In the movie theaters, Katniss Everdeen is trapped in the Hunger Games, negotiating a love triangle and fighting against the Capitol. Closer to home, many Wisconsin residents are facing a different version of the Hunger Games, one that involves making choices between paying the rent and buying food for their families. If parts of the...
Family Economic Security
Economic stability is one of the more important determinants of a child’s well-being. We believe making sure families have the supports they need to work for livable wages and climb out of poverty is one of the biggest keys to improving the lives of children.
Parsing Wisconsin’s New Job Numbers
Gain of 15,700 Private Sector Jobs in January, but Only 6,000 since December 2010 There was good news and bad news on the Wisconsin job front in January. The good news is that preliminary figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that Wisconsin gained 15,700 private sector jobs in January and the seasonally-adjusted...
Legislature Debates Tougher Penalties for Violations of Public Assistance Programs
Assembly Debate Scheduled for Tuesday on Sanctions for W-2 Violations In recent months, there has even more political attention than usual to the subject of “waste, fraud and abuse” – and especially to fraud in receiving public benefits, such as food stamps or W-2 assistance. A pair of companion bills, SB 426 and AB 534, that have been...
The Impact of Concentrated Poverty on our Future: A Disconcerting Trend and an Opportunity for Change
The Annie E. Casey Foundation has released a Data Snapshot on High Poverty Communities, highlighting the growth in the number of children growing up in neighborhoods with high levels of poverty (defined by census tracts with poverty rates of 30 percent or more) around the country and in Wisconsin. As the Snapshot illustrates, the...
The Case against Using Mortgage Settlement Funds to Reduce the State Deficit
Journal Sentinel and NY Times Editorials Argue against Diverting the Settlement FundingBoth the New York Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorialized over the weekend against the use of the new mortgage settlement dollars to help close state deficits. As the Journal Sentinel wrote: “With so many families in Milwaukee - and...
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