Demand for food services rising in Vermont

from The Burlington Free Press

More ‘working poor’ are visiting food pantry in Burlington

By Terri Hallenbeck

Crystal Rockwell can tell the story by looking around. As she loads up on cereal, SpaghettiOs and macaroni at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, she notices more people are doing the same. As she looks around her Burlington neighborhood, she sees more people living on the streets.

“There’s a lot of people coming in here. A lot of new people I haven’t seen,” Rockwell said on a visit Tuesday to the food shelf.

Numbers back up the story.

The Burlington food shelf saw its clients surge by more than 2,000 — from 6,691 in the last quarter of 2006 to 8,827 in the last quarter of 2007, Director Rob Meehan said.

More people are also using food stamps. Some 55,750 Vermonters received food stamps in March, the highest number since record-setting 1994, said Renee Richardson, food and nutrition programs director at the state Department for Children. The number of visits to a Vermont food stamp Web site doubled in March.

“Every month we are seeing an increase,” Richardson said.

The average Vermont household on food stamps receives $187 a month, she said. That $187 doesn’t buy as much as it did a year ago. Dairy prices are up 12 percent in the last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, while cereals and bakery products rose 9 percent and poultry 5 percent. The USDA announced Monday that overall food prices are expected to rise another 5 percent this year, the largest increase since 1990.

Meehan said his office — which provides hot meals, a food pantry and deliveries for the homebound — is seeing more working poor who are being crushed by increases in fuel, food and housing prices.

“The people who I’m seeing are the traditional middle class. They can’t believe they’re here,” Meehan said. “They say, ‘I only need this for a short time.’ Those are eye-openers.”

The trend has prompted his staff to consider changing the food shelf’s 8 a.m.-4 p.m. hours for clients with daytime jobs.

Meehan wonders what some of those families will do when school breaks for the summer and children are no longer receiving breakfast or lunch. There are summer programs available, including the food shelf’s bagged lunch that starts June 16, but those who’ve never sought the help before often don’t know what’s out there, he said.

“I think people who were getting by just aren’t now,” said Cassandra Gekas, food stamp outreach and policy specialist with the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

Her organization has teamed with the state to put the word out about food stamp eligibility. They operate a Web site that allows people to plug in information and find out if they qualify and what kind of benefits they might expect to receive.

Though the state administers the food stamp program, the benefits are paid by the federal government. Every $1 that a Vermonter receives in food stamps provides an estimated $1.84 to the Vermont economy by being spent locally.

Vt. lawmakers get A+ for poverty voting record

from the Rutland Herald

By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau

Vermont's congressional delegation received extremely high marks for their voting records last year on poverty issues, according to a new report, just as most of those bills failed to get the support necessary to pass the U.S. Senate.

A 40-page report from the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law gave both U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch an A+ for their voting record while U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy received an A.

Vermont joined Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island as the only four states whose Washington delegation received all A marks on their voting record on poverty bills, according to the report.

Yet, despite the fact that most of the members in the U.S. House and Senate received passing grades on their poverty voting records, most of these proposals did not muster up enough votes to actually pass both chambers, especially in the Senate where the threat of a filibuster from Republicans forces supporters to seek a minimum of 60 votes to end debate.

"That's something I don't think the America people understand," said Sanders on Monday, adding Republicans are "obstructing" the work of the Senate. "A lot of these votes were not yes or no on the specific bill. They were yes or no to end a filibuster."

Poverty has not been an attractive issue for politicians to talk about in recent years, but the 2005 hurricane tragedy in New Orleans made people realize "we had taken our eyes off the ball for a few years," according to John Bouman, the president of the Poverty Center, which released its report on Monday.

"Katrina woke a lot of people up," he said.

Former Sen. John Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat who made poverty the focus of his recent bid for president, spoke to reporters about the scorecard during a phone conference Monday. He called poverty a "moral issue" the country must face.

He said that many of the bills, such as increasing the minimum wage and making it easier for workers to unionize, that failed in Congress last year would have easily helped pull Americans out of poverty. These policy changes reflect the belief that if you are working full-time, you shouldn't be struggling to pay the bills, Edwards said.

"People who are working ought to be able to provide for their family," he said. "People who are working full-time should not be in poverty."

