August 2007 No. 33Table of Contents |
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Hoosiers get about 13% less in government support than the national average when it comes to programs that help low-income families with children get and stay in jobs— $2,878 compared to $3,264 across the USA in 2005. Here are Urban Institute (UI) data:
| Work-Support Program (2005) | IN | USA |
| Child Care | $144 | $230 |
| Food Stamps | $440 | $412 |
| Federal Earned Income Tax Credit | $741 | $792 |
| State Earned Income Tax Credit | $43 | $29 |
| Medicaid | $1,411 | $1,660 |
| State Children’s Health Insurance | $99 | $141 |
| Total | $2,878 | $3,264 |
“The work-support safety net reflects a significant philosophical shift away from guaranteeing cash assistance to families largely not working and toward helping families support themselves through work,” UI says. From 1996—when Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)—federal and state spending grew 49% to $165 Billion in 2005. The biggest change was in healthcare coverage (Medicaid and CHIP), up 84%. Most other payouts were somewhat flat during this period. That translated to a growth in per-capita income for low-income families from $2,088 to $3,235 over these ten years.
Utah, Nevada, and Idaho have the lowest per-capita support to low-income families (about half), and Maine, Alaska, and Maryland have the highest (nearly double). Ohio is average, Kentucky slightly more than IN, and Michigan slightly less. For details, see www.urban.org/publications/311495.html.
Americans spent 7.7% more time viewing newspaper Web sites than a year ago, according to data compiled by Nielsen/NetRatings for the Newspaper Assn of America. About 37% of the 160 million active Internet users visited newspapers online in the second quarter of 2007; page views jumped 200 million to 2.7 billion. The average monthly time spent per person also edged up to nearly 41 minutes. Is your United Way media reflecting this growing Web site visitation?
Most Americans view themselves as loyal and reliable (98%), “independent thinkers” (95%), well-informed about current events (81%), and as making a positive difference in the world (80%). When asked if they are leaders, 71% say “yes,” according to a Barna Group national survey of a 4,000 “representative” adults.
While 92% support traditional family values and 86% are concerned about the moral state of the nation, three-fourths say they are “very open” to alternative moral views. And, only one-fourth will try to convince other people to change their views on such issues.
Few admit to being “stressed out” (34%), in serious debt (13%), or having some type of addiction (12%). Though a majority has “their relational network in place,” 40% are still trying to develop a few good friendships.
Half believe they “are right about things in life,” are “turned off by politics,” and are “active in the community.” Two-thirds describe themselves as “deeply spiritual.” For more from this Christian research firm, see www.barna.org.
Basic security—not opportunity—is American’s #1 economic concern. “You go to college and then there are not enough good jobs.” “We are losing our middle class.” Real earning for workers with a college degree dropped 5% from 2000 to 2004. The jobs with the highest projected growth in numbers from 2004 to 2014 are retail salespeople; nurses, nursing aides, & home healthcare providers; customer service reps; janitors; restaurant wait staff & cooks; and transportation workers, according to The Working American Dream in the New Economy, from the six million worker, seven union Change to Win (CTW) initiative.
The Lake Research Partners interviewed 800 “non-supervisory workers” across the USA in mid-2007. These were workers earning less than $100k/year—not full-time students, retirees, business owners, CEOs, or professionals—just average Janes and Joes in the workforce. They see the “American Dream” tied to a decent-paying job, affordable health care, respect for the work they do, and retirement security—and they see it as a goal that is becoming harder to achieve.
They’re anxious and angry, CTW reports. Most (64%) see their own chances of realizing the American Dream as harder than their parents, and only 15% see their kids’ prospects being “better off” than their own. Almost all (90%) see corporate America as having “a responsibility to assure their workers get ahead when they are profitable, not just the CEOs.”
Yet, half of workers say it is still possible to attain the American Dream, by joining together businesses, families, and community groups. They focus on preserving Social Security, raising the minimum wage to keep up with cost-of-living increases, government guarantees for affordable healthcare, pension protections, and accountability for global companies. For the full report and complete set of recommendations, see www.changetowin.org/features/the-american-dream-survey.html.
If trends continue, “one in three black males and one in six Hispanic males born today can expect to go to prison.” That’s the unsettling conclusion of research by The Sentencing Project on the most current state-by-state prison data in its Uneven Justice report.
In 2005, blacks were nearly 6 times more likely to be in prison as whites, and the Hispanic incarceration rate was twice that of whites. The pattern varied widely among states. Here’s how IN compared to the USA:
Per 100,000 population |
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| 2005 Imprisonment | White |
Black |
Hispanic |
| National Average | 412 |
2290 |
742 |
| Indiana | 463 |
2526 |
579 |
IN’s black-to-white ratio is close to the national average of 5.6-to-1, with the District of Columbia the highest at 19-to-1 and Hawaii the lowest at 1.9-to-1. IN’s Hispanic-to-white ratio (1.3-to-1) is below the national average of 1.8-to-1, with Connecticut the highest at 6.6-to-1 and Hawaii the lowest at 0.4-to-1.
State ratios differ due to a high black rate of imprisonment—as in Vermont, Wisconsin, and South Dakota—or a low white rate—as in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. The Sentencing Project wants to:
For the full report, see www.sentencingproject.org.
IN’s new US Representative Brad Ellsworth (D-8th District) was ranked #1 on the list of the “50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill” by The Hill, a daily newspaper about Washington DC politics. Also chosen were Kathleen Taylor on Rep. Julia Carson’s staff and Adria Crutchfield of Indy who’s held several Congressional positions. Congrats, we think.
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