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Posts tagged "poverty"

Photo essay: Mental health clinic closures - the faces of austerity

For most of the 75 people holding a sit-in outside of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office Monday, the fight against the closing of half of the city’s mental health centers is only the visible part of their battle. The other battle is inside. As person after person spoke Monday, they said they would not be able... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
May 1, 2012 at 12:21 pm
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Race and poverty roundup: Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic protests continue, 6-year-old is handcuffed, officers who shot autistic boy cleared, and more...

After three nights, the tent city outside the Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic is no more. Police evicted protesters trying to keep it and five other mental health facilities from closing by April 30. Despite this setback, protesters told The Chicago Reporter they plan to set up camp again across the street from the clinic. Bill... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
April 20, 2012 at 9:45 am
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Are overlaps between school closings and youth violence a coincidence?

Just blocks from Carter’s Barbershop in North Lawndale where The Chicago Reporter sets up camp for its weekly radio show are two schools on the turnaround and closure list voted on by the Chicago Board of Education last month. Thomas Herzl Elementary School, at 3711 W. Douglas Blvd., is slated for turnaround next year, and... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
March 2, 2012 at 10:41 am
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Do upper-middle-class white people just have higher IQs? A Washington Post columnist seems to think so

Is it 1912, or 2012? You’d be forgiven for being confused after reading an op-ed in this week’s Washington Post by political scientist Charles Murray who writes that if there’s an education gap in our society in which whites are out-performing other groups, it’s because students flagging behind are just not smart enough. “(C)hildren’s IQ... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
February 16, 2012 at 11:30 am
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Minimum wage in Illinois would help economic recovery, report says

Organizers and economists in Chicago are arguing for a grassroots stimulus plan that would increase consumer spending and close the wage gap–by raising wages. The Economic Policy Institute argues in a new report that gradually increasing the minimum wage in the next four years from the current $8.25 an hour to $10.65 by 2015 would... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
January 31, 2012 at 3:56 pm
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No heat, no hot water for residents of Lakeview high-rise

No heat, no hot water for residents of Lakeview high-rise
No heat, no hot water and carbon monoxide build-ups are just the latest problems affecting hundreds of residents in a building owned by Lakeview Associates. The high-rise in the tony neighborhood got its five minutes of fame last week when an NBC article reported that residents were expected to go without amenities for up to... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
January 30, 2012 at 2:49 pm
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Tax season 2012: fewer opportunities to rip off the poor

Tax season 2012: fewer opportunities to rip off the poor
Would you take out a loan with an interest rate of 50 percent? How about 500 percent? It sounds ridiculous, but it’s a common practice during tax filing time. Tax preparers around the country have offered refund anticipation loans, meaning they’ll advance you the money that you’re going to collect from Uncle Sam. But these... Read more »
By MeganCottrell,
January 20, 2012 at 11:06 am
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Race and poverty roundup: US citizen deported, the rise of class consciousness and a controversial 'Avoid Ghetto' app

What’s moving in the world of race and poverty, on Chicago Muckrakers weekly. A U.S. teen mistakenly deported to Colombia brings a hailstorm of criticism to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A stressful early childhood can have long-reaching effects, says Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times, so we should look for a poverty solution... Read more »
By YanaKunichoff,
January 13, 2012 at 4:04 pm
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Is $50,000 enough for victims of North Carolina's sterilization program?

Is $50,000 enough for victims of North Carolina's sterilization program?
These days, the word “eugenics” is an ugly term. We think of Hitler, the Nazis and notions of a superior Aryan race. But there was a time, here in the United States, when eugenics was not only thought of highly but practiced. This week, one state–North Carolina–that operated such a program in the name of... Read more »
By MeganCottrell,
January 11, 2012 at 11:37 am
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As more Americans become poor, will more become homeless?

As more Americans become poor, will more become homeless?
If someone asked you to guess if homelessness rose or fell during the Great Recession, what would you say? I would have guessed that more people were homeless, that the number was rising. But actually, it fell. About 34,877 less people were homeless in the middle of the recession than at the start. Why? Well... Read more »
By MeganCottrell,
September 29, 2011 at 1:47 pm
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