ACAP of Louisiana

2019 ACAP Winter Conference – Register Now!

RYAN TOUPS — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:43:27 +0000

PARAGON CASINO RESORT • MARKSVILLE, LOUISIANA • JANUARY 29-31, 2019

Join ACAP Louisiana at the 2019 Winter Conference. Special Conference Room Rate Available. You must reserve by 1/1/2019 Register Now!

United Way ALICE Report – UPDATED

RYAN TOUPS — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 03:10:14 +0000

Study of financial hardship

Read the Updated 2017 Regional Report
Read the updated 2017 Full Report

United Way ALICE® Project

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The United Way term represents the growing number of hardworking individuals and families across Idaho, the Pacific Northwest and the nation who are working but unable to afford the basic household necessities, including housing, child care, health care, food and transportation. Released in January 2016, the United Way ALICE Report – Pacific Northwest, 2016 presents publicly available data in a comprehensive way to illustrate the true scope of financial need in our communities. All seven United Ways in Idaho, as well as United Ways across Oregon and Washington, took part in the ALICE Report.

– See more at: https://www.unitedwaytv.org/work/alice-report/#sthash.hJU7xOF4.dpuf

United Way ALICE® Project

– See more at: https://www.unitedwaytv.org/work/alice-report/#sthash.hJU7xOF4.dpuf

United Way ALICE® Project

– See more at: https://www.unitedwaytv.org/work/alice-report/#sthash.hJU7xOF4.dpuf

UNITED WAY ALICE PROJECT

Louisiana has had more than its share of natural disasters, from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to the 2016 floods. While these events take a toll on all Louisianans, those who are most vulnerable are ALICE and families living in poverty. ALICE is a group of people who work hard, but still cannot afford to make ends meet. ALICE lives in every town and every parish in Louisiana – working as child care providers, aides for the elderly, as cashiers, mechanics, and waiters and waitresses. They are our friends, family, and people we rely on every day.

To provide a better understanding of ALICE, United Ways throughout Louisiana eagerly share this update, which advances the information by one year since our first United Way ALICE Report for Louisiana was released in January 2016. This Report reveals that 23 percent of all Louisiana households are ALICE and another 19 percent live in poverty. Together, 42 percent of all Louisiana households cannot afford basic expenses – housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and taxes.

2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book

RYAN TOUPS — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 03:08:38 +0000

READ OR DOWNLOAD THE REPORT (68 PG PDF)

The 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book urges policymakers not to back away from targeted investments that help U.S. children become healthier, more likely to complete high school and better positioned to contribute to the nation’s economy as adults. The Data Book also shows the child poverty rate in 2015 continued to drop, landing at 21%. In addition, children experienced gains in reading proficiency and a significant increase in the number of kids with health insurance. However, the data indicate that unacceptable levels of children living in poverty and in high-poverty neighborhoods persist.

In this year’s report, New Hampshire ranked first among states for overall child well-being, moving up one from 2016. Massachusetts and Vermont filled out the top three. Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi were the three lowest-ranked states.

Poverty Is Rampant In The U.S., But We Pretend It’s Not

RYAN TOUPS — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 03:06:42 +0000

By Darryl Lorenzo Wellington

When my older brother and I were in elementary school, the teacher assigned the class to bring a bug into class that was familiar in our neighborhood. My brother, who was probably seven years old at the time, immediately thought to bring a cockroach. The house we lived in was low-income, shoddy and infested with roaches.

My mother was an elementary school teacher. She earned a modest income and had three children to raise. Her husband had left her abruptly, leaving her and her family in severe financial straits.

When she discovered my big brother’s intentions, my mother sat us down and told us never to tell anyone our home was roach-infested. Ever.

I quipped, “But we have really big cockroaches!” My mother cut her eyes at me, letting me know the joke was 100 percent “unfunny.” She suggested that my brother complete the assignment by catching a grasshopper.

It is a funny story in some ways, but less funny when I realize that America is a nation in which poverty is rampant. Yet poor people have to pretend it isn’t.

We had to hide the home infestation problem. Never mind that the prevalence of substandard housing in America and the lack of availability of well-maintained affordable housing units was more at fault than a beleaguered single mother.

My mother encouraged her boys to remain presentable regardless of circumstances. I am thankful and impressed by how well she succeeded at raising three children who never missed school, went hungry, or looked slovenly, and all attended college. She should be respected for her work and her resilience. Not shamed.

And because I appreciate this, I also appreciate more deeply that her face showed the weight of knowing that having roaches in the house could make her a laughingstock. She knew that poverty carries a stigma. I’ve seen a very similar look over the years on the faces of food stamp recipients who had to pull their cards out in front of friends and neighbors, or the recently unemployed when they bumped into acquaintances at the unemployment office.

