice dishes because rice fills up stomachs, and because she knows where to get two-for-the-price-of-one 10-pound bags of the grain.

That last thing she wants is getting into debt again. A few years ago, Goldstone went through bankruptcy court after falling $30,000 in debt, $10,000 of that on credit cards to cover Jacinda's medical bills.

So now, she sits at her kitchen table, flipping through bills, wearing a pink T-shirt that reads, "Pray about everything, worry about nothing." When Goldstone talks of finances, she employs her big laugh, almost like a shrug of the shoulders.

Iowans and the poverty line

About one in nine Iowans live below the poverty line, according to the Census Bureau, a proportion that's grown in recent years.

Iowa's poverty rate for 2005-06 was 10.8 percent, three percentage points higher than five years earlier.

Iowans living below the poverty line increased to 310,230 in 2005, according to the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program, with more than a third of those Iowans living at less than half the federal poverty line.

Many of those families are not exempt from paying taxes, like in most states. Iowa families start paying state income taxes when earnings reach $18,300, which is more than $2,000 below the federal poverty line, according to the Iowa Fiscal Partnership.

Median income in Iowa dropped in 2006 to $44,491, from $45,039 in 2005, and is down from $45,150 in 2001, according to the Iowa Policy Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on tax and budget issues and the Iowa economy. (Those numbers are all in 2006 dollars.)

Other indicators of poverty in Iowa are on the rise.

The Census Bureau found 9.4 percent of Iowans don't have health insurance - about 271,000 people - as job-based insurance has increased in cost. The average worker pays twice as much now as in 2000 for family health insurance coverage, according to the Iowa Policy Project.

Food insecurity in Iowa is on the rise. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's three-year average from 2004-06 shows Iowa households with food insecurity rose to 11.4 percent. It was 9.5 percent in 2001-03 and 8 percent in 1996-98.

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Number of households on food stamps doubles since 2000

from The Chicago Tribune

By DAVID PITT

DES MOINES, Iowa

The number of households on food stamps more than doubled since 2000 as did the amount of money spent on the federally funded food assistance program, state officials said.

In 2000 the average number of households each month on food stamps was 52,785. The annual cost of the program was $100.8 million. Last year the number of households grew to 109,652 and the annual cost of the program ballooned to $273.2 million, according to Iowa Department of Human Services figures.

The state Bureau of Research and Statistics released figures Friday.

The report shows dramatic increases in the number of households and the number of individuals using food stamps. An average of 241,340 individuals received food stamps each month last year, about 48 percent more than the 124,384 that received the benefits in 2000.

The average benefit paid monthly to each recipient also increased from $67.50 in 2000 to $94.34 last year, a 28 percent increase.

Iowa Department of Human Services spokesman Roger Munns attributed much of the growth to a number of changes in the food assistance program that makes application and use easier.

In 2003, Iowa did away with the paper coupons removing the stigma once associated with standing in a grocery line counting and handing over paper food stamps. Now, users have a plastic card that they swipe through credit card machines at grocery stores.

"It permits a food stamp customer to appear like anyone else running a debit card through the machine," Munns said. "Before, when you pulled out the coupons you advertised to the world, 'I am poor.' That was a barrier to some people applying."

The plastic cards also ended food stamps thefts and the inefficiency of printing and mailing the coupons.

The DHS also eliminated monthly reporting and now requires recipients to document job status and other qualifying factors every six months.

In addition, the department simplified application forms and allows recipients to apply through a toll-free telephone number or on the Internet. Previously, applicants had to go to a county DHS office to apply in person.

Munns said he believes much of the increased participation is due to the changes and effort to get as many eligible recipients signed up.

"The government has decided that it is a good public policy not to have hunger. Until that policy is changed, we're going to do our best to administer the law," Munns said. "You can argue whether there ought to be a program, but that's beyond our scope. What we know is that this program exists and it is our job to be as efficient as possible in delivering it."

Increased food assistance use echoes recently released statistics that shows poverty on the rise in Iowa.

From 2000 to 2005, the state's poor population increased to 10.8 percent from 8.3 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released earlier this month.

In addition, median incomes were up 7.8 percent in Iowa over the five years, while inflation rose about 13 percent. Iowa's median income of $43,610 in 2005 needed to be $4,000 higher to keep pace with inflation. Child poverty in Iowa was up 29 percent, to 97,700 children.