Progress will only come with political leadership, warned Edwards, who quickly added that the top two Democrats still in the presidential race — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton — told him they would make poverty an issue in the campaign and a focus of the White House if elected.

"We can get the national leadership and we can get the congressional leadership we need," Edwards said. "But first voters need to be educated as to who is doing the work and who is not."

Daniel Lesser, the project manager of the poverty scorecard, said 21 bills and amendments relating to poverty — ranging from increasing the minimum wage to boosting funding for a popular children's health insurance program — were looked at for the study.

Thirty-seven senators and 225 members of the House all scored As for their voting records, Lesser added, but only a handful of the initiatives passed because of the need for 60 votes in the Senate and the threat of a veto from President Bush.

Interestingly, high rates of poverty can be seen in states whose delegation often vote against anti-poverty bills, Lesser said. He pointed to Mississippi as an example, which has the highest poverty rate in the country and a delegation that was ranked 39th toward the bottom in terms of their voting records.

Sanders, a Vermont independent, said the scorecard is interesting, but only tells half the story. There are many proposed bills that would do a lot more to fight poverty that never get a hearing, such as one that would enact a nationwide universal health care system.

But he placed the blame for a general lack of progress in boosting Americans out of poverty on the Bush administration's doorstep. Since Bush took that office, five million more Americans slipped into poverty and the country still has the highest rate of child poverty anywhere in the industrialized world, Sanders said.

"That gap between the wealthy and everyone else continues to grow wider," he said.

In Vermont, lawmakers have been struggling with how to combat poverty since last summer. The Vermont Child Poverty Council held public forums in all of the state's counties throughout the fall and winter and now members are working on a report of their findings.

Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, the co-chair of the council, said members are now working on the second draft of a report that will include specific recommendations to fellow lawmakers. With one deadline for the report already passed, Pugh said she is not setting any deadlines to finish this one.

"The first report draft was a bit too academic," Pugh said. "We're looking at improving the odds for kids and the first attempt wasn't working. We're redoing it."

Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, the other co-chair of the council, said one issue that members are narrowing in on is the so-called benefits cliff, such as when a low-income Vermonter gets a better job or a raise and suddenly loses much-needed benefits because of that wage increase.

"We're looking instead at step downs instead of a cliff," Racine said. "We don't want them to lose it all while they are working."

That change will require some changes to state law and a waiver from the federal government, Racine noted. Other areas that will be addressed in the report include the discrepancy between test scores of children from low-income families compared with middle-class families and ways to shift some job training resources toward low-income workers.

St. Mike's students help children in poverty

from the Burlington Free Press

By Matt Sutkoski
Free Press Staff Writer

The beauty of a shoe box is it's so useful once you've emptied the box and are wearing the shoes.

For instance, a shoe box can help improve the life of some disadvantaged children overseas.

St. Michael's College students planned to prove that point Thursday night by filling shoe boxes with goodies and wrapping them in festive holiday paper. From there, the boxes will be shipped to an organization called Samaritan's Purse, which will distribute the boxes to children living in poverty, in war zones or in disaster areas.

The InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter at St. Michael's College organized the gift giving, said Mary Thon of the Fellowship at St. Michael's. Last year, a small group assembled nine gift shoe boxes for Samaritan's Purse, which is a relief organization organized by Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham.

The group decided to open the drive up to the entire campus to see what would happen. "And a lot happened," Thon said.

She expects 123 shoe boxes filled with age appropriate gifts, and personal items such as small clothing items or toiletries. More volunteers are bringing boxes from Champlain College and the University of Vermont, Thon said.
Contact Matt Sutkoski at 660-1846 or msutkosk@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

Council turns spotlight on child poverty issue

from the Barre Montpelier Times Argus

By Patrick McArdle Rutland Herald

BENNINGTON – The Vermont Child Poverty Council will be hosting public forums over the next few weeks as they begin work on an ambitious goal: Reducing child poverty in the state by half in the next 10 years.

State Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, who serves as co-chair of the council with Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, said that the group hopes to get a true picture of poverty in Vermont through the meetings."We are charged with looking at the causes of child poverty, the nature of poverty in Vermont and develop a solution. These forums will get us out of Montpelier so we hear about what's going on in the four corners of Vermont," he said.

