The story you are about to read is true. It resonates with a class of women who are considered disposable. It resonates with those who are situated at the very bottom of the social ladder. These women are born into a world that offers them little hope for success. Still, many succeed despite the [...]
April 29, 2013 / Read More

The panelists who gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss poverty included many well-known figures: Prof. Cornel West, former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, economist Jeffrey Sachs and U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Many comments centered on big-picture policies. But one forum participant – Kameisha Smith, a high school student from Mississippi – pointed [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP) — While the tax package that Congress passed New Year’s Day will protect 99 percent of Americans from an income tax increase, most of them will still end up paying more federal taxes in 2013. That’s because the legislation did nothing to prevent a temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax from [...]
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Visiting South Africa had been a dream of mine since the 1990s, when the late W. Haywood Burns invited me to visit. He was helping South Africans draft their new constitution following the abolition of apartheid. I was not able to visit South Africa then, but I longed to make the trip. When I had [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s health care brinksmanship, with hundreds of billions of dollars and the well-being of millions of people at stake. President Barack Obama’s health care law expands Medicaid, the federal-state health program for low-income people, but cost-wary states must decide whether to take the deal. Turn it down, and governors risk coming off [...]
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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mayor Cory Booker said he will live on food stamps for a week starting Tuesday. Booker told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will honor the challenge he made to a Twitter follower earlier this month and try living on the monetary equivalent of food stamps for at least a week. [...]
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URBANA,Ill. - Robin Arbiter is a long-time resident of the Lierman Neighborhood, a low-income area near the corner of Washington and Lierman streets in Urbana. Despite her physical disabilities, she is an at-home activist and artist. To get by, Arbiter receives federal social security disability benefits. She also receives assistance for housing and food. Most of [...]
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In 2002, food was a lot less expensive. So was water service and household energy. The past decade has brought many changes to the nation’s economy – changes that produced a profound and distressing impact on America’s families. A review of state and federal data shows that: · Food prices rose 29 percent over [...]
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CHAMPAIGN,Ill. - Leodegario Olea and his wife, Rosa, sit inside the dining room of their six-bedroom house in west Champaign talking money. “To be honest, I have always had problems with bills even before a family. A home is very expensive, I’m not gonna lie. You’ve got to pay gas, lights, food,” Olea said through a [...]
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