Social Services

Poverty Institute Breaking Ties with Rhode Island College

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 16, 2009 |

This week’s Political Scene column in the Projo contains this interesting note at the bottom…The Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College, a vocal player in the state budget debate, is ending its formal relationship with the public college. The organization announced that this fall, 10 years after its inception within the college’s School of Social…

But is it the Cause or the Effect?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 12, 2009 |

There is now a set of state-by-state listings that Rhode Island has placed near the top of. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Federal Government’s Department of Health and Human Services (as reported in the New York Times), Rhode Island is…#1 in the percentage of the population using illicit…

“A Fussy and Difficult Student”

By Justin Katz | December 14, 2008 |

There’s a familiar face on the front page of the Providence Journal today: From the beginning, the relationship between William Felkner and the Rhode Island College School of Social Work has sounded like the screech of chalk on a blackboard. … Felkner has filed a lawsuit against Rhode Island College that revives arguments from conservatives…

Poverty Rate Versus Continuous Tax Burden

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 18, 2008 |

I’ve received several e-mails about possible distortions that can arise from plotting a true continuous variable (the relative poverty rate) versus an ordinal rank, and if it’s possible to re-plot the data against the data used to create the ranks. Of concern is that ranks can have different meanings at different points on a scale;…

A Declining Poverty Rate Versus a Declining Tax Burden

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 17, 2008 |

With all indicators showing the Rhode Island economy tanking at the state level, as well as national and international-level factors like the banking crisis and energy prices squeezing Rhode Island families, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that the Federal Government says that the overall poverty situation in Rhode Island improved during…

Crossroads and the Issue of Charity

By Monique Chartier | July 3, 2008 |

The website of Crossroads, Providence, describes it as “a national leader in providing a continuum of care to the homeless”. This post is in no way a criticism of its staff, who are undoubtedly dedicated and work very hard, or of those residents who find themselves in genuine straits. On his blog Rescuing Providence, in…

Welfare Cash Time Limits

By Marc Comtois | November 28, 2007 |

The ProJo reports: Thousands of poor Rhode Islanders have received cash welfare benefits for longer than five years, the time limit adopted by state leaders during the sweeping welfare changes of a decade ago intended to push poor families into the work force. Nearly half of the state’s 10,755 families receiving cash assistance last year…

Brewster Plays with Numbers

By Marc Comtois | November 20, 2007 |

Governor Carcieri said, “When I look at our rolls of people receiving ‘family-independence’ [benefits] whether it be RIte Care, whatever, the vast majority of these are women with children and they are not married and this is not a good situation.” To this, Kate Brewster of the RI Poverty Institute responded, “I don’t think anyone…

Welfare Benefits are More than just Cash

By Marc Comtois | November 20, 2007 |

“Today, state spending on cash assistance through FIP accounts for less than one-half of 1 percent of our entire state budget,” ~ Kate Brewster, RI Poverty Institute. The qualifier “cash assistance” makes all the difference, though, and ProJo reporter Katherine Gregg picked it up. As Gregg reports, direct cash assistance has dropped from $58 million…

We Don’t Have a Tax Revenue Problem

By Marc Comtois | October 16, 2007 |

The usual suspects are out complaining about Governor Carcieri’s proposed budget cuts: Even without details, Kate Brewster, executive director of Rhode Island College’s Poverty Institute, said the outcome is predictable and “slashing public services while not addressing the tens of millions of dollars that are being lost to some of the recently enacted tax cuts…

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