Basic Needs

Last week I helped organize an event held at the Massachusetts State House entitled, "Health, Housing and Hunger Prevention: the Building Blocks of Childhood Success."  The idea was to have a bunch of organizations that work in these areas band together to educate legislators and raise awareness about the current need around these issues.  In many ways, it was a typical "Legislative Advocacy Day" up on Beacon Hill where we gave out information and materials, had an educational and inspirational speaking program of experts, provided food, and sought to build relationships with legislators  read more »

“Better Help Wanted”
was an editorial title from the Globe today. Its last sentence sums up the article. Bidding the Legislature to follow Governor Patrick’s prudent desire to give the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund $15 million, it says:

“The state’s economy can grow only if it has enough skilled workers”

The Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund, created in the economic stimulus bill of 2006, is one way to focus on regional industries and gives grants to projects backed by partners in education, training, and employment. This seems to be a “win-win-win” proposal  read more »

Massachusetts residents are breathing a sigh of relief after the energy scare experienced in 2008. A new report suggests we may have let our guard down too soon.  read more »

A few weeks ago as the stock market went through yet another round of dives, a friend of mine got an email from his financial advisor that read, in jest, “I hope you’re not standing near any windows.” He told me about it with a shrug and I agreed, it’s getting pretty scary out there. The issue has continued to inhabit the uneasy consciousness of people of every age group from any social and economic background throughout the nation. It has replaced "weather" as the primary discussion topic among strangers. It has dominated nearly every section of every paper or media outlet, so much so that the recent presidential debate which was intended to focus on national security, returned again and again to one looming question: What do we do about the economy?  read more »

Ok, here is my attempt to spend only $21 on groceries for the week -- the average benefit amount for individuals on Food Stamps in Massachusetts. Given the rising costs of food and basic needs, a number of us (18 participants right now) decided to try to participate in a Food Stamp Challenge. For more information on the challenge and why we're doing this now, see Paola's previous post. For coverage of my first day on the challenge, read on...  read more »