This entry originally appeared in the Huffington Post on March 31, 2016. Lana, a single mother with three children, discovered that her one-year old twins tested positive for lead poisoning, and left her contaminated Holyoke, MA apartment, becoming homeless for three months. She got help from a local program, and…
Archives: Voices
They are forgotten: Hunger and Homelessness in South Dakota
Do poverty, hunger and homelessness exist when there is no one around to see? A tiny South Dakota town that probably 99.99 percent of Americans have never heard of is living testimony that the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. Located in the poorest county in America, the…
Supreme Court Reaffirms Collective Bargaining in Landmark Case
Below is a statement from the National Education Association in response to the Supreme Court’s 4-4 decision today in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case. CHN joined with more than 70 national civil rights and other organizations to file one of the “friends of the court” briefs mentioned in…
Hey Congress: Opioid Abuse is Still an Emergency
More Americans die every year from drug overdoses than they do in car crashes. That’s one of the reasons President Obama will be in Atlanta this afternoon speaking at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, the largest national collaboration of local, state and federal agencies, business, academia, treatment…
Resources from Around the Coalition: Nutrition and Hunger, Federal Budget, March Madness, and More
Anti-hunger efforts. Federal budget proposal analyses. Pay gap bracket picks. CHN’s coalition members are producing great work on very important issues. This week, we continue our Resources from around the Coalition blog series, highlighting important resources you should be aware of. The Food Research and Action Center recently launched a new blog, FRAC Chat….
Fact of the Week: Wage Inequality Grew in 2015 – for the 35th Year in a Row
A new report confirms what many Americans feel every day: the wage gap between the top and everyone else continues to grow. The good news is that real hourly wages (or, in non-economist speak, wages adjusted for inflation) grew across the board in 2015. However, the folks at the Economic…
Head Smacker: Congress Insists on Cuts to Offset Emergencies and Food for Children but Not for Corporate Tax Breaks
Congress has been talking about the national debt and fiscal responsibility a lot lately, especially with the release of the House budget proposal this week. They insist that our deficit is out of control and that any additional spending – even for basic human needs like feeding hungry children or…
The Flint Five: Showers, but no Snyder
This week, Flint resident Laura MacIntyre got to do something she hasn’t been able to do lately: Actually take a shower. Laura and her family are in Washington, D.C. as part of the “Flint Five,” a group of Michigan families who travelled to the nation’s capital to share their stories…
The Affluent Don’t Just Live Better – They Live Longer – which is a Problem for Inequality
The engine of inequality is firing on all pistons: Low-wage workers earn less while they’re working, and then get less in Social Security benefits once they retire. Inequality rears its head in many ways in contemporary America, most obviously in income and wealth. But the growing economic divide in our…
CHN Condemns House Budget Proposal: Despite Speaker Ryan’s Vow on Poverty, Budget Blueprint Represents Unprecedented Attack on Low-Income Families
Below is the Coalition on Human Needs’ statement on the House FY17 budget proposal released yesterday. Let us know what you think of the House budget by leaving a comment below. You can also check out our FY17 Budget page, where we’re compiling valuable resources. Coalition on Human Needs Condemns House Budget Proposal: Despite…
Human Needs Report: Budget Update, Criminal Justice Reform, Emergency Funding and More
CHN just released our latest edition of the Human Needs Report, our regular newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. This edition includes articles on the House FY17 budget, a housing assistance bill that passed the House, criminal justice reform, child nutrition reauthorization, and funding for emergencies. See below for the full…
A Federal Budget that Connects the Dots and Works for All
This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post March 10, 2016. After 20 nationally televised, occasionally entertaining, sometimes appalling debates, our presidential candidates this cycle have discussed a number of important issues: immigration policy, gun safety, health care, taxes, U.S. involvement in the Middle East, and the mounting crisis of…