Frances Fox Piven to Speak at Healthcare-NOW! Strategy Conference

Healthcare-NOW! - Frances Fox Piven to Speak at Healthcare-NOW! Strategy Conference

We are thrilled to announce that Frances Fox Piven, professor of political science and sociology at City University of New York, will give the keynote address at our National Strategy Conference in Nashville on October 5th and 6th. She will speak about lessons from social movements that transformed American life.

Frances is the author of many books, such as Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail and Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America.

Here she is talking about inequality and the importance of social movements. And here’s her seminal article on welfare rights, “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.”

If you haven’t already, go here to register for the conference today!

Also, we’re happy to release the first draft of the conference agenda. You can download it here (.pdf).

Workshops will be led by activists from Physicians for a National Health Program, National Nurses United, Public Citizen, Single Payer Now, Health Care for All Colorado, Healthcare-NOW! New York City, The Labor Campaign for Single Payer, and All Unions for Single Payer.

Don’t forget: You or your organization can sponsor an ad in our conference booklet. All ads include one free registration to the conference. Ads are a great way to congratulate one of 2013′s honorees. We will be honoring Tim Carpenter, of Progressive Democrats of America, with the Marilyn Clement Award for the Pursuit of Healthcare Justice. The Divestment Campaign for Healthcare will receive the Healthcare-NOW! Organizational Achievement Award. More information here.

Thanks for your support and we hope to see you in Nashville!

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New Poverty and Income Data

Poverty Stuck at 15 Percent, Record 46.5 Million

The nation's poverty rate remained stuck at 15 percent last year despite America's slowly reviving economy, a discouraging lack of improvement for the record 46.5 million poor.

More than 1 in 7 Americans were living in poverty, not statistically different from the 46.2 million of 2011 and the sixth straight year the rate had failed to improve, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Other census findings:

—Poverty remained largely unchanged across race and ethnic groups. Blacks had the highest rate at 27.2 percent, compared to 25.6 percent for Hispanics and 11.7 percent for Asian-Americans. Whites had a rate of 9.7 percent.

—Child poverty stood at 21.8 percent.

—Poverty among people 65 and older was basically unchanged at 9.1 percent, after hitting a record low of 8.9 percent in 2009.

The Top 3 Things You Need to Know About the New Poverty and Income Data | Center for American Progress

As Congress prepares for yet another fiscal showdown, new data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau should be a wake-up call that it is time to move away from a wrong-headed austerity agenda and pivot to a focus on creating jobs, boosting wages, and investing in family economic security.

The new data on poverty and income show that despite economic growth, there was no statistically significant improvement in the poverty rate or median household income in 2012.

Behind these topline numbers are data that contain real warning signs for American families and the overall economy if Congress continues down its current path.

Here are three things you need to know about the new data and how they affect the budget and policy choices before us:

1. Income inequality has widened since the end of the Great Recession.
2. Our safety net is working overtime to compensate for rising income inequality and the proliferation of low-wage work.
3. High poverty rates among young children of color have long-term implications for our economic competitiveness.

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