A report released last July by the Drake University Agriculture Law Center showed that about 11 percent of Iowa households had low food security in 2003-2005, compared with 8 percent in 1996-1998. Those households describing their situation as very low food security rose from 2.6 percent to 3.5 percent for the same period.

Low food security was defined as a limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food or uncertain availability to get food in socially acceptable ways. Very low food security was defined in the report as the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food.

Mike Owen, a spokesman for the Iowa Policy Project, in Iowa City, a nonprofit think tank, said the trends indicate more Iowans are finding it harder to keep up financially.

"If you look across other measures you can see that poverty is up, lack of health insurance is up and food insecurity is up," he said. "This would indicate there are growing numbers of Iowa families that are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet."

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BHS students turn to water to raise poverty awareness

from The Quad City Times

By Mary Louise Speer

Bettendorf High School students will see if they can actually go two weeks without their favorite sodas, sports drinks, coffees and juice and only drink water.

BHS Student Council representatives are asking students to take the money saved and donate it to the H2O project. The world hunger awareness project is part of Student Council’s “Punching out Poverty” campaign to support H2O and Oxfam International.

The campaign “is more like a global view of what the Student Food Drive does in our community,” H2O organizer Andrew Sullivan, a junior, said.

This is the first year for the H2O project, and the council has raised money for Oxfam before, World Hunger Awareness co-chair Heidi Behal, a senior, said. The double-pronged awareness event wraps up Jan. 25.

“Last year we raised about $1,100 for Oxfam,” co-chair Louie Constantinou, a senior, said.

H2O organizers have set a lofty goal for their half of the campaign.

“One well is $3,000, and that’s our big goal,” Andrew said. “We figure a typical village has about 600 people in it, and a major problem is having a well.”

The Texas-based international H2O Project was founded by Brenda Koinis after she watched a video of people walking miles to fetch foul water, according to the group’s Web site, theh2oproject.org.

These water sources are often polluted with human and animal waste and parasites.

These places don’t have wells and they don’t have equipment capable of drilling into ground deep enough to reach a water source, Andrew said.

The H2O committee will set up a booth where students and staff can purchase water bottles for $2 to use during the two weeks.

Oxfam International, founded in 1995, is “comprised of 13 independent non-government organizations dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world,” according to its Web site oxfam.org.

The big fundraiser for Oxfam occurs on Jan. 25 during the boys home basketball game against Davenport North and a dance afterward, Heidi said.

YOU CAN HELP

If any one in the community would like to contribute toward Punching out Povertydonations can be sent to:

Student Council/Punching Out Poverty, Bettendorf High School, 3333 18th St., Bettendorf, IA 52722.

Contact the Bettendorf News at (563) 383-2396 or bettnews@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

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Poverty dinner attracts students

from the Scarlet and Black

By Jeff Raderstrong
Published: Vol 124, Issue 10

Millions around the world would relish the opportunity to experience Grinnell cuisine, bad though many say it is. Last Tuesday night, students contributed their $11 dining hall meal for a rice casserole to combat worldwide hunger.

The Grinnell College Christian Fellowship (GCCF) hosted a “Poverty Dinner” in the old Quad dining hall, serving a fortified rice-soy casserole and asking for donations from students for Kids Against Hunger, a non-profit that packages and ships meals to starving children around the world. About 80-100 students showed up and contributed a total of about $265. The amount raised is enough to fund 1,186 meals, at about 25 cents a piece.

The meals that Kids Against Hunger sends to over 40 developing nations are the same that were prepared by GCCF members for students to eat. The meals are “served at hunger camps around the world, basically for people who are on the verge of starving to death,” said Brad Bishop ’08, a member of GCCF and co-organizer of the event. “It’s the last case resort.”

Students at the event ate and talked with friends while reading the literature GCCF had provided about issues of starvation and global inequalities, including a “Poverty Quiz.” “We eat all this food and we don’t realize how good we have it,” said Greg Suryn ’11, an attendee.

The Poverty Dinner served two purposes for the GCCF organizers. Not only did it raise money to pay for the meals that will be packaged this Sunday at an in-town temporary Kids Against Hunger satellite station, but it also helped to raise awareness about global issues. “When you go to the dining hall all the time you forget that people will be really happy to have this [food].” said Lindsay Young ’08, another member of GCCF.

