Below is a collection of recent stories about CAAGKC, poverty issues, and other local news. Please contact the site administrator if you find a dead link or know of a story we should highlight. Visit this page for official CAAGKC Press Releases.
Missouri expands eligibility and extends summer Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program application deadline
Low-income Missourians now have until October 31, 2020 to apply for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to get assistance with payments for their summer cooling bills if they are in crisis.
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Fulltime child care subsidy benefits extended for low-income school-aged students not attending in person
The Department of Social Services is extending fulltime child care subsidy benefits through December 31, 2020 for eligible school-aged students who are not attending in person.
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USDA approves maximized September Food Stamp benefits
The Department of Social Services received approval on a waiver request to extend Pandemic Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (P-SNAP) benefits for the month of September from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
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Video preps educators to report child abuse and neglect when schools reopen
The Departments of Social Services and Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Missouri School Boards’ Association have created a video to heighten Missouri educator awareness of the increased importance of reporting child abuse and neglect as the new school year begins.
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Missouri gets approval to maximize August Food Stamp benefits
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) approved the Department of Social Services’ waiver request to extend Pandemic Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (P-SNAP) benefits through the month of August.
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Coronavirus-Related Hardships Aren’t Letting Up For Kansas City’s Low-Income Communities
Four months into the pandemic, thousands of Kansas Citians are unemplyed, and those who lost low-wage jobs were already in a precarious financial state. Program Director, Lamont Hale talks with Laura Ziegler about how this pandemic has meant reverting back to an old model.
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Missouri expands Child Support payment options
In the wake of COVID-19, Missourians are seeking more ways to transact business without leaving home and today, the Department of Social Services, Child Support program announces parents may now use Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal to make their monthly child support payment.
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Missouri to resume Food Stamp interviews since USDA has not acted on waiver request
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has not responded to Missouri’s request to continue to waive required interviews for Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for new applicants and recipients undergoing recertification.
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Missouri to resume Food Stamp and Temporary Assistance work requirements in August
In July, the Department of Social Services (DSS) will notify Missourians who have a work requirement to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TA), a cash grant and/or Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that those work requirements will resume in August.
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USDA Approves Missouri’s waiver request maximizing July Food Stamp benefits
The Department of Social Services has received approval from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to extend Pandemic Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (P-SNAP) benefits through the month of July.
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Missouri resumes Food Stamp/SNAP recertification requirement July 1
The Department of Social Services’ temporary waiver of the recertification requirement for Food Stamp/ Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants ends this month.
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Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Summer Program – COVID-19
The Department of Social Services (DSS) announced additional funding of $15 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program that helps low-income Missourians with payments for their summer cooling bills from June 1 through September 30, 2020.
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Interview with Lamont Hale, Program Director, and Ashley Bianchino, Marketing & Special Projects Coordinator of Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City
Caring For KC
Program Director, Lamont Hale and Marketing & Special Projects Coordinator, Ashley Bianchino, talk with Darron Story of Caring For KC about Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City’s efforts in the community during COVID-19, spanning from emergency utility and rental assistance to helping people get through this tough time.
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Households eligible for free or reduced price school meals can get P-EBT benefit
As part of the Families First Act, the Department of Social Services (DSS) will issue to eligible families a one-time Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefit for each child in the household who qualifies for free or reduced price school meals in grades pre-kindergarten through 12.
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Online purchasing now an option for Missouri Food Stamp Households
The Department of Social Services (DSS) announced Missouri Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households are now able to use an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card to purchase eligible foods online.
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USDA approves Department of Social Services’ waiver request extending Food Stamp increase through May
The Department of Social Services has received waiver approval from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to extend Pandemic Food Stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (P-SNAP) benefits through the month of May 2020.
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Current MO HealthNet and Child Care Subsidy recipients get benefits extended
For the past several weeks the Department of Social Services (DSS) has been in close contact with the Governor’s Office, and the Departments of Health and Senior Services and Mental Health to determine how best to respond to the constantly evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
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City Council Adopts Tenants Bill of Rights
Kansas City made history passing its first-ever tenants bill of rights,” said Tara Raghuveer, who founded KC Tenants. Raghuveer said the group also made history by advancing legislation written by tenants themselves.
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**Attention Food Stamp Recipients**
There is important information you need to know about your Food Stamp benefits due to COVID-19:
In response to the nutritional needs of low-income Missourians during the COVID-19 pandemic, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will extend Food Stamp/SNAP certification periods by six months for those re-certifications coming due in March, April and May. DSS is also currently waiving all work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents through the end the federal emergency COVID-19 declaration.
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Why Kansas and Missouri are lousy places to live if you’re poor
The Kansas City Star – By Editorial Board
Some states have long defined poverty in America. Georgia and its Appalachian region. Virginia and the dying coal industry. And Mississippi, with the vestiges of the bigotry that fueled the civil rights movement. But Kansas and Missouri have generally been excluded from that ignominious list, at least since the Great Depression. Yet Kansas was recently ranked the fourth worst state to live in if you’re poor. And Missouri came in fifth.
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How Unequal School Funding Punishes Poor Kids
Our system for funding education is broken, and it’s hurting society’s most vulnerable.
