It's just like the rest of AmeriKa.
"Poverty’s grip tightens in Boston, study says; 42% of children poor in hardest-hit areas; economy, high costs widen the income gap" by Meghan E. Irons | Globe Staff, November 09, 2011
Poverty has deepened in Boston’s poorest neighborhoods, widening the gap between the city’s wealthiest and neediest residents, a report being released today finds.
The study points to concentrated need in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury, where 42 percent of children live in poverty, the densest cluster of childhood poverty in the state, according to the study sponsored by the Boston Foundation.
In those communities, 85 percent of families are headed by a single parent, mainly mothers, and at least 20 percent of the adults have no high school diploma.
Poverty there is fueled by unemployment and low educational attainment, the study found.
“We no longer have conditions for the American dream; that actually does not exist anymore,’’ said Tiziana Dearing, executive director of the antipoverty organization Boston Rising, who had not read the report. “It is, in fact, harder now than it used to be.’’
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The report, which found that poverty citywide remained constant in the past two decades, confirms recent studies by the US Census Bureau and the Brookings Institute finding that despite substantial progress against concentrated poverty during the 1990s, much of those gains have been erased in the turbulent 2000s.
The report ties Boston to a global trend linking race, class, and income disparities. It also illustrates the toll exacted by the depressed economy in extremely poor communities plagued by inadequate health care, lack of jobs, and persistent crime.
National policies have not been kind to families on the lower rungs of the economic ladder or to industrial workers, their jobs automated or sent offshore, officials at the foundation said.
“Boston is a full participant in those trends,’’ said Paul Grogan, the Boston Foundation’s president. “We have succeeded in building a knowledge economy. It’s an economy that richly rewards those with the right education credentials and harshly punishes those without those credentials.’’
It's all who you know.
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Although Boston remains a city of affluence in some corners, impoverished residents flock to food pantries, government programs, and shelters seeking relief, even as those agencies see their budgets squeezed.
The study finds that wealth has become more concentrated in Boston. In 2009, the top 5 percent of earners accounted for more than 25 percent of the total annual income in the city, according to the study. But the bottom 20 percent earned just 2.2 percent of the total.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino blamed cuts in state and federal aid for exacerbating the plight of the poor. Still, he said, as the nation recovers from economic stagnation, his office is working to ensure that “our progress is widely shared.’’
“When there is a program that helps low-income folks, we’re there,’’ Menino said. “We can’t do it alone. We need the state and federal government to help. Anybody who is in poverty, we are there to help them.’’
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Related:
"A rising hunger among children; BMC sees more who are dangerously thin and facing lasting problems" July 28, 2011|By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff
Doctors at a major Boston hospital report they are seeing more hungry and dangerously thin young children in the emergency room than at any time in more than a decade of surveying families.
Many families are unable to afford enough healthy food to feed their children, say the Boston Medical Center doctors. The resulting chronic hunger threatens to leave scores of infants and toddlers with lasting learning and developmental problems....
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And here we just passed through a holiday where gluttony is the rule.
"City to provide housing to poor, pregnant women" November 04, 2011|By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff
In an effort to drive down the number of deaths among black and Latino infants in Boston, the city today launched an initiative to lessen the stress on pregnant women by providing them with housing, counseling, and other critical support.
I'll bet if they were a bank or a corporation they would have no problem getting help.
The pilot program will initially make 75 apartments available for little or no charge within the Boston Housing Authority, while the city’s public health commission will provide visiting nurses and counselors to help women juggle motherhood and the health needs of their families.
“For the past two decades, black women in Boston … have been two to four times more likely to than white women to lose their babies in the first year of life,” Barbara Ferrer, the Boston Public Health Commission’s executive director, said during a news conference at Boston Health Care for the Homeless.
Can't we just take care of all the kids no matter what color their skin?
I'll bet if it was a war they would get everything they need (or not).
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Good thing the rich-getting-richer is anteing up the charity:
"Charities struggle to meet demand; Calls for help continue to rise as donations fall" by Stephanie Ebbert and Peter Schworm Globe Staff / November 25, 2011
As Massachusetts charities enter a fourth holiday season since the economic collapse, many families - especially those with children - are struggling to afford basic necessities, say those who work with the poor.
Calls to United Way’s help line have doubled since 2008, with nearly 100,000 people so far this year looking for a way to make rent, put food on the table, or keep the power on.
I kick in my $2/week that I really can't afford.
Catholic Charities, which five years ago distributed 5,000 pounds of food each month, is now up to about 48,000 pounds.
That's a mouthful right there.
Of course, big Wall Street banks are doing just fine, thank you.
Project Bread reports that more than 10 percent of Massachusetts households surveyed over the past three years worried about having enough food, the highest level in Massachusetts since the federal government began collecting the information in 1995.
“In city neighborhoods some of the need is just overwhelming,’’ said Ellen Parker, who directs the antihunger group. “As a result, there’s less service available.’’
At the same time, the economic woes have cut into donations by those who have given in the past. About one-third of Salvation Army food programs are running low on supplies.