This is the second Poverty Dinner hosted by GCCF. Last spring, they organized a similar event to raise money for Kids Against Hunger, although there was no satellite packaging coinciding. GCCF has begun to focus more on social justice, and started distributing a new social justice newsletter this semester, called “SJ News,” among other things. “I’m really glad the fellowship [GCCF] is moving in this direction,” said Brian Smith ’09, another member of GCCF.

Others in GCCF agree that the group needs to do more with respect to social justice issues. “It comes out of feeling within GCCF that we hadn’t been as involved in doing social justice stuff,” said Kiri Aho ’08, a member of GCCF and another co-organizer of the event. “Social justice … is all wrapped up in my faith. It’s necessary to work for everyone to have a good life. This [dinner] is a small way to start.”

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Experiencing a state of poverty

from Small Town Papers News Service

By Jeanne Visser
for Sioux County Index

HULL, Iowa --
Do you know what it’s like to be poor….to wonder how you’ll feed your children, pay the rent, look for a job or wade through piles of forms at a welfare office? The faculty of Boyden-Hull was given a small taste of that dilemma at an in-service program last Tuesday.

‘The State of Poverty Welfare Simulation’ from Iowa State University Extension is designed to educate people about what it is like to struggle against poverty. Each teacher was assigned to a ‘family’ and given a role to play.

In the simulation, each family was facing poverty. Some were newly unemployed, some were recently deserted by the ‘breadwinner’ and others were recipients of AFDD (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) – either with or without additional earned income. Still others were disabled or senior citizens receiving social security.

For example, one family was made up of a mother, age 30, recently deserted by the father of her two children. She dropped out of high school after 9th grade and worked as a salesclerk until her first pregnancy. At home she had a 17 year-old daughter and a son who is 14. She had to learn the processes of applying for AFDC and food stamps, keeping a viable means of transportation and making sure her delinquent children stayed in school.

The task of each ‘family’ was to provide for basic necessities and shelter during the course of a month.

To make the experience a little more realistic, volunteers from the community played the roles of community resources and services for families, such as the banker, employment officer, food pantry worker, grocer, pawnbroker, police officer, utility collector and welfare caseworkers.

The family units were crowded together in one space to add to the sense of confusion and frustration. During the exercise, 15 minutes represented one week, and during that short time, families were required to take care of basic necessities.

But standing in line, dealing with mistakes, language barriers and uncooperative agencies ate up too much time and after one month, none of the families were able to secure the basic necessities and shelter.

Afterwards, teachers evaluated the experience and reported the frustration they felt trying to complete all the tasks in short time, while maneuvering the roadblocks through the ‘system’.

“We were cheated, stolen from and not treated well by some people that we hoped would help us,” one teacher reported. “It was very frustrating.”

Even teachers who played the role of ‘children’ in the families, and went to school every day, reported being very concerned about their parents and wondering how they could help the family.

Those reactions are what the creators of the simulation hope for, reported Rhonda Rosenboom, Field Specialist with ISU Extension. “Each family was in a different situation, but they all come up short financially. We hope this experience opens people’s eyes to what it’s like to be poor and make them aware of some of their struggles.”

“We ask a lot of families in our society,” she added. “Sometimes we don’t realize the burden we put on them. Now, we hope teachers will think about being sensitive to those living in poverty and maybe come up with ideas to make their struggle a little easier.”

Boyden-Hull Superintendent Steve Grond agreed. “This was just a short simulation for us, and fortunately we can walk away from it and go back to our lives. But I hope we all have a keener sense that sometimes when kids come into our classroom, they may have far bigger issues on their minds than what a verb is.”

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Goal of forums: Fight poverty

from the South West Iowa News

HARLAN - From 1999 to 2003 the poverty rate among 12 southwest Iowa counties increased by more than 4.3 percent, according to economic development consultant Frank Spillers.

Spillers and his wife, Kimberlee, of Atlantic-based Global Horizons, are facilitating three public forums to open a dialogue on the issue.

"Poverty is a community issue with a huge impact on positive economic development," he said. "The basis of our conversation is that the majority of our population is one paycheck away from disaster."

He said his poverty figures are from U.S. Census data and cover Harrison, Shelby, Cass, Audubon, Adair, Pottawattamie, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, Adams, Page and Taylor counties.

Greg Connell, Shenandoah Chamber and Industry Association vice president, attended the first forum, which was held in Shenandoah in December.

