Author: Spare Change
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The Underground Intern Economy
Most workers reap non-financial benefits from their labor such as new skills and expertise. But for interns, these intangible benefits do not offer a legal or ethical substitution for wages. By Anonymous Unpaid internships are often a recent graduate’s first foray into the professional world. Internships—both paid and unpaid—provide a foot in the door and,…
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Show of Homeless and Low-income Artists at Old South Church
Local homeless and low-income artists served by area social service programs and centers will be exhibiting their artwork Saturday, April 14th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Old South Church, 645 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116. City Heart art show and sale highlights the works of artists from the Cambridge Women’s Center, Common Art,…
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Editorial: Food stamp demagoguery
It is a callous and cynical game. Ronald Reagan showed us how it works with his mythic welfare queen from Chicago’s South Side, playing to the nation’s emotions and fueling suspicions and jealousies among voters. Today, the food stamp program is portrayed as a big government handout to a growing entitlement class. Republican presidential contender…
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PATRICK-MURRAY ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES 21% DECREASE IN VETERAN HOMELESSNESS
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON – Thursday, January 5, 2012 – The Patrick Murray Administration today joined officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness to announce a new report showing homelessness among veterans in Massachusetts has dropped 21 percent since January 2011, nearly twice…
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Editorial: Doubled demand for housing over shelters, hotels
“This is not a math problem. It’s a problem with an economy where people are having their lives turned upside down, and we’re going to have to deal with that, and we’re trying to deal with that.” That’s Gov. Deval Patrick, as quoted by State House News Service, explaining the need for $18.2 million in…
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Editorial: Charlie on the MBTA
Remember the old folk song about Charlie on the MTA, the man who never returned? It’s now called the MBTA, and the modern-day Charlie may never return because T service can be so erratic and unpredictable. Charlie is likely to jump back into his car and further plug Boston’s hopelessly clogged arteries, which is exactly…
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Tales from the Wandering: Stories based on the lives of the homeless in Boston
Tales from the Wandering Stories based on the lives of the homeless in Boston Spotting Your Own Skin For the better part of the next ten years, the Black Smoke stayed within orbit around a variety of couches and TV screens in the tristate area. In the beginning, he’d pour out of the room and…
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Editorial: Occupy The Next Step
A hand-made sign at the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square asks: “Cardinal O’Malley, Where Are You?” The same might be asked of our leaders on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill, whose timidity has so far led them to keep a safe distance between their carefully manicured political images and the grungy, Woodstock-era look of…
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Editorial: Encouragement in the fight against homelessness
Credit is due to the Patrick administration for its efforts to reduce the Bay State’s homeless population. A new emphasis on housing as the first response to homelessness promises to be more humane — and cost-effective — than our traditional reliance on shelters and motels to get people off the streets. The policy shift took…