I’ve seen that look of pained humiliation on the faces of people who should inarguably receive sympathy above all else: The homeless or soon-to-be homeless.

I have known four adults over the last ten years who in spite of their diligence and integrity financially “bottomed out.” Two lost their government jobs due to cutbacks; two were woodworkers whose steady cash flow trickled to nil during the Great Recession. I knew that each was receiving unemployment benefits because they called me privately asking if I knew where they could find work.

I eventually discovered that each of them had resorted to living in their cars, while spending an occasional night at a shelter. Call them transient. Call them “residentially challenged.” Or call them homeless. They preferred as few people as possible to know they were “on the street.”

One homeless friend told me over a meal that I purchased for him that he believed that if employers knew the truth they would be less likely to offer him a steady position, making him less likely to return to solvency. He told me that while his very close “real friends” would stand by him, his contacts and connections would shun him. He suspected he would receive less sympathy from society – not more. Even the help he received from social programs, such as $194 a month in food stamps, was a pittance that would not compensate for the stigma.

Statistics show that given the prevalent attitudes towards poverty my friend-in-need was not being jaded, but brutally honest. A 2013 Pew Research Center study showed that Americans tend to think people are poor because they are lazy. Successful people by this logic make the best employees. Fewer than half of the respondents surveyed believed people became poor, destitute, or homeless through circumstances beyond their control.

The study showed that Republicans gave even less credence to the forces of the economy that bring about calamity, including job loss or low-paying wages. Some Republicans believe that if someone is destitute it is because of a “lack of effort on his or her part.”

These are incredibly crass attitudes, but conservative politicians have promulgated these attitudes. Their policy proposals to cut health care, food stamps and other government resources that help families thrive show a disrespect and ignorance of the hardships suffered by the hungry, the unemployed, and the homeless. Proposals, such as naming food stamp recipients in local newspapers, drug testing welfare recipients, or advising low income workers save money to pay for health insurance by foregoing an I-phone, are meant to humiliate people who are financially on the brink.

The poor already feel humiliated by life circumstances. I know because I looked into my mother’s eyes, and into the eyes of hundreds of other disenfranchised Americans who have real economic needs for themselves, and their children.

Conservative politicians will never bury the truth that my mother, and the millions of poor across America deserve respect. They have the least, and make the most of it. They deserve to be congratulated for carrying on with obstinacy and resilience, even when the economy worsens, or when they are victimized by government cutbacks. Despite the “poverty stigma” they will find their agency. They deserve to have their own voices. They will have their stories told because they will never be shamed into silence.

Louisiana families work hard, but still can’t cover necessities: Editorial

RYAN TOUPS — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 03:03:36 +0000

By The Times-Picayune Editorial Board

The best hope for reducing poverty in Louisiana is to fully understand how bad things are and why. The people struggling to make ends meet across our state don’t only include those who are deemed poor by federal income standards. There are thousands more of our neighbors who are barely living above poverty level and have trouble making ends meet.

A report released this week by the Louisiana Association of United Ways provides an in-depth look at vulnerable families statewide. The study combines residents who live below the poverty level and those who are “asset limited, income constrained and employed,” or ALICE.

More than half of N.O. households are struggling to get by

See how poverty in New Orleans-area parishes compares.

The ALICE families earn more than the federal poverty level, but not enough to meet the cost of living in their parish. The report calculates a household survival budget — housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, taxes and miscellaneous expenses — for each parish. Those expenses are matched against income data from the census and other sources. The survival budget doesn’t include savings, which means those families can be financially swamped in an emergency.

The number of vulnerable families as defined by the report is staggering.

Statewide, 19 percent of Louisiana households were living below the poverty line in 2014. But an additional 23 percent of families statewide fell below the ALICE threshold. That means 42 percent of households have trouble affording basic expenses.

In St. Bernard Parish, 16 percent of households are in poverty and 31 percent fall below the ALICE line — a total of 47 percent.

Child poverty down, and 6 more facts from N.O. Youth Index

The Data Center releases 2016 roundup on well-being of children, teens

The numbers in New Orleans are even more stark. Fifty-two percent of families struggle financially — 27 percent are living in poverty and another 25 percent fall below the ALICE line. The survival budget in the city is $53,148 per year for a family of four — two adults, an infant and a preschooler. A single adult living in New Orleans needs to earn $18,924 annually to cover the basics.

