A new study finds authorities rely on police and jails to address low-level charges that don’t threaten public safety. Drug abuse and violence are experiences commonly shared among the women detained at the Buncombe County Jail, according to a study released last week by the Vera Institute of Justice. Of the 40 women surveyed in the Buncombe County Detention Center in September 2021, all but one said they struggled with drugs or alcohol use.
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poverty
poverty
Shaletta Ryans went to court Monday afternoon without even having to leave jail. She appeared in a Guilford County courtroom via a live video feed, her image beaming onto five computer screens in front of prosecutors, a public defender and a judge. She didn’t say much, but the courtroom’s speakers rattled with the sound of chains, the cacophonous soundtrack of jail.
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The 2022 Living Income Standard soars to new heights When COVID-19 arrived, few (if any) pundits predicted inflation would become one of the most fretted-over issues in 2022, but here we are. Supply chain disruptions, pent-up demand, war in Ukraine, and myriad other factors have made it harder and harder for many working families to make ends meet.
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Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Administration, Pam Cashwell, and the Executive Director of the state’s Council for Women and Youth Involvement, Danielle Carman, discuss the newly released report: “The Status of Women in North Carolina: Poverty and Opportunity.”
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The Food Bank provided over 115 million meals to families & individuals last year. Learn how to help.
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For over four decades now, advocates at Legal Aid have provided free legal help to low-income North Carolinians in civil cases involving basic human needs like safety, shelter, income and many other issues.Toll-Free Helpline: 1-866-219-LANC
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Read their new report: “The persistent and pervasive challenge of child poverty and hunger in North Carolina”
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Sometimes we get used to things we should never get used to. North Carolina countenances extraordinary levels of child hunger and poverty. For perspective, the United States, tragically, lets more of its citizens, especially its kids, live in wrenching poverty than almost any advanced, democratic nation. The United Nations rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has decried the “shockingly high number of children living in poverty in the United States.” The U.S. has, by far, the highest child poverty rate among peer nations.
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If there’s one enduring myth in America, it’s that there’s nothing we can really do to end poverty. Most policy prescriptions during the last few decades — from setting up Byzantine barriers to programs like food stamps and Medicaid to doing nothing at all — are rooted in condescending lore that poor people deserve to suffer...
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Experts call for feds to adopt anti-racist policy redesign WASHINGTON — A new research paper reviewed how each state implemented a federal program that has provided cash assistance to low income families over the last 25 years—and found that Black women with children repeatedly were excluded. On a call with reporters Wednesday, policy experts at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities...
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Members of Congress, activists and faith leaders join in call to meet the needs and demands of America’s working poor “This is the real question — what is the cost of inequality?” said Rev. Dr. William Barber during a press conference alongside members of Congress on Thursday in Washington D.C. to unveil a resolution calling for a “Third Reconstruction” to tackle poverty and the effects of low wages across the country.
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A new 'must read' report from authors Gene Nichol and Heather Hunt of the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund at the UNC School of Law provides a powerful and damning examination of the ways in which poverty has become, in the words of one knowledgeable attorney, "the foundational principle of what's going on" in North Carolina's juvenile justice system.
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North Carolina legislators have provoked a lot of head-scratcher moments in recent years, but here’s one that has to be near the top of the list. Last week, state senators of both parties advanced a bill out of the Senate Health Care Committee that would allow parents on Medicaid, who temporarily lose custody of their kids, to keep their coverage so they can more easily get drug or mental health treatment. This makes obvious sense for numerous reasons.
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