"It was the first opportunity I've had to see people talk about poverty in a community setting," he said. "You had successful retirees talking with people who were struggling, telling them they could relate - that they struggled, too, at one time."

Connell said about 30 people attended the session, which resulted in a decision to establish a mentoring program.

"People who have struggled with poverty and become successful are in a good position to help others who are struggling," he said.

The forum also brought poverty closer to home, he said.

"The thing that made the most impact was hearing a family talk about having no health insurance when their children needed medical care. You hear about stories like that, but when you see tears in their eyes it brings it home," Connell said.

Shelby County Head Start is hosting a second dialogue on Sunday, Jan. 28, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1700 19th St. in Harlan. Spillers said the discussion is open to all citizens, faith communities and representatives from banking; industry; business and civic and economic development organizations.

Dave Robinson, president of Shenandoah's Head Start Parents Group, attended his town's dialogue. He is a self-employed remodeling contractor whose business slows down in the winter.

"It was very informative and interesting," he said. "We had a chance to talk to a state representative and other leaders."

Robinson said the Chamber offered to help people looking for jobs and to help small businesses like his network with others.

"It was most definitely worth going to. People were really sincere in what they were saying," he said.

"Poverty is present in every town in southwest Iowa," Spillers said. "Iowa is a low-wage state. To raise our citizens up from poverty, we need to work together on strategies that will provide them and our families with wages they can live on and make ends meet."

He said economic development typically focuses on the number of jobs created, not wealth created.

"We get a business to move into the area that pays $9 or $10 an hour and pat ourselves on the back and say, 'Wow, we created a hundred jobs.' But those are poverty wages," he said.

Spillers said most people working those jobs would need a second job or state support in order to survive.

He said the dialogue provides an opportunity for decision makers to hear from people living in poverty. Spillers said local, state and federal involvement is needed. He has invited representatives from each level to attend.

Making Connections, an organization that works to educate individuals and families into more stable economic circumstances, is sponsoring the meeting. Spillers said the organization is in its fifth year of helping people claim the earned income tax credit when filing their taxes.

A third session is being planned for Atlantic, but has not yet been scheduled.

Spillers said refreshments and on-site childcare would be provided at the Harlan meeting.

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Briar Cliff students simulate poverty

from Sioux City Journal

In an effort to increase public awareness about the problems associated with poverty and low-income living, the Briar Cliff University Nursing and Social Work Departments will host a poverty simulation from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Heelan Hall Auditorium.

Renee Sweers, nutrition and health field specialist with the Woodbury County Extension Service, says the poverty simulation invites students to play individual roles in poor families whether it's seeing poverty through the eyes of a young child, teenager, young adult, working parent or as an elderly person. Students will also be asked to play roles that deal with the poor and lower-income families, including employers, bankers and property-owners.

"This activity was created to show students what it's like to live in poverty as well as to give them an idea of the types of people, like landlords or social service workers, who deal with the poor and impoverished daily," said Sweers, who will facilitate the poverty simulation at BCU. "As nursing and social work majors, these students will eventually interact with families or individuals who are struggling to survive."

Briar Cliff nursing and social work students will be assigned to a family during the poverty simulation. Each "family" will receive an information packet that describes their situation, including available resources and needs. The goal for each family is to pay for basic necessities and shelter for one month (a week representing four 15-minute time periods). Students will spend each 15-minute period buying food, paying bills and interacting with additional community resources such as banks, grocery stores, pawn brokers and the employment office.

"This poverty simulation serves as a great benefit to our students who will eventually go on to careers in nursing and social work," explained Vickie Britson, assistant professor of nursing at BCU. "They get an idea just how poverty can affect a wide range of people."

Following the completion of the first hour of the activity, students and faculty will discuss the various situations and processes that were successful during the simulation as well as those that didn't work.

"We usually receive positive feedback from participants either from students or faculty," noted Sweers. "People find that it opens their eyes to what others are going through."

Sweers adds that, as a learning tool, the poverty simulation not only helps students in career preparation, it has also inspires them to make a difference in their community.

"We've seen more and more students get involved whether it's food and clothing drives or volunteering their time at the Gospel Mission or Soup Kitchen," she added. "It's all about raising awareness and creating an opportunity to improve the programs that address low-income families in the United States."

This is the third consecutive year that the BCU Nursing and Social Work Departments and the Woodbury County Extension Office have teamed up to bring the poverty simulation to the Briar Cliff campus. For more information about the poverty simulation at Briar Cliff University, please contact Britson at (712) 279-5490 or the Woodbury County Extension at (712) 276-2157.