The council, created during the last Legislative session, has heard from educators, local nonprofits, community action agencies and volunteers at homeless shelters and food pantries at their meetings which began in October. Racine said the sessions have provided insight into the needs of local communities.

Common themes have emerged, Racine said, such as the high cost of housing, the escalating cost of living and stagnant wages.

"We've heard from a lot of people who thought they were in the middle class but because of a divorce, an injury, an illness, a child with special needs, they find themselves sliding into poverty. One thing we heard people say again and again was, 'I never thought I would be here,'" Racine said.

Lynne Klamm, field services specialist for the Vermont Agency of Human Services in Rutland County, said it's clear that the low-income population is growing – and would continue to do so with several large employers in Rutland leaving the city.

"Folks are finding it harder and harder to maintain their lives. All of that is going to trickle down to our kids," she said.

Children in poverty face special difficulties because their economic background could make it difficult to succeed later in life. In standardized testing, like the federally mandated No Child Left Behind measure of adequate yearly progress, poor children tend to test lower than their peers.

"If these children start off behind because they don't have some pre-school education whether it's from mom or a more formal program, it makes things harder. If you're testing behind in first or second grade, you're more likely to test behind in high school, you're more likely to drop out, you're more likely to struggle later in life," Racine said.

Charles Gingo, field director for the Vermont Agency of Human Services in Bennington County, said many Vermonters may not see how many children in their own neighborhoods are living in poverty.

"By some standards, it's right in the 15 (percent) to 20 percent range, the number of kids in poverty. To me, that's a stunning number. That's a staggering thing and it's throughout (Bennington) County," he said.

Racine said the council members are recording the suggestions and comments they receive and will use them to formulate recommendations they will present to the Legislature in the next session.

"My No. 1 goal right now is to get it out there, getting a conversation going. Once you have people saying, 'Hey, what's going on here?' and starting to understand, maybe you get the political will to do something, to focus attention and make the fight against child poverty a priority," Racine said.

On Monday, the council will meet from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Molly Stark Elementary School cafeteria in Bennington. The forum in Orange County forum will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Randolph Elementary School cafeteria. The Addison County forum is 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Mary Hogan School media center in Middlebury.

The Rutland County forum is scheduled for Nov. 19 at the Rutland Middle School cafeteria from 5 to 8 p.m.

All of Vermont's 14 counties will have hosted a meeting by the end of this month.

For additional information or for special accommodations to attend a forum, call the Legislative Council at (802) 828-2231.

Vermont council turns spotlight on child poverty

from the Rutland Herald

By PATRICK McARDLE Staff Writer

BENNINGTON – The Vermont Child Poverty Council will be hosting public forums over the next few weeks as they begin work on an ambitious goal: Reducing child poverty in the state by half in the next 10 years.

State Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, who serves as co-chair of the council with Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, said that the group hopes to get a true picture of poverty in Vermont through the meetings.

"We are charged with looking at the causes of child poverty, the nature of poverty in Vermont and develop a solution. These forums will get us out of Montpelier so we hear about what's going on in the four corners of Vermont," he said.

The council, created during the last Legislative session, has heard from educators, local nonprofits, community action agencies and volunteers at homeless shelters and food pantries at their meetings which began in October. Racine said the sessions have provided insight into the needs of local communities.

Common themes have emerged, Racine said, such as the high cost of housing, the escalating cost of living and stagnant wages.

"We've heard from a lot of people who thought they were in the middle class but because of a divorce, an injury, an illness, a child with special needs, they find themselves sliding into poverty. One thing we heard people say again and again was, 'I never thought I would be here,'" Racine said.

Lynne Klamm, field services specialist for the Vermont Agency of Human Services in Rutland County, said it's clear that the low-income population is growing – and would continue to do so with several large employers in Rutland leaving the city.

"Folks are finding it harder and harder to maintain their lives. All of that is going to trickle down to our kids," she said.

Children in poverty face special difficulties because their economic background could make it difficult to succeed later in life. In standardized testing, like the federally mandated No Child Left Behind measure of adequate yearly progress, poor children tend to test lower than their peers.

