Threats to Human Needs in the 2006 Budget: A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-No. 243

Threats to Human Needs in the 2006 Budget: A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-243

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
January 27, 2005. No. 243
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

The U.S. government is counting on you to find it too boring to pay attention.
The Coalition on Human Needs is an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies that address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable people. OMB Watch reports that advocacy groups and policy experts are gearing up for the difficult and crucial budget battles anticipated in 2005 in Congress. Community Action Program Facts provide frequent legislative updates from the National Community Action Foundation.

Book:
Stephanie Luce
Fighting for A Living Wage.
Cornell University Press, 2004.

Head Start's Terrific Transitions-A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-242

Head Start's Terrific Transitions-A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-242

Terrific Transitions goal is to provide a wide variety of transition information and resources for families, professionals, and community partnerships to use as they address children’s transitions into kindergarten. Terrific Transitions is a project of the Natioanl Head Start Association and SERVE . Possible connections to many librarian constituent groups such as the Public Library Association Committee on Pre-School Children and Their Caregivers. The project, "Every Child Ready to Read", is a natural partnership with Terrific Transitions.

STATE OF THE DREAM, 2005- A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-241

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
January 13, 2005. No. 241
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

People of Color Slide Further from King's Dream. After steady economic gains in the 1990s, Latinos, African Americans and other people of color have actually lost ground since 2000, according to United for a Fair Economy’s newest report. La Raza's report, Financial Education in Latino Communities, provides some ideas for action.

HOMELESSNESS AND DECONCENTRATION: A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-240

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
January 10, 2005. No. 240.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

The latest issue of SHELTERFORCE, the journal of affordable housing and community building, examines deconcentration. It also provides an analysis of the impact of the 2004 elections on housing. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty serves as the legal arm of the nation wide movement to end homelessness. Support for the Bringing America Home Act now in Congress has been submitted as a resolution to the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association at the 2004 Midwinter meeting.

Book:
Edward G. Goetz, Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America (2003, Urban Institute Press).

BRIDGING ECONOMICALLY ISOLATED COMMUNITIES:A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE No.239

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
January 6, 2005. No. 239.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation winter 2005 issue of Casey Connects
focuses on vulnerable children and rural poverty. One in five rural children are poor. Of the 50 poorest counties in the U.S. 48 are in rural areas. Components of the Annie E. Casey rural agenda include: special reports on rural families in KIDS COUNT; collaboration with other groups working on rural issues; working to build urban-rural alliances.

Concentrated poverty in the U.S. is localized in urban cores and remote rural areas. Collaboration between the two is rare. The Community Development Partnerships' Network ,
has issued a report that identifies common ground between "remote urban" and "remote rural" areas and makes the case for collaboration. The report in pdf: RUBAN: Bridging Economically Isolated and Urban Communities.

Libraries working with this collaborative, please send a notice and I will post.

Economic and financial justice begins with information: A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE-238

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
January 3, 2005. No. 238.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

Economic and financial justice begins with information.

Libraries can provide people with the 2004 Earned Income Tax Credit Outreach kit.

Tax season brings out predatory financial institutions that offer Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), usurious short-term loans secured by the tax payer's expected tax refund. Those eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) make up over 50% of all RAL recipients. In 2001 RALs siphoned off an estimated $749 million in loan fees and administrative/electronic filing fees from low-wage workers who receive the EITC. The National Consumer Law Center 2004 Refund Anticipation Loan Report
provides background that could be supplied along with Tax Forms.

The Bank, Post Office and Library (BPOL)Tax Forms Distribution Program is a broad reaching effort to make tax materials more accessible to the American public. It is strictly a voluntary program created to provide taxpayers with alternative methods to obtain tax forms. There is no legal or federal mandate that requires any agency or organization, other than the Internal Revenue Service, to stock and distribute federal tax forms. Each year more than 44,000 nonprofit organizations partner with IRS to distribute tax products, providing a valuable service to citizens by helping them obtain the tax materials they need to prepare their tax returns.

ACORN-Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
is campaigning to end unjust financial practices and to educate the public.

Libraries are a natural ally in educating people about economic justice and providing access to information. The Providence Public Library, national award winner for library service, is part of a city-wide coalition to increase access and awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit. If people send me examples of public library support for Tax and the EITC I will share. Please go to A Librarian At Every Table website and send information on library programs for economic justice.