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Group discusses poverty issues

from Valley News Online

By Becky Synacek,

About 25 people gathered Sunday afternoon, Dec. 10, for dialogue on poverty and economic development in the Shenandoah Historical Museum's Delmonico room.

The dialogue, led by Frank and Kimberlee Spillers of Global Horizons economic development company, was open to everyone.

"The goal was to look at economic development from a different point of view," said Kim Spillers. "Iowa is a low wage state and we need to determine whether or not we have the kind of wages here that people can live on."

Another focus of the dialogue was to inform the public that not everyone was taught the skills of money management and that many people struggle to make ends meet.

"The majority of our population is one paycheck away from disaster," Kim Spillers said.

Mark Heninger of Lloyd's and Habitat for Humanity said he was happy the dialogue took place.

"I'm glad Shenandoah conducted it," he said. "I'm glad someone is talking about it because it is an issue."

Shenandoah Mayor Richard "Dick" Hunt said he learned from the experience.

"I learned that insurance and health care are really big issues,' he said.

Gregg Connell, Shenandoah Chamber and Industry executive director also learned the importance of these things.

"I learned that a good paying job is not all that is needed," he said. "Benefits, health insurance and retirement are also very important. All these together make a good job and the dialogue has led me to renew my efforts to make more of these types of job available."

Connell offered his services to those seeking jobs.

"At least I can give them the opportunity to maybe meet an HR person rather than just handing in a resume," he said. "It's all about hope and opportunity and through my job I can provide that."

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Des Moines area ranks lowest in suburban poverty

from The Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

DES MOINES (AP) --- The sprawling suburbs around this capital city have more to brag about than wide open spaces and quiet streets lined with new homes. Suburban Des Moines also has the lowest suburban poverty rate in the nation, according to a new report released Thursday.

Last year, the suburban poverty rate in Des Moines was 3.7 percent, while suburban McAllen, Texas, had the highest rate at 43.9 percent, according to the report by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. It studied the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, examining changes from 1999 to 2005.

Suburban Des Moines officials pointed to different factors for the low poverty rate in their communities, from high housing costs to an unwavering work ethic.

Dennis Henderson, the city manager in Clive, said low poverty rates in the northwest Des Moines suburb are likely a product of a young community and new housing in the area.

"There's been such a tremendous amount of growth, therefore the communities out here, on the western side ... we're so new that the other (poverty) factors have not caught up with us yet," said Henderson, adding that Clive is only 50 years old.

"I'm older than my city is," he joked.

National suburban poverty rates are increasing, and for a number of reasons, said Alan Berube, who co-wrote the report. That includes that suburbs are adding people much faster than cities, making it inevitable that the number of poor people living in suburbs would eventually surpass those living in cities, and because America's suburbs are becoming more diverse, racially and economically.

The federal government defined the poverty level in 2005 as $15,577 for a family of three.

Nationwide, the report says suburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty.

"Economies are regional now," Berube said. "Where you see increases in city poverty, in almost every metropolitan area, you also see increases in suburban poverty."

Ben Hildebrandt, with the Iowa Bankers Association, said the Des Moines area has been fortunate "to have a consistent, relatively solid, growing economy," and that the cost of living remains low compared to the rest of the nation.

"A rising tide isn't lifting all central Iowa boats, but the rising tide is lifting a majority of our boats," said Hildebrandt, vice president of marketing, public affairs and member services

Nationally, the poverty rate leveled off last year at 12.6 percent after increasing every year since the decade began. It was a period when the country went through a recession and an uneven recovery that is still sputtering in some parts of the Northeast and Midwest.

That doesn't appear to be the case in the Des Moines suburbs.

Bob Layton, city manager of Urbandale, said housing prices continue to rise in the suburb northwest of Des Moines, so it makes it more difficult for low-income Iowans to enter the market there.

"We don't have a lot of turnover on the more affordable housing in Urbandale. Families tend to stay in those longer," he said. "We aren't seeing a lot of "For Sale" signs in those neighborhoods."

A strong Midwestern work ethic may also be credited with the low suburban poverty rate, said Mark Miller, city manager of Norwalk.

Iowans "aren't shying away from doing extra work, so they've been able to maybe start lower and reinvest and keep coming up and improving their life stake," he said.

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