(Spring 2016) – We’ve always had what you might call an obsession with statistics,” says Col. Ron Busroe, national secretary of community relations for the Salvation Army. Now the organization is using its rich store of data to support a new tool—the Human Needs Index (HNI)—that aims to provide a detailed picture of where and how poverty affects people in the United States. – See more at: http://ssir.org/articles/entry/serving_up_data#sthash.LsosfIFe.dpuf

(Mar. 10) – There aren’t many reporters on the poverty beat these days, or even journalists who look with any regularity at how those on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder live. Eduardo Porter’s weekly New York Times column, “Economic Scene,” is one space where poverty continues to receive regular, thoughtful consideration. Porter’s column—which “explores the world’s most urgent economic challenges,” per its tag line—stands out for its smart blending of wonky data, academic research, and insights into how real people live and respond to the remedies intended to improve their lot. His work, which often challenges conventional wisdom about the poor, is a model for how to make these subjects interesting and relevant to large audiences.

(Mar. 9) – It’s not a direct medical condition, but experts say poverty can have a major impact on children’s health, and doctors should be asking families about their financial situation. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending that pediatricians start assessing children for their poverty status. The screening begins with a single question — asking parents whether they have difficulty making ends meet at the end of the month.

(Mar. 8) – Can the government help Donald Trump’s supporters? The political system is in shock over the insurrection of the white working class, which has flocked to Mr. Trump’s candidacy. On the wrong side of globalization and technological change, no longer at home in an increasingly multiethnic America, these voters have eagerly embraced his simple proposal to make things better: walls against the imports and the people they believe have robbed them of a shot at prosperity.

(Mar. 8) – The odds of striking it rich by playing the Powerball are 1 in 292 million — worse than the odds of being struck by lightning — yet that doesn’t stop us from daydreaming about being flooded with wealth and sailing off to Bali. The opposite, however, doesn’t appear to be true: Most of us spend relatively little time imagining what it would be like to be plunged into poverty, even though the odds of that happening are far, far greater.

(Mar. 8) – At a late January Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa, 46-year-old Carrie Aldrich described through tears what it was like struggling to survive on less than $12,000 a year. I watched and shook my head knowingly, having survived on $8,000 each of the past two years. Such low income, combined with a perfect storm of unaffordable rent, incompatible roommates, non-living wages, and an inability to find full-time work, resulted in three bouts of homelessness that forced me to live in my car. And in a few days, it will happen a fourth time for the same reasons.

(Mar. 7) – Charlotte, North Carolina, wants to change its status as one of the worst places in the United States for poor children to have a shot at getting ahead as adults. If the city succeeds, its efforts may offer a roadmap for other major metro areas gripped by barriers such as concentrated poverty and school segregation.

(Mar. 5) – I first met Larraine when we both lived in a trailer park on the far South Side of Milwaukee. Fifty-four, with silvering brown hair, Larraine loved mystery novels, “So You Think You Can Dance” and doting on her grandson. Even though she lived in a mobile home park with so many code violations that city inspectors called it an “environmental biohazard,” she kept a tidy trailer and used a hand steamer on the curtains. But Larraine spent more than 70 percent of her income on housing — just as one in four of all renting families who live below the poverty line do. After paying the rent, she was left with $5 a day.

(Mar. 4) – The Economic Innovation Group recently published the Distressed Communities Index. As the most distressed large city in the United States, Cleveland dove into a Rust Belt shame spiral. The EIG managed to re-light the river fire. The Mistake on the Lake burns again. That’s too bad, because the DCI is deeply flawed.

(Mar. 4) – For almost five decades, America’s anti-poverty policies have focused on helping the chronically poor. This overlooks the growing number of working families who face extreme ups and downs in income and expenses. In the last two decades, income volatility has increased by more than 30 percent overall and even higher for lower-income households.