"If these children start off behind because they don't have some pre-school education whether it's from mom or a more formal program, it makes things harder. If you're testing behind in first or second grade, you're more likely to test behind in high school, you're more likely to drop out, you're more likely to struggle later in life," Racine said.

Charles Gingo, field director for the Vermont Agency of Human Services in Bennington County, said many Vermonters may not see how many children in their own neighborhoods are living in poverty.

"By some standards, it's right in the 15 (percent) to 20 percent range, the number of kids in poverty. To me, that's a stunning number. That's a staggering thing and it's throughout (Bennington) County," he said.

Racine said the council members are recording the suggestions and comments they receive and will use them to formulate recommendations they will present to the Legislature in the next session.

"My No. 1 goal right now is to get it out there, getting a conversation going. Once you have people saying, 'Hey, what's going on here?' and starting to understand, maybe you get the political will to do something, to focus attention and make the fight against child poverty a priority," Racine said.

On Monday, the council will meet from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Molly Stark Elementary School cafeteria in Bennington. The forum in Orange County forum will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Randolph Elementary School cafeteria. The Addison County forum is 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Mary Hogan School media center in Middlebury.

The Rutland County forum is scheduled for Nov. 19 at the Rutland Middle School cafeteria from 5 to 8 p.m.

For additional information or for special accommodations to attend a forum, call the Legislative Council at 828-2231.

Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.

Panel describes poverty, remedies

from The Burlington Free Press

By Nancy Remsen
Free Press Staff Writer

Rita Markley sketched a stark picture of some of the poverty present Monday night in Burlington.

In one homeless shelter in the city, 16 children were finishing dinner and getting ready to do their homework, she said. In another shelter, 11 children were getting ready for bed.

"That's 27 children, and we are expecting two new families tomorrow with another five kids," Markley, executive director of the Committee for Temporary Shelter, told an audience of 55 attending a public forum sponsored by the Vermont Child Poverty Council.

"As the cost of housing has skyrocketed, so has the number of homeless families," she said. "With no margin, the smallest emergency quickly becomes a full-blown crisis."

Elizabeth Baker knows firsthand the plight of the families in the shelters on this night, she said. The mother of four hit bottom two years ago, lost an apartment and took refuge in a COTS shelter. She's beginning to turn her life around, she said. She has hopes and dreams that her children will know a better life.

"I want them to be able to go to college, to get a job, to do what I haven't been able to do," Baker said.

Baker and Markley were members of a panel asked to describe the biggest challenges facing low-income Vermonters and some strategies that work that could help the poor climb up the financial ladder to a better life.

Members of the Vermont Child Poverty Council, created by the Legislature, want to hear potential remedies, because the council has a challenging mandate: plan how to cut the child poverty rate in half within 10 years. The council will hold forums in every county. This was the third.

Nancy Radley, a first-grade teacher at H.O. Wheeler School in Burlington, said more preschool programs would broaden the cultural and literacy experiences of children from low-income families. She noted that parents struggling to make ends meet often don't have money or time to take their children to libraries, to read to them or expose them to museums or dining out.

"What I see with a lot of children is they are bright and capable of learning, but they come in behind," Radley said. "They just haven't had a lot of experiences."

Shana Casava described living in poverty for much of her life. She bounced among shelters growing up and later, as an adult, found herself homeless. She said people from poor families often don't have the money to buy their children the equipment or supplies they need to participate in sports or other activities.

"So they end up in the street," Casava said. "Make places for them to go. I really think more activities should happen for these kids."

Markley suggested expanding the program that helps clients pay back rent because it could save more families from losing their homes. "It's so restrictive," she said.

Tim Searles, executive director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, called for more money to help people pay fuel bills. Heating aid hasn't kept pace with the mushrooming cost of fuels, he said.

After the panel discussion, the crowd broke up into small groups and brainstormed more ideas to share with the poverty council.

Cynthia LaWare, secretary of human services, sat with one group. This was the second forum she had attended, and she said she plans to go to at least three more. "I'm here to hear what the communities are saying about what their needs are," she said. With state officials in the midst of developing budget plans for next year, LaWare said, "This is critical information."

Mayor Bob Kiss thanked the council and the Legislature for deciding to attack poverty. "There are plenty of people who are being left behind," he said. "I hope before 10 years are over, you will have changed the face of Vermont."