Many people don’t. One problem is that housing costs have risen significantly in Southeast Louisiana post-Katrina. Only some affordable housing lost in the flooding during Katrina has been replaced. And some neighborhoods that were affordable before the disaster are now becoming upscale.

In addition, Louisiana’s economy is dominated by low-wage jobs. And the cost-of-living is increasing faster than wages. There are jobs available in some parishes, but families can’t find affordable housing, transportation and childcare there. That is the case in New Orleans.

In addition, few families statewide have savings and assets that can help them ride out emergencies.

The United Way launched the ALICE report, which is sponsored by Entergy, in 2016 in hopes of fueling a conversation about solutions. “We want businesses and individuals to join us in developing strategies and partnerships to educate and empower people to help lift them out of poverty,” the report said.

Food pantries, help with utility costs, emergency housing repairs and subsidies for child care are needed in the short-term. Those programs operate on donations and grants.

Long term, there is a need for affordable housing, quality childcare and preschool and training for better paying jobs. The Medicaid expansion, which went into effect last summer, is filling a huge gap in health care. More than 378,500 people have enrolled so far. That could change, though. Republican members of Congress and President Donald Trump want to roll back the expansion, although they so far have failed to do so.

Lawmakers passed a comprehensive plan to expand and improve pre-k and childcare, but those programs haven’t been fully funded. With the state budget in a perpetual deficit, that may not happen soon.

But the ALICE report ought to help draw attention to the importance of these efforts. How can lawmakers ignore the needs of so many Louisianians? How can any of us?

“I Didn’t Ask to Be Homeless: I Made Good Choices!”

RYAN TOUPS — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:06:33 +0000

Before I campaigned for State Representative, the main context I thought about homelessness in was a reflection of my past work for jail and prisons. Inmates being released from jail or prison need housing first and foremost because without a place to sleep the night they are released from incarceration, they are immediately at risk for recidivism.

However, since being elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in November 2012, I have found that there is no bigger crisis than when someone calls me up saying that they don’t have a place to sleep that night. Each case is different. Sometimes it is an adult with a pet, sometimes a pair of adults, sometimes a parent with a child. A pregnant woman and her boyfriend. Sometimes it is a single woman avoiding domestic violence. I have even worked on cases involving seniors losing their housing. Can you imagine a senior citizen losing their housing and having a hard time finding a place to go! It happens. How about a mom running up a credit card at a motel so her daughter has a place to sleep that is dry, warm and (somewhat) safe.

I do what I can to help connect people with the different organizations but the real heros are the people and nonprofits who provide the direct services to people in need. There are two cases I want to talk about.

Tom and Maria

I went to high school with Tom. He served in the Marine Corps, he graduated with a BA in criminal justice. You would think that he did everything right. But with an unfortunate turn of events, Tom was homeless sleeping on a friend’s couch for a while.

Tom had a job in private security and lived with his family, which included living with mom, dad and a sister. As it turns out, his sibling was not paying her share of the rent and so the family was evicted. Mom and dad were able to find a place to stay. His sister went to live with her boyfriend. But Tom had no place to go. It was complicated because he has a pitbull dog, Maria.

The situation became even more complicated when Tom broke his foot. He could not work. He could not even apply for jobs because the openings available were immediate hires.

Working with the local animal shelter, they were able to find a temporary home for Maria. Eventually a friend allowed Tom to stay at his place for weeks on end. This was a band-aid; it was not a solution.

Tom contacted me and I started working to get him state assistance. Can you imagine the feeling that Tom — he was in his mid thirties with a college degree and service in the Marine Corps, and a good resume, but he had to turn to state help. I drove Tom to the welfare office. Can you imagine how Tom must have felt to have a classmate drive him to the welfare office?

Tom was able to get some assistance, his foot healed, he applied for and was hired for a job. Eventually, Tom did so well at work, he was facing different opportunities for promotion. Tom is a taxpaying citizen again. He pays back into a system that helped him get back on his feet. He was even able to buy a Cadillac Escalade. When I saw him driving that I asked him how he pulled that off. He told me it was used from 2003 and only $8000. I was impressed. And Tom was reunited with his dog, Maria.

One takeaway from this is that even with a college degree, someone can become homeless because of factors beyond their control. Another takeaway is that just because someone was once homeless and was once getting state assistance, don’t judge them by the car they drive. Tom works hard for and earned his Cadillac Escalade.

A Mother and Her Daughter

Gina and her daughter ran into some bad luck. Gina was married to someone who provided for the whole family. However, Gina’s husband died. Gina didn’t have a resume as she was a housewife. The bills started to pile up and eventually Gina and her 16 year old daughter were living off of and maxing out a credit card at an inexpensive motel. Clearly, this was not a sustainable strategy.