Then I will have to throw a few coins in the kettle.
The Home for Little Wanderers, a child and family service agency in Boston, has received 750 fewer donated winter coats than this time last year.
“So many people are hurting and they need to really take care of themselves first before they can help others,’’ said Catherine D’Amato, president of the Greater Boston Food Bank.
Not banks, and not corporations, and not war-profiteers, nor Israel.
In response, charities are searching for new ways to collect donations. The Massachusetts Salvation Army, whose red donation kettles and volunteer bell-ringers are a sure sign of the holiday season, recently began accepting donations through smartphones....
Corporate contributors are also looking to maximize their impact, charity officials said.
“More corporations are coming to us with two purposes: One is, how can they stretch their dollar further? And number two, how can they focus their funding?’’ said Brian Adams, spokesman for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.
You have to be kidding?
Related: Corporate Profits Surge To Record High In Q2
United Way has also expanded the scope of its assistance, boosting the number of turkey dinners it distributes from 1,000 dinners in 2009 to 5,000 this year and last.
But in some cases, donations are falling through. The Greater Boston office of Catholic Charities recently heard from two companies that reneged on their commitments of turkey donations, leaving them 275 dinners short....
That means that charitable organizations - as in many households - are getting accustomed to working harder to break even.
“Flat is the new up,’’ said D’Amato.
Sigh.
Paul Schervish, the director of Boston College’s Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, said financial insecurity has put a clamp on individual giving for years, with many traditional contributors giving much less than they otherwise might have. Factors that could be daunting individually - dwindling retirement funds, fear of losing their homes or jobs - are weighing on people’s minds at the same time external factors like the European debt crisis are unsettling them.
“Insecurity is the enemy of philanthropy - even more so than it’s the enemy of consumption,’’ said Schervish. “There are multiple dimensions of uncertainty and insecurity, not just small things happening but major.’’
A chief concern this year is the rising cost of heat. Families that heat their homes with oil are expected to spend a record amount this winter, with bills forecast to rise nearly $200.
Related: The High Co$t of Heating Oil
“People are hurting as never before,’’ said Colette Greenstein at Action for Boston Community Development, an antipoverty group that has already received more than 15,000 applications for heating assistance this year, with winter still weeks away.
In Boston, ABCD this week launched a “winter emergency campaign,’’ saying thousands of children and seniors were at risk without winter clothing, blankets, and fuel assistance.
“The distressed economy and high levels of job loss are putting families in even more dire straits,’’ said president John Drew. Food pantries have seen requests for help double this year over last year.
The campaign notes that $70 will buy a coat, boots, and gloves for a child, $100 would buy four blankets, and $25 will buy the groceries for a family dinner.
“The truth is, there are less people that have those resources,’’ D’Amato said.
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But look who has money coming out of their ears:
"The Peabody Essex has announced a record-breaking fund-raising campaign and an expansion plan that will make it one of the largest and most well-endowed art museums in Massachusetts....
They raised HOW MANY MILLIONS??!!
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Related:
"Most of the big banks reported third quarter gains. You may have heard that Bank of America reported a $6.2 billion profit, despite handing over its spot as the number one bank in America to Chase, which had an overall quarterly gain of $4.26 billion. Citigroup had a quarterly gain of $4.8 billion, and Wells Fargo gained $4.1 billion. Even though these aren't big enough numbers to have investors jumping for joy, there are certainly worse problems to have.... "
"Statistically, the recession ended in June 2009, but it’s been a tough slog since for nearly everybody. One exception: The number of people earning $1 million a year or more increased in 2010 by nearly 20 percent, the government reported last week."
That's not you, American.
This is you:
"In US, poorest of poor reach record: 1 in 15; Census data show poverty hits suburbs" November 04, 2011|By Hope Yen and Laura Wides-Munoz, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The ranks of America’s poorest people have climbed to a record high - 1 in 15 people - spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many urban poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.
New census data paints a stark portrait of the nation’s haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly, and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.
In all, the numbers underscore the breadth and scope by which the downturn has reached further into mainstream America.
“There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners,’’ said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. “Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it’s over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn - which will end eventually - will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off, and can’t recover.’’
We were told the downturn has been over for two years now. What the professor's comments really show is that the Grand Depression -- as history will call it -- never ended for the vast majority of Americans.
Traditional urban black ghettos are thinning out and changing, drawing in impoverished Hispanics who have low-wage jobs or are unemployed.
Or are illegals?
Neighborhoods with poverty rates of at least 40 percent are stretching over broader areas, increasing in suburbs at twice the rate of cities.
Once booming Sun Belt metro areas are now seeing some of the biggest jumps in concentrated poverty.
Signs of a growing divide between rich and poor can be seen in places such as the upscale Miami suburb of Miami Shores....
And nothing in between.
As concentrated poverty spreads to new areas, including suburbs, the residents are now more likely to be white, native-born, and high school or college graduates - not the conventional image of high-school dropouts or single mothers in ghettos....
It's called the destruction of the middle class and that was the plan of the rulers. Only problem is they didn't expect it to start protests.
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