Category: National
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Deconstructing the Ongoing Travel Ban Court Battle
On Friday, January 30, President Donald Trump sparked an ongoing series of high-intensity debates, legal hearings, and protests when he signed an executive order temporarily halting the entry of all refugees and banning the immigration of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations. The order received a near immediate backlash in the form of weekend-long airport…
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From Selma to Congress: Street Sense Vendors Meet Civil Rights Hero (and Trump bête noir) John Lewis
Photo: Ken Martin By Josh Maxey and Angie Whitehurst From Selma, Alabama, to the halls of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans alike agree that U.S. Rep. John Lewis has been a monumental figure in American politics. Since his youth, Lewis has made fighting for equality for all Americans his mission. While a student at Fisk…
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Lessons for the News Media in the Time of Trump
The news media stumbled even before reaching the starting gate of the Donald Trump presidency. First BuzzFeed enabled this boorish, bullying man to claim the high ground when in reprinted in full a salacious yet admittedly “unverified” account of Trump’s Russia connections, enticing other media to awkwardly carry varying aspects of a “story” that really…
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10.5 million households face limited access to adequate food HUD survey finds
The number of occupied households facing limited access to adequate food reached 10.5 million in the past month, roughy 8.9 percent nationwide, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in a press release. According to HUD’s 2015 American Housing Survey, released on December 18, the households with financial limitations were those with…
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National Coalition for the Homeless criticizes HUD homelessness count
The National Coalition for the Homeless is contesting the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest count of the country’s homeless population. The 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, released in November, found that 549,928 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2016, a 3 percent decline from 2015. But…
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Street Sweeping in Denver, CO
By Giles Clasen Courtesy of INSP.ngo /Denver Voice Photos: Giles Clasen Denver police and cleanup crews armed with brooms and trash bags met angry homeless men and women last month on sidewalks just north of downtown Denver. The goal of those in uniform was to clean the sidewalks. The homeless campers feared they would lose their…
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HUD Announces New Smoke-Free Policy
On Nov. 30, 2016, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julian Castro, announced in Roslindale, Massachusetts, that smoking will be prohibited in public housing buildings nationwide. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh joined Castro for this major policy announcement. According to a HUD press release, public housing agencies have up to 18 months from the…
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Criminalization of Homelessness Persists, Report Finds
Despite efforts to help homeless populations get back on their feet, a new report finds that the criminalization of homelessness is on the rise. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty has reviewed state laws over the past decade and has determined that as many as 187 cities continue to impose harsh penalties on…
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Helping Homeless Women Manage Their Periods Around the World
In two short years as of this December, 18-year-old Nadya Okamoto and her organization, Camions of Care, will have managed to provide feminine hygiene care for over 48,000 individual women’s menstrual cycles. That’s a lot of periods. As Okamoto has pointed out many times in her advocacy work, every women on the planet has their…
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HUD reports homelessness in the U.S. declines by 14 percent
Homelessness is declining in the United States, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a press release November 17. According to the 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, 549,928 people experienced homelessness on a single night in 2016, a 14 percent decline since 2010. That year is significant since that also…