Finding a Cure for Child Poverty

from WCAX

Barre, Vermont - October 1, 2007

Even with the state's strong economy and low unemployment rate, advocates say more than 13% of Vermont kids are living below the federal poverty line. A bipartisan council made up of lawmakers, members of the Douglas administration, and community organizations is hoping to change that.

"It seems to be getting worse in this country," said State Sen. Douglas Racine, D-Chittenden County. "We do know that looking at European countries, various public policies can make a difference."

Racine co-chairs the Vermont Child Poverty Council. He said 10,000 to 20,000 Vermont kids are living in poverty, which the federal government defines as income under $20,650 for a family of four. The group is holding a series of public forums that aims to find strategies to cut that number in half in the next decade. At the first forum in Barre Monday night, panelists shared their experiences and suggestions.

"Is it more important to have the lights on this month or food on the table?" panelist Sarah Mosier said. "It's definitely picking and choosing. That's what life is like. It's always a catch-up game."

Mosier said her husband has a good job, but with one child and another on the way, there's just never enough. His recent cost-of-living raise actually made it harder to make ends meet. "It gave us an extra $40 a week but took away over $200 in food stamps."

So Mosier told the council she'd like lawmakers to build more flexibility into the food stamp program. Right now, she said, income restrictions don't let people get ahead. Racine said the Vermont Poverty Council is considering short-term solutions like that, but needs to examine long-term initiatives, too -- like education.

"We know that kids from low-income families tend not to do as well in school and are more likely to be high school dropouts with all the personal and societal costs involved with that," he said. "We want to look at our education system to see how we can help those kids succeed in school so they don't become yet another statistic."

Panelist Billie Jo Kimball hopes to use her education to break that cycle of poverty. She got her high school diploma at age 26, and is now studying at the Community College of Vermont.

"My mom worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, just to make ends meet," she said. "I want my children to have a better life."

The Vermont Child Poverty Council plans to hold a forum in each of the state's 14 counties over the next two months. The next meeting, in Windsor County, will be held Tuesday, October 2, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Room 210 of the Windsor K-12 Education Complex. The council expects to take its proposals to the legislature when it convenes in January.

Kate Duffy - WCAX News

Panel paints bleak picture of poverty in state

from The Barre Montpelier Times Argus

By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER – A panel charged with vastly reducing the rate of child poverty in Vermont received some sobering statistics Wednesday.

Leaders of four state organizations that assist low-income families with education, housing and fuel assistance painted a depressing outlook for the future for the poor in Vermont and several said the state was reaching a crisis point.

Poverty has now touched families that have full-time wage earners, smashing the preconception that hard work will lead people out of poverty, testified Tim Searles, the executive director of Chittenden Community Action.

He told the 14-member panel Wednesday during its second organizational meeting that in the mid-1980s, only 20 percent of families that came to the group for assistance included a full-time wage earner. Now, just more than half the families have at least one adult working full-time, but they still need assistance, he explained.

"The belief that work is the path to becoming self-sufficient is now a myth," said Searles, who said housing costs and the steady increase in the cost of energy are typically the biggest strains on families' budgets.

The Vermont Child Poverty Council – a new body of lawmakers, state officials and representatives from several state organizations – has the lofty goal of creating a plan to reduce child poverty in the state by 50 percent in 10 years.

According to 2005 numbers, about 15 percent of Vermont children live in what is considered by the federal government to be poverty. That is 4 percent less than the national average, but state leaders are concerned about a recent upswing in the statistics.

Members plan to hold public hearings in each of the state's 14 counties before issuing a report to the Vermont Legislature in early 2008. But what they heard from advocates and professionals Wednesday is that there are many root causes of poverty and no easy answers to solve the problem.

Housing, health, education and the availability of good jobs are all factors that determine if a family will live in poverty or move up the financial ladder, said Paul Behrman, the chair of the Vermont Head Start Association.

Policy conversations about poverty rarely look at the root causes, Behrman said, and instead are directed at easier fixes. He urged the council to ask the tough questions and dig deep during its research.

He also warned the committee not to use the federal poverty level as their benchmark during the discussions. That number is far below where it should be, he said, and instead suggested using the state's livable wage estimate.