After talking with the school, the city social worker and state agencies, I don’t remember how they came to my attention but once again, I found myself driving them to the welfare office, which also has an emergency shelter division. After their business was through, I remember driving them back to our hometown asking them if they had had anything to eat. They hadn’t. So we stopped by a Chinese restaurant and I bought them some dinner.

Gina’s daughter, 16 years old and a student at the same high school I graduated from, was such a delightful girl. Despite all of the hardship that her and her mother were going through, she remained positive, not bitter and overall happy. They were able to get support and Gina and her daughter are still recovering from the hardship of losing their husband and father. Gina is in a computer training course paid for by a nonprofit so that she can envelope some marketable skills to get a job, and her daughter is still in high school. Even with state assistance, they are having a hard time getting an apartment since many landlords want to make sure that the tenant has a job.

Recently, Gina contacted me and said that she would love to attend a fundraiser for the Massachusetts DEM State Party I am hosting at my home, but she doesn’t have any transportation. This made me think that people without the financial means are often left out of the political process, whereas we clearly know that wealthy donors are often very influential in politics. This is a sad reality we live with in America.

Conclusion

Coming into this job, I never thought I would be dealing with as much homelessness as I am. This is probably the most frequently recurring and complex constituent issue I face. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reminds us of the scale of this problem:

In January 2014, there were 578,424 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.
Of that number, 216,197 are people in families, and
362,163 are individuals.
About 15 percent of the homeless population – 84,291 – are considered “chronically homeless” individuals, and
About 9 percent of homeless people- 49,933 – are veterans.

The thing that is misleading about these numbers is that it is a snapshot of a single point in time. The number of people who were homeless or who will become homeless significantly increases over the course of a year.

Housing and homelessness is a complex issue made even more complicated with criminal records, drug or alcohol addiction, debt, an eviction on your record when trying to get public housing, the lack of employment, and so much more. So-called ‘affordable housing’ is not always so affordable but can actually be expensive to people living in poverty, and ‘low income housing’ is in short supply with wait lists that are often five years long or longer. NIMBY is often a problem as many citizens don’t want a homeless shelter in their neighborhood; development often becomes a political hot potato.

The moral of this story to not judge people who are homeless. Many people make good decisions and there is often an unfortunate backstory to their situation. Not every story has a happy ending, which is why it is programs that act as a safety net and that help lift people out of poverty and homelessness need your support. Do what you can for who you can when you can. That is the American way.

Names have been changed. Paul Heroux is a State Representative from Massachusetts. He can be reached at paulheroux.mpa@gmail.com.

Louisiana Adds 21,800 Jobs in Year, State’s Unemployment Rate Rises

RYAN TOUPS — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 19:01:56 +0000

Advocate Staff and Wire Report

Louisiana added 21,800 nonfarm jobs over the past 12 months, while the state’s unemployment rate edged up for the seventh straight month in November to 6.5 percent as even more people sought work.

“The sustained growth in Louisiana’s labor force is dramatic,” said Curt Eysink, Louisiana Workforce Commission executive director. “People are responding to Louisiana’s strong and sustained job growth by joining our workforce in record numbers to pursue these new opportunities.”

State employment stood at 1,985,200 in November, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Figures are preliminary and were adjusted to cancel out seasonal changes.

Louisiana payrolls fell by 2,600 from October. That was the first monthly drop since January and ended six months of record-high readings. Still, payrolls remain more than 20,000 above November 2013’s level of 1.96 million. Louisiana payrolls have risen 6 percent since bottoming out in early 2010 and are 2.3 percent above pre-recession levels.

The state’s jobless rate of 6.5 percent was up from 6.2 percent in October and 5.6 percent in November 2013. The national unemployment rate in November was 5.8 percent, as was the 17-state South regional average rate.

“The main reason Louisiana’s unemployment rate has risen is the speed of the growth of the labor force. Our job growth is strong but the growth in our labor force is even stronger,” Eysink said.

Louisiana’s civilian labor force reached a record 2,179,800 in November — 14,500 more than October and 84,500 more than a year earlier. There were 142,000 people looking for work in November, which was 7,400 more than in October and 25,200 more than a year earlier.

Unemployment rates fell in 41 states in November, rose in three and were flat in six, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Mississippi had the worst jobless rate at 7.6 percent. North Dakota retained the nation’s lowest jobless rate at 2.7 percent.

The BLS uses a monthly survey of 750 households to estimate the civilian labor force, the total number of people employed plus those looking for work.

