Opportunity@Work

Report: 45 percent struggle financially

9 Jul 2009 17:45:02 GMT

Fremont Tribune

7/8/09

By Don Bowen

As many as 45 percent of the households in Fremont and Dodge County are struggling to make ends meet. That�s according to information released in a new report from an Omaha-based organization called Opportunity at Work and the latest information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report, called Family Bottom Line, looks at six categories that fall under “basic needs� for families living in each of the 93 Nebraska counties: Child care, housing, food, transportation, taxes and miscellaneous products.

Age of children has impact on family finances

5 Jul 2009 06:22:00 GMT

Southwest Iowa News

7/5/2009

The age of the children in your family plays a factor in the household budget. So says a study by the Opportunity at Work Coalition at Voices for Children in Nebraska. Opportunity at Work is a coalition seeking to strengthen the financial stability of Nebraska�s work force and families. The study released in late May found that the federal poverty level and federal minimum wage generate incomes far below what Nebraskans need to meet basic minimum needs such as housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and taxes. The study also found that the basic minimum cost - referred to as the Family Bottom Line - increased depending on the age of children in a household. "We know that costs vary on where a person lives and we know costs vary on family type," said Annemarie Fowler, the Opportunity at Work coordinator and co-author of the report....

The Family Bottom Line

4 Jul 2009 02:20:06 GMT

Grand Island Independent By Tracy Overstreet 7/3/2009 The age of the children in your family plays a factor in the household budget. So says a study by the Opportunity at Work Coalition at Voices for Children in Nebraska. Opportunity at Work is a coalition seeking to strengthen the financial stability of Nebraska's work force and families. The study released in late May found that the federal poverty level and federal minimum wage generate incomes far below what Nebraskans need to meet basic minimum needs such as housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and taxes. The study also found that the basic minimum cost -- referred to as the Family Bottom Line -- increased depending on the age of children in a household.

Safety Net Is Fraying for the Very Poor

4 Jul 2009 06:00:00 GMT

New York Times By Erik Eckholm 7/4/2009 Government “safety net� programs like Social Security and food stamps have pulled growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s. But even before the current recession, these programs were providing less help to the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a private group in Washington. The recession is expected to raise poverty rates, economists agree, although the impact is being softened by the federal stimulus package adopted this year, which temporarily expanded measures like food stamps, child tax credits, unemployment benefits and housing and tuition aid. In view of the gloomy employment report last week, economists are debating whether to increase stimulus funds over all. But in a side argument, poverty experts are also asking whether elements of the package aimed at the most vulnerable Americans should be extended beyond their scheduled expiration in two years or even made permanent....

Nebraska judge strikes down Medicaid rule

Nate Jenkins, Associated Press — 2 Jul 2009 15:39:29 GMT

Nate Jenkins, Associated Press 7-2-09 LINCOLN, Neb. - Nebraska has been wrongfully denying Medicaid coverage to hundreds of low-income residents whom state officials argued did not work enough to comply with a welfare-to-work program, a judge has ruled. The ruling nixes a controversial state policy that required a single parent with one or more children younger than 6 years old, for instance, to work at least 20 hours a week to retain the Medicaid benefits...

The new American Dream is economic security

27 Jun 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Lincoln Journal Star BY ERIN ANDERSEN 6/27/2009 What is the American Dream? "It�s being happy and successful with my family. It�s meeting basic, day-to-day needs with ease,"said Tiffany Brown. "And it�s fulfilling your dreams." Not long ago the single mother of two elementary school age boys, could have said the American Dream was pie in the sky. She lost her job when difficulties with her 9-year-old autistic son forced her to miss too much work. Then she lost her car. And her house. "I lost everything. It all trickled down," Brown said. Yet she never gave up hope - or the belief that the America Dream is reachable. Today, she is more hopeful than ever. She "works" -- volunteers actually - 30 hours a week at the Center for People in Need in exchange for a $368 monthly public assistance check. In return, she gets job training, work experience and an education - which helped her discover a passion and a career in human services work. Despite the worst economy since the Great Depression, 83 percent of Americans say they still believe in the American Dream - albeit a bit different from the one we had even a few years ago, survey after national survey have found...

Sufficient family incomes calculated

31 May 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Omaha World-Herald 5/21/2009 Hard work alone isn't enough for some Nebraska families to meet their basic needs, even if their earning put them above the federal povery line, a new study has found...

Hard work, wages no longer enough for Nebraska Families

31 May 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Lincoln Journal Star - 5-20-09 In Lincoln, a single parent raising two kids ages 4 and 8 needs to work 2 1/2 full-time, minimum-wages jobs to meet a family's basic needs. Move that family to Columbus, and the parent could get by working two full-tim, minimum wage jobs...