Kids Count: Nearly half of Michigan students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches

[Bozita]

Don't miss the comments at the link below.


Kids Count: Nearly half of Michigan students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches
Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 8:00 AM Updated: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 9:28 AM
By Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press


LANSING – Nearly half of Michigan's students now qualify for free or reduced-priced school lunches, a sign that any economic recovery has not filtered down to the state's youngest residents, according to a report from two children's advocacy organizations.

The Kids Count in Michigan report also finds that the number of children living in poverty has jumped from 14 percent to 23 percent between 2000 and 2009, and that the number of children in extreme poverty has more than doubled, reaching 11 percent at the end of the decade.

-snip-

Zehnder-Merrell said some recent policy decisions aren't helping poor families, including reducing the period of unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 20 and placing asset limits on food assistance, which she said hurts the newly unemployed and diverts federal aid from Michigan.

The poorest children aren't necessarily found in the cities, but in the rural, northern Michigan communities, she said.

-snip-

more...
http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/01/kids_count_nearly_half_of_mich.html

[proverbialwisdom]

1. Related material here from Sundance.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/23/raj_patel_in_attacks_on_obama

January 23, 2012

The new documentary "Finding North" premiering here at the Sundance Film Festival exposes how one in every four American children suffers from hunger, despite living in the wealthiest nation in the world, and nearly 30 percent of American families, more than 49 million people, often go without meals. While Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich decries President Obama as "the food stamp president," author Raj Patel says what is really needed is a conversation about poverty and why the need for food stamps is so high. "It’s true that disproportionately people of color are affected by food insecurity. But what Gingrich is doing, of course, is racially coding poverty by calling President Obama 'the food stamp president,'" Patel said. "He’s invoking these ideas of racialized poverty. Of course, if you look at the people who are on the food stamp program, you see that the majority of them are white and poor." Patel is author of the popular book, "Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System." [includes rush transcript]
.

[gratuitous]

2. Lazy ass little bastards

President Gingrich will make damn sure they're cleaning toilets for their daily gruel, which is more than these little pischers deserve!