Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/poverty/)
Studies show poverty damages the brains of very poor children. Early interventions and raising the standard of living of poor families could help close Wisconsin’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap.
In 2011, Walker’s first year as governor, 102 people were suspended from the FoodShare program for violating program rules, according to DHS. That number has increased each year, to 1,184 in 2014.
People in Wisconsin and Minnesota living just barely above the poverty line are about to see their health care fortunes change — in opposite directions.
In Lisa Nerenhausen’s house, the consequences of the state of Wisconsin’s approach to the Affordable Care Act are mixed.
It’s called the Affordable Care Act, but it looks as though obtaining health care coverage on the new private exchanges will generally be much more affordable in Minnesota than Wisconsin.
Eleta Pierce has been on and off MinnesotaCare, a program for working low-income people. Beginning Jan. 1, Pierce and her family will be eligible for Medicaid coverage.
Occupy Madison has maintained a nominal presence eight blocks from the Wisconsin state Capitol, the site of protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people as recently as mid-March. The site’s leaders are optimistic they will find a new location and firmly believe in their movement’s staying power. Yet it’s clear the Occupy movement, including the Madison encampment, is struggling to maintain relevance.
Advocates for Wisconsin’s Women, Infants and Children nutrition program want the state to reconsider its decision not to seek nearly $9 million in federal grants to make the benefits more convenient and less open to fraud.
More than 65 percent of depressed mothers don’t get adequate treatment for depression, according to a nationwide study released this fall by the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. The study of 2,130 women found that black, Hispanic and other minority mothers, as well as uninsured mothers, were among the least likely to be helped.
Nearly four in 10 Wisconsin elementary students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year, and the proportion of low-income elementary students has climbed every year of this decade, according to state Department of Public Instruction data analyzed by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.