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Written by Michael Beneke on 20 Mar 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness
Sharp Tick Upward in NYC Homeless Count

The New York Times reports this morning that the number of people who were found homeless and outside during NYC’s One Night Count in January rose by 34% over 2009. Officials blame the harsh and tenacious recession.

Other cities around the country are yet to report their One Night Count results — excepting Seattle/King County, which saw a reduction this year of about 75 people. Locally, there’s been a lot of effort to create…

Written by Michael Beneke on 31 Jan 2010 | No Comments | Basic Needs , Hunger Action Week

The Times profiles two families and their encounters with scarce food and limited budgets during United Way’s Hunger Action Week. The piece does a great job conveying what it’s like for a family for whom a food stamps-budget is a constant reality.

Written by Michael Beneke on 24 Jan 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness

…on this gray day after reading in the Times how community volunteers are cheering up the supportive house sites run by DESC, a United Way grantee. With the help of the volunteers and a local artist, once-drab walls are now sporting bright hues, making the atmosphere less institutional and more welcoming for the once-homeless people now living at the Union Hotel.

Written by Michael Beneke on 23 Jan 2010 | No Comments | Homelessness
A moving remembrance…

of Dolores Gancher, a homeless woman taken under the wing of Seattle Times staff members. It’s a good reminder that in solving homelessness, both individual kindness and systemic efforts play their part. By Nicole Brodeur.

Written by Michael Beneke on 23 Jan 2010 | No Comments | Basic Needs
Poverty comes to the suburbs…

…and soars overall. Here’s a sobering piece from Bob Herbert, the NY Times columnist, describing how 5.2 million Americans have joined the ranks of the poor (200% or less of the poverty line) in the last 8 years. Half of these newly poor are in the suburbs, not — as might be supposed — the inner cities or struggling rural areas. Altogether, more than 90 million Americans live in poverty now — a third of the country’s population. Wow.