TheNation.com – By Michelle Chen
While a wave of protests, teacher strikes, and student walkouts has exposed the outrageous inequality plaguing the public education system, the budget numbers reveal how unfair funding programs dictate what our children are worth, depending on where they live, the color of their skin, and their families’ wealth.
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Study: Economics play role in racial ticketing disparities
The Kansas City Star – The Associated Press
Traffic tickets for economic-based crimes are burying already poor Kansas City residents under a mass of fines, a newspaper analysis has found. The Kansas City Star reports that it found significant racial disparities among the tickets issued last year by the Kansas City Police Department and processed by the Kansas City Municipal Court. Sixty percent of the tickets given to Kansas City residents went to African-Americans, although they make up just 30 percent of the population.
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Utility bill help available thanks to Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City
KMBC9 News – By Michael Mahoney
The Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City has a budget of around $800,000 to help those in need help pay for utilities. Even with the recent cold snap, the organization has close to $500,000 still available to help families pay for utilities.
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Why Med Students Are Doing Poverty Simulations
KCUR 89.3-By Brian Ellison & Luke Martin
The challenges of life in poverty are diverse and can be hard to grasp for people who haven’t lived it themselves. Today, we learn how future healthcare professionals are using poverty simulations to get a new perspective on what their poorest patients face daily.
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Extreme poverty in America: The UN special monitor’s report
The Guardian-By Philp Alston
The UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has spent 10 days touring America. This is the introduction to his report: A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America.
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5 Key Findings from the Longest-Running Study on Human Development
BigThink.com-By Philip Perry
The first British National Birth Cohort study was launched in 1946, in order to determine why the birthrate had been falling in the UK since the middle of the 19th century. Researchers ended up gathering data on nearly 14,000 babies…This is the longest-running study on human development in the world, and the process has been repeated with subsequent generations.
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Three Principles to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families
Harvard University – Center on the Developing Child
Core Principles of Development Can Help Us Redesign Policy and Practice
Recent advances in the science of brain development offer us an unprecedented opportunity to solve some of society’s most challenging problems, from widening disparities in school achievement and economic productivity to costly health problems across the lifespan.
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Congress Lets CHIP Expire, and States Scramble
Governing-By Mattie Quinn
Some states are already preparing to freeze enrollment or cut off children’s health insurance as they face the near possibility of running out of money for the program.
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How to improve the life expectancy of Kansas Citians
Kansas City Star-By The Kansas City Star editorial board
Residents in some Kansas City ZIP codes have begun to see their life expectancies decline during the past five years. Here’s what Kansas City can do to address the factors stress the body and affect our health.
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Ex-convicts pack KCPD East Patrol to take first step in turning their lives around
Fox4KC-By Kera Mashek
Having a job can be one of the most important factors in making sure a convicted felon doesn’t end up in trouble again. That’s why several local groups are coming together, to help felons find work.
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9 million kids get insurance through CHIP. Congress is about to let its funding expire
Vox-By Dylan Scot
On September 30, funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program expires. After Republicans took a rushed and ultimately failed run at repealing Obamacare one last time, the program’s spending authorization is now at imminent risk of lapsing.
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Community Action Agency keeps the lights on for those struggling …
Fox4KC-By Marcus Officer
Carla Rone is thankful every day for the help she has received to make sure the lights and air conditioner are turned on …
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Interview with Clifton Campbell, Executive Director of Community Action Agency
What’s Up Kansas City
Executive Director and CEO Clifton Campbell talks with Whats Up Kansas City about Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City’s’ efforts in the community, spanning from utility assistance to help with resumes …
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Christians are more than twice as likely to blame a person’s poverty on lack of effort
The Washington Post-By Julie Zauzmer
Which is generally more often to blame if a person is poor: lack of effort on their own part or difficult circumstances beyond their control? The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation asked 1,686 American adults to answer that question …
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Hunger and the heartland — needs multiply during summer months
By The Kansas City Star editorial board
Summer conjures images of sun-filled vacation days, less hectic schedules and plenty of time for picnics and family barbecues. Except if putting food on the table is a problem …
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Wes Moore: The war on poverty has become a war on the poor
TIME
I grew up on the brink of poverty in Baltimore and the Bronx during the ’80s and ’90s. I remember those streets you couldn’t pass through after …
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Why poverty is skyrocketing in the suburbs
CNBC
If you were to ask a group of Americans to pinpoint poverty in this country, a good many would tell you to turn a watchful eye to the …
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More than 63K Missouri seniors to lose prescription aid
U.S. News & World Report
More than 63,000 low-income Missouri seniors are set to lose state … federal poverty level — too much to qualify for Medicaid health benefits.
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Missouri ranked 25th in child well-being
News-Press Now-By Alonzo Weston
A national study ranking children’s well-being placed Missouri 25th among the 50 states. The 2017 Annie E. Casey Foundation study ranked the states in 16 key measures …
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Hundreds of Kansas City families in need get a week’s worth of groceries
KSHB
Hundreds of Kansas City families in need get a week’s worth of groceries. That’s the reality for about 22 percent of people in Kansas City sitting at the poverty line. During the …
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