A separate BLS survey of 6,000 employers across industries and the state found that Louisiana’s private employers added 28,500 jobs over the year, the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year hiring gains. That was offset by a drop of 6,700 government jobs — 4,400 of them state jobs and 2,300 local government jobs.

In the private sector, employment within trade, transportation and utilities reached a record high in November, while professional and business services employment tied a record set in September, according to the BLS data.

Industries with the biggest over-the-year job gains were professional and business services, up 8,300; the education and health services sector and the trade, transportation and utilities sector, 5,900 jobs each; construction, 4,900 jobs; and leisure and hospitality, 2,900 jobs.

Private sector categories that lost jobs over the year were information, which was down 1,100; mining and logging, down 600; and other services, down 400 jobs.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission will release November data for the state’s metropolitan areas and parishes Dec. 30.

Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany Aims to Address Poverty

RYAN TOUPS — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 18:56:17 +0000

By Deborah Barfield Berry

WASHINGTON – Addressing generational poverty will be the major focus of a congressional subcommittee Rep. Charles Boustany will head next Congress.

“This is a huge issue in Louisiana,” said Boustany, R-Lafayette, who will be chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources. “It’s an issue that we need to look at to figure out how do we help create economic opportunity for all Americans.”

The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over several public assistance programs, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and child support.

Boustany chaired the panel’s oversight subcommittee during the 113th Congress that just adjourned. He had hoped to head the trade subcommittee next year, but that post went to Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, who has more seniority. Boustany will retain his seat on that subcommittee.

He said he’s still working on the agenda for the Human Resources Subcommittee. Republicans generally have worked to cut money from entitlement programs — including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (formerly known as food stamps) — and tighten eligibility requirements. They likely will target TANF for the same treatment.

Boustany said reducing fraud and waste at TANF will be one goal.

“When you have those trapped in poverty, we need to look at the factors that have led to that and figure out how these programs can actually work better,” Boustany said.

He said his new role will put him in a position “to reach out to a number of communities (in Louisiana) where Republicans traditionally don’t work.”

LBJ Declares War on Poverty

RYAN TOUPS — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 20:06:00 +0000

Child Poverty in the States Still Record High Levels

RYAN TOUPS — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:17:57 +0000

Poorest are Children of Color and Under 6In 20 States more than 40 percent of Black Children are Poor

In 35 States more than 30 percent of Hispanic Children are Poor

In 21 States more than 25 percent of Children Under 6 are Poor

In 19 States more than 10 percent of Children are Extremely Poor

In 42 States Child Poverty Rates Significantly Higher than Pre-Recession

Click here for New Children’s Defense Fund Complete Analysis for National Poverty.

Washington, D.C. – The Children’s Defense Fund analysis of new 2013 state data released by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals child poverty rates remain at record high levels. Children are the poorest age group, and the poorest are children of color and those under 6. Two states, New Jersey and West Virginia, experienced increases in child poverty, while eight states experienced significant decreases from 2012. In 42 states child poverty remains at record high levels, significantly higher than in 2007 before the recession began.

“Child poverty is a moral blight on America,” said Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. “That children are the poorest, most vulnerable age group is disgraceful and we must protect them with a national floor of decency. Children of color and those under six during the years of rapid brain development are the poorest. Five years into the recovery poor children in the majority of states still have not benefited. We need to make sure political leaders asking for our votes this campaign season make voiceless, voteless children a priority. If we want to build a strong workforce, military and economy, we can and must end child poverty now.”

Poverty is defined as an annual income below $23,834 for an average family of four, or less than $1,986 a month, $458 a week, or $65 a day. Extreme poverty is defined as less than half of the annual poverty level, or less than $11,917 for a family of four.

Ten Best States for Child Poverty

State	2013 Number of Poor Children	2013 Child Poverty Rate
New Hampshire	27,122	10.2
North Dakota	19,070	12.0
Alaska	22,377	12.1
Wyoming	18,187	13.2
Hawaii	40,288	13.3
Maryland	180,351	13.6
Minnesota	176,719	14.0
Connecticut	112,723	14.5
Utah	130,345	14.8
Vermont	18,697	15.3

Ten Worst States for Child Poverty

State	2013 Number of Poor Children	2013 Child Poverty Rate
Missiissippi	246,298	34.0
New Mexico	156,610	31.2
Arkansas	202,456	29.0
Louisiana	304,244	27.7
South Carolina	291,832	27.5
Alabama	297,591	27.2
West Virginia	100,008	27.0
Tennessee	389,536	26.5
Georgia	650,910	26.5
Arizona	421,100	26.5

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The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.