"We're not eradicating the root causes of poverty," he said. "We're not attacking the forces that lead families to poverty. And we need to stop this band-aid approach to the issue."

Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, who co-chairs the council with Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, said talking about and then addressing the root causes of the problem is one of the main concerns of the group.

"We want to look at the root causes," he said. "Our approach is a balance between addressing how families end up in poverty and alleviating the symptoms of poverty."

Searles said the cost of energy for Vermont families has steadily become a larger and larger part of the monthly budget. He said the issue is reaching a crisis point and believes this coming winter could be the breaking point for many families.

He was critical of Gov. James Douglas for vetoing the Vermont Legislature's proposal for an all-fuels utility to help Vermonters reduce their energy bills. The governor's plan to expand the state's weatherization program does not go far enough, Searles said.

"Energy costs in this state are reaching a crisis," he said. "Energy costs are now second to housing for many people."

Erhard Mahnke, the coordinator for the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, warned that across the nation there has been little investment placed in building or renovating cheaper homes for low-income people in several decades.

Affordability standards state that only 30 percent of a person's income should be for housing, but Mahnke said Vermonters in Chittenden County are not paying nearly $800 for a modest two-bedroom apartment.

A person would need to make $18.90 per hour to meet that threshold for that apartment, he said. But nearly 60 percent of adults in the state make less than $15.34 an hour, he added.

"We need more resources for housing at all levels," he told the panel. "Right now the apartments that some Vermonters are living in are infested with cockroaches, have lead paint issues or are overcrowded. These conditions can lead to injury and developmental problems for our children."

Gus Seelig, the director of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, said prior affordable housing projects made the mistake of putting low-income families in one, big, dense public housing unit, which made integrating the poor into the community difficult.

Meanwhile, towns were embracing five-acre zoning laws, which makes building new affordable housing impossible.

"You may not want to go there, but planning and zoning really needs to be part of this conversation," said Seelig, who added that there are several Vermont communities, such as Dorset, Shelburne and Stowe, that may soon finally break ground on new affordable housing projects.

Fixing poverty may mean fixing mindset

from The Barre Montpelier Times Argus

By Mel Huff Times Argus Staff

MONTPELIER – There's little disagreement that poverty acts as a brake on the state's economy, devours tax dollars and undermines the health of communities.

The question is what to do about it.

Philip DeVol, co-author of "Bridges Out of Poverty," told a group of some 20 social service providers, business people and legislators Monday that solutions to poverty must be worked out with the poor and be rooted in an understanding of their "mental model" of reality.

Bridges Out of Poverty concepts are gaining increasing credibility in Vermont. This was DeVol's sixth trip to the state; more than a thousand Vermonters have attended his trainings. The event Monday was sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and the Northfield Savings Bank.

DeVol characterizes economic class not by conventional means – income levels, for example – but by how stable people's lives are. The lives of the poor are unstable.

"They spend all their time solving immediate, concrete problems," he said. Although people living in generational poverty – poverty that passes from one generation of a family to the next – are good problem-solvers, their problem-solving is reactive. They are subject to "the tyranny of the moment," DeVol said.

Preoccupation with continual crises, such as cars breaking down, leaves the poor with no margin for planning for the future. "You are robbed of your future story," he said.

Unlike the middle class, who define themselves by their work, the jobs of the poor are often part- time and patchwork. Stress-related illness and depression are prevalent. Housing consumes a large proportion of income. In one group with whom DeVol worked, 40 percent to 79 percent of the participants' income was spent on housing.

One woman observed to him, "You know, the arithmetic of life doesn't work for us."

Although people who live in poverty get "stuck in the concrete," when they are helped to examine their lives from an abstract point of view – to analyze their lives – they "get it" and make changes, he said.

In contrast to the mental outlook of the middle class, which is centered on work and achievement, the mental model for the poor revolves around relationships, DeVol said. Those models affect attitudes toward work, time, money and entertainment.

The poor may make choices that are anathema to their middle-class employers. If a man living in poverty gets a call from his brother-in-law saying that his car won't start, the man will typically help his brother-in-law get the car on the road and come to work late. Or a Licensed Professional Nurse might take a telephone call while she is caring for a patient. For these people, the central value in life is the relationships they depend on for survival.

