What a great way to start 2007! We almost missed the following positive news, which appeared December 25th:
Last week, the city [of Worcester, Mass.] settled with the Legal Assistance Corp. of Central Massachusetts and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which filed the suit on behalf of three co-plaintiffs who live in shelters and felt they were discriminated against.
Under the settlement, the library has scrapped its policy restricting borrowing privileges of residents of shelters, transitional housing programs and adolescent programs.
In addition, the city has agreed to host the National Coalition for the Homeless’ Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau in Worcester, according to a joint statement released by the library and Legal Assistance Corporation. As part of the event, people who have experienced homelessness share their stories with the community, telling of the hardships and discrimination they faced …
The head of the local chapter of the ACLU said when the suit was filed that people should be judged on their own merits, and not on their living status. Last week, those involved in the case praised the resolution without the need for further legal action.
“We appreciate the willingness of the city and the library board of directors to come to the table to discuss equal access to the library and its materials for all,” Jonathan L. Mannina, executive director of Legal Assistance, said.
The complete story is available on the LACCM’s Web site.
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Via SRRT’s Fred Stoss and DrWeb’s Domain, a profile of the Seattle Public Library’s relationship with homeless patrons:
“New Library a Haven for Homeless”
by Vanessa Ho
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006
... [T]oday, the library is doing more to accommodate both rich and poor. There are more programs for a wider audience, from noontime lectures to children’s events to writing workshops for homeless people …
Anyone who reeks gets a polite request to leave and a card telling him or her where to get a free shower.
“That’s probably the one that’s the most difficult to enforce, because it’s really personal,” [security officer Christopher] Hogan said.
Since the library opened, officers have barred more than 800 rule breakers, mostly for sleeping or being disruptive. The exclusions last for a few days to one year.
[Tiberious] Shapiro, who often plays pinochle online, said he had a spell of nodding off at the library, which got him banned. He had torn his shoulder at a job heaving 50-pound sacks of rice, was on painkillers and couldn’t stay awake. But the officers, he said, had been nice about it.
“They go out of their way to give you every possible chance they can.”
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Earlier this year, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled and organized links to state-based benefits programs and related resources.
Virtually all states have made information regarding the five main state-administered low-income benefit programs—food stamps, Medicaid, SCHIP, TANF and child care—available to the public via the internet. There is significant variation between what online information is provided across states.
Some provide a simple description of each program on their agencies websites. Others offer additional information, such as application forms, eligibility screening tools, and policy and procedure manuals used by state agency caseworkers.
Find your state here: www.cbpp.org/1-14-04tanf.htm
The CBPP has also created a 2006 tax toolkit for low-income families who may benefit from the Earned Income Credit (EIC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). In their words, “Make Tax Time Pay!”
For more info visit: www.cbpp.org/eic2006/index.html
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Satia Orange in ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) shared a recent Bill Moyers speech. Delivered to the Council of Great City Schools in October, the address treats inequality in the U.S., including IRS persecution of poor people:
In 2001, 397,000 people who applied for the Earned Income Tax Credit were audited, one out of every 47 returns. That’s a rate eight times higher than the rate for people earning $100,000 or more. Only one out of every 366 returns of wealthy households was audited. Over the previous 11 years, in fact, audit rates for the poor increased by a third, while the wealthiest enjoyed a 90% decline in IRS scrutiny. Of all the 744,000 tax returns audited by the IRS in 2002, more than half, David Cay Johnston finds, were filed by the working poor. More than half of IRS audits targeted people who account for less than 20% of taxpayers, the poorest 20%.
For the complete speech (a PDF), visit:
For more on the IRS and its resistance to public scrutiny, visit:
On a similar note, Ben Stein writes in The New York Times of Warren Buffett’s frustration with the tax system (“In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning,” Nov. 26, 2006):
Mr. Buffett compiled a data sheet of the men and women who work in his office. He had each of them make a fraction; the numerator was how much they paid in federal income tax and in payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the denominator was their taxable income. The people in his office were mostly secretaries and clerks, though not all.
It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office. Further, in conversation it came up that Mr. Buffett doesn’t use any tax planning at all. He just pays as the Internal Revenue Code requires. “How can this be fair?” he asked of how little he pays relative to his employees. “How can this be right?”
Even though I agreed with him, I warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue, he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare.
“There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
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November 12-18, 2006, marks National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Advocacy efforts are sponsored by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness.
Participating in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week not only brings greater awareness to your community, but also helps to promote the national endeavor to end hunger and homelessness. The plight of those without a home can be both lonely and difficult. Addressing their struggles by organizing and participating in this week may bring greater solidarity and understanding, as well as promote future involvement … It is imperative to dispel myths that label homelessness as someone else’s problem or claim that an end to homelessness is impossible.
A manual featuring organizing ideas and tips is available as a PDF. For more information, visit www.nationalhomeless.org.
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