Foreign Aid for the USA

Some American children are facing circumstances so dire that they require foreign aid to supplement services such as tutoring and reading programs and rely on a grant from the Bernard van Leer Foundation of the Netherlands -- for tutoring and reading programs , said a report by the Children's Defense Fund. The study, "Held Captive: Child Poverty in America," refers to as "the new face of poverty" .

"Some [people at the foundation] wondered why it should be working in the most affluent country in the world, but they decided the reality is we have poor children in this country who are denied the opportunity to be all they can be,"

In Baton Rouge, children displaced by Hurricane Katrina 5½ years ago are still struggling, and largely forgotten, the report says. And in Long island, families are slipping from "middle" class to working poor, and the working poor to poverty because of the economy, the housing crisis, gaps in the cost of living vs. wages, and a lack of financial safety nets.

"The current economic crisis continues to drag more families and their children into poverty," the Children's Defense Fund said. "This Christmas season, 15.5 million children in America, more than one in five, are living in poverty, a number of them in extreme poverty. This is the highest child poverty rate the nation has experienced since 1959."

Nearly one in three working families in America is now considered low income, meaning they earn less than twice the official poverty threshold, according to a report released today from the Working Poor Families Project. The number has increased in recent years thanks to layoffs and wage cuts, from 28% in 2007 to more than 30% last year. The downturn has also forced more workers to accept sub-par jobs. “They’re no longer working actively, with a chance to advance and gain more experience and skills,” the report’s co-author explained “They’re just putting pieces together to stay afloat, to meet basic needs.”

MoneyUP conducted the "August 2010 MoneyUP Field Report" and its findings showed that the nation's most financially vulnerable populations continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, including food, housing, and medical costs. 17 percent have between $101 and $500 in savings, 19 percent with less than $100, and an astonishing 40% percent report not even a dollar in savings. It isn't surprising that almost one-third pay their bills "always" or "often" late.