The most important way out of poverty is education, DeVol observed, but the distraction created by instability makes it difficult to focus on its distant rewards. While the children of the middle class usually complete four years of college in a block, the children of the poor often stretch their post-secondary education out over many years, stopping to work, care for sick relatives or respond to other needs, he said.

Solving the problems of the poor requires including them at the planning table, DeVol argued. The results of excluding them from planning can be seen in the evacuation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck: If the poor had been included in the evacuation planning, buses would have been provided, he observed.

DeVol said employers are often surprised to learn that the mental model of poverty applies to their low-wage workers. Clarion Health Partners, the largest health care provider in Indianapolis, found 500 employees who qualified for help buying Christmas presents for their children, he said. When they started looking more closely at the economic situation of their employees, they also discovered that 1,700 of their workers were eligible for the federal earned income tax credit, a payroll tax refund for low-income workers.

DeVol cited a World Bank study that found the best return on investment came from focusing resources on issues of equity – making sure everyone in a country "had a fair shot" at getting a good education or accessing health care. Those were the conditions associated with economic growth. "You don't think of the community as being responsible for the prosperity of everybody," he observed.

The Bridges Out of Poverty strategy for helping the poor out of poverty is providing the supports they need so that they can build resources and assets. "Today, getting out of poverty is not anything anyone can pull off by himself," he said. The results can be substantial for businesses as well as for nations.

DeVol, who lives in Ohio, cited the example of changes made by Cascade Engineering, a privately owned plastics company with headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan that had many poor people an expensive problem with retention: In 1991, it retained only 29 percent of employees for 60 days or more. By 1999, the company had increased its retention rate to 80 percent by improving education efforts.

DeVol acknowledged that the cost was high, but noted that "you get payback in the end. If we're working with people in poverty, don't you think we should be good at it?" he asked.

Kingdom planner wages war on poverty, using wood

from The Times Argus

By Carla Occaso Staff Writer

ST. JOHNSBURY — The Northeast Kingdom's vast forests are home to wildlife and a scenic backdrop for recreation. For Jim Davis, an economic development planner in St. Johnsbury, they may also be the key to ending poverty in the region.

Davis, a 48-old Derby native, wants to use those forests to create work and in the process to create homes. His mantra is simple: "We have a need for housing," Davis said. "We need jobs. We have wood."

Working with Northeastern Vermont Development Association and the Agency of Human Services for the past few years, Davis came up with a conceptual plan called "The Homestead Project." His idea is to make inexpensive homes using wood panels made of pulp and cheap wood, partly using prison labor. Housing units could sell in the $75,000 to 80,000 price range — land not included.

The building panels would be made of three layers including a structurally bonded wood flake exterior, insulation in the middle and plywood or finish interior, and they could come in varying sizes. "You basically make a sandwich," Davis explained.

Although still in the conceptual stages, Davis said structures would use environmentally friendly, energy-efficient building practices.

Money has started rolling in for the plan. Davis has received three grants totaling $76,000: The Northern Forest Association gave $15,000 for a feasibility study, USDA Rural Development gave $41,000 through the Rural Business Opportunity Grant and the state of Vermont federally funded HOME program gave $20,000, Davis said.

The Ford Foundation is also a possible funding source if the project became a national model.

Startup costs, factory size and other factors would be determined by the host community needs. "It (a factory) can be placed in almost any community in the state of Vermont," Davis said. And since the Northeast Kingdom has ready transportation access to Interstates 91, 93 and 89 as well as a working rail system, the homes could be shipped throughout New England, or even beyond.

Housing units could also be shipped to areas that are experiencing a housing disaster, such as was the case after Hurricane Katrina, Davis said.

NVDA, a nonprofit regional development agency that assists towns with planning and development, is sending out a request for proposals to 14 consultants later this month to study how best to structure a startup affordable home manufacturing facility.

The idea has won kudos from the Agency of Human Services. "It is a poverty eradication program when it comes right down to it," said Gregory MacDonald, regional field director for the

Agency. "It is pretty large in scope."

MacDonald said the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport already has a vacant building that could be used for a factory. It was built a couple of years ago with Vermont Correctional Industries with the idea of training inmates to have manufacturing skills, but has not yet started operations. The project could provide training and, later, jobs for inmates getting out of jail, and it could also help provide housing, MacDonald said.

