WAR! on the War on Poverty : A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE. No. 245.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
February 5, 2005. No. 245.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.


Librarians will have many challenges in the days ahead with the release and analysis of the Federal Budget. Vulnerable communities will find program funding is slated for cuts and re-direction. There will be a war declared on the long fight against poverty. It will be re-packaged in high sounding words, but the effects will be powerful.

The nation's most vulnerable people will be at risk when the new budget is released.The White House has already begun disclosing information about what to expect – including cuts and freezes for programs serving people in the United States who are most in need. The Coalition on Human Needs will provide updates. The Children's Defense Fund and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities hosted religious leaders at the National Press Club on Friday, February 4, to discuss maintaining moral standards in the 2005 federal budget. Speakers at the forum warned that the most vulnerable Americans are likely to shoulder a heavy and disproportionate share of budget cuts this year. The Center issued an analysis: CUTS TO LOW-INCOME PROGRAMS MAY FAR EXCEED THE CONTRIBUTION OF THESE PROGRAMS TO DEFICIT’S RETURN. The OMB Watch Federal Budget Weblog will provide ongoing reports.

Books:

Michael Harrington
The Other America: Poverty in the United States
New York, MacMillan, 1962.

Leiyu Shi and Gregory D. Stevens
Vulnerable Populations in the United States
Jossey-Bass, 2005.

David K. Shipler
The Working Poor :Invisible in America
Knopf, 2004/

David Wagner
The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution
Lanham, 2005.

Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy
ABC-Clio, 2004.