"This is all just a dream right now," MacDonald said. "It is a great idea. It pulls in all sorts of people and resources."

"It is a pretty cool way to use low-quality wood to put into a wood base product that puts people back to work so if Ethan Allen does leave, we could maybe replace workers and not have an economic crisis," Davis said, referring to furniture maker Ethan Allen Global, Inc., the area's largest employer.

Davis, who has a background in fund-raising, building and running a hockey rink in Santa Barbara, Calif. and is also a founder of an indoor multi-sport recreational facility in Derby, said he was inspired to look for an economic safety net when Ethan Allen's Island Pond furniture plant closed in 2002 leaving hundreds of workers without jobs. The company started in Beecher Falls, Vermont, over 100 years ago and still provides roughly 1,200 jobs in the Northeast Kingdom, with plants in Orleans and Beecher Falls.

"We're going to attack poverty by putting people to work and teaching them to create wealth," Davis said. "That's what people need. That's what people want. Everybody wins."

Poverty rises in county

from The Bratleboro Reformer

Report shows increase in free school lunches
By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN, Reformer Staff

BRATTLEBORO -- Poverty levels continue to rise in Windham County schools, with counts in some towns far exceeding state averages.

The Vermont Department of Education released the annual report Friday on students who are enrolled in the federal free and reduced price, school meals program.

The number of students receiving free or reduced meals is used to determine funding for a variety of programs and has long been used as an indicator of poverty in an area.

Statewide, the average stayed about level, and for the second consecutive year, about 29 percent of Vermont students were registered in the program.

But in Windham County, many of the schools saw an increase in the number of children who are enrolled and many schools saw averages much higher than statewide.

"We have seen other reports and there does seem to have been an uptick in the level of poverty in the district," said Paul Smith, curriculum coordinator of the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union. "For a lot of communities, poverty is going up. It is not a complete surprise."

Every year when the state looks at average test results, children in poverty score lower and a persistent achievement gap continues to challenge educators across the state.

"Kids in poverty come to school with needs that have to be addressed," Smith said. "We are trying to learn how to modify and differentiate instruction to meet kid's needs."

Children who live in poverty might not have access to the same resources as other students, Smith said, and teachers and administrators are trying to learn how to mold academic lessons to make the learning more accessible.

"We can't stereotype, but in general they don't have the background knowledge," he said.

The rate at Putney Central School rose from 40 percent to 47 percent, a more than 17 percent increase.

"The numbers are fluid, they change, but they are up," said Kathy Bartlett, school counselor at Putney Central. "Families seem to be qualifying. The eligibility is there."

As the school's counselor, Bartlett works with students, many of whom are coming from homes where parents are struggling to make ends meet.

"All families have some stress, but when you throw poverty in, everything hurts," she said. "Everything escalates."

Having more children using the federal meals program means more children are getting some of their nutritional needs met, said Joanne Heidkamp, program director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, a nutrition and anti-poverty advocacy group.

In the last census count, Vermont had the largest increase in childhood poverty in the nation, with the number rising from 11.7 percent in 2004 to 15.4 percent in 2005.

"The cost of housing is up. The cost of oil is up, and paychecks are not keeping up with the increases," said Heidkamp. "If more kids are getting some of their meals at school, it means one of the safety nets is catching people."

Vermont is also doing a good job of bringing local food into some cafeterias. Heidkamp said in some schools cafeteria food is improving in taste, variety and nutrition.

Students who qualify for free meals come from families whose income is at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line, which is currently set at $20,650 for a family of four.

While the numbers across the state have remained fairly consistent over the past few years, Heidkamp said families who do not qualify for the free or reduced meals might be having a harder time.

"For those families who make just a little too much, it is still a struggle to put it all together," she said. "There has to be a cutoff point somewhere, and those kids have it tough."

The free and reduced meals rates are used to determine federal funding for reading programs, and summer lunch programs also use the annual reports to determine payments for the summer meals.

Jo Busha, director of the Vermont Department of Education's Child Nutrition Program, said the annual report gives the department a snapshot of how children in the state are doing.

"It shows us where Vermont stands," Busha said.