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OCTOBER 2002 Return to NCC HomePage |
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OCTOBER 2002 Return to NCC HomePage |
| PREACHING
ABOUT POVERTY Singing His Blues A sermon by Eugene Palmore, Master of Divinity student at Union Theological Seminary and a Music Department staff member at The Riverside Church, New York City. The sermon first was published in the  Fall 2000 issue of the "African
American Pulpit.""It was around 1985 when I first met him, somewhere in the Times Square area, along 42nd Street. He was a homeless man... His appearance was haggard, worn....'Got any spare change, Mister? Ma’am, a penny, a nickel? Can anyone spare some food? I’m hungry and I just want something to eat.' "...What really got to me was the way we, everyone who encountered him, reacted to him...We would walk past him and mumble something like 'Sorry, I don’t have anything,' if we say anything at all, and then waltz right into a souvenir shop or a restaurant or some other place and spend obscene amounts of money only to run into him again on the way out..." Click here to read the entire sermon. MOBILIZATION FACTBOOK:Census Bureau Reports Poverty Deepened in 2001 The U.S. Census Bureau reported in late September that the proportion of Americans living in poverty rose significantly last year, increasing for the first time in eight years. At the same time, the bureau reported that the income of middle-class households fell for the first time since the last recession ended, in 1991. The findings are presented in two reports, Poverty in the United States: 2001 and Money Income in the United States: 2001. After falling for four straight years, the nation's poverty rate rose from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 11.7 percent in 2001. Median household income declined 2.2 percent in real terms from its 2000 level to $42,228 in 2001, according to the reports released September 24. About 1.3 million more people were poor in 2001 than in 2000 -- 32.9 million versus 31.6 million. The number of poor families increased from 6.4 million in 2000 (or 8.7 percent of all families, a record low rate) to 6.8 million (or 9.2 percent) in 2001. The number of "severely poor" rose to 13.4 million last year, from 12.6 million in 2000. People are considered to be "severely poor" if their family incomes are less than half of the official poverty level. Although the poverty rate rose four-tenths of a percentage point last year, it was still lower than in most of the last two decades. The poverty rate exceeded 12 percent every year from 1980-1998. As the economy grew from 1993-2000, the rate plunged, to 11.3 percent from 15.1 percent, and the poverty rolls were reduced by 7.7 million people, to 31.6 million. Census Bureau data also show a 15-year trend toward greater income inequality. The most affluent fifth of the population received half of all household income last year, up from 45 percent in 1985. The poorest fifth received 3.5 percent of total household income, down from 4 percent in 1985. In another report, released September 29, the Census Bureau said the number of Americans without health insurance rose to 41.2 million last year, an increase of 1.4 million. Small businesses accounted for much of the erosion in coverage. The proportion of the population without insurance also increased, to 14.6 percent in 2001, from 14.2 percent in 2000. See TANF Reauthorization pages on this Web site for analysis of the new numbers.
Here are links to Poverty Updates for: March 2002. . . April 2002 . . . May 2002 . . . June 2002 . . . July 2002 . . . August 2002 . . . September 2002 . . .October 2002 . . . November 2002 . . . December 2002 thru February 2003 |
WELFARE REAUTHORIZATION: There will be pressure from the Administration and many House members to raise the work
requirement as close as possible to 40 hours. This must be resisted. At least one Senator
is committed to eliminating all expansions of benefits for legal immigrants, and that
effort too must be opposed. See TANF Reauthorization pages on this Web site for more information and resources. - Mary Cooper, NCC Public Policy Office REGIONAL ECUMENISM AT WORK:
BRIEFLY NOTED: |
NCC MEMBER COMMUNIONS African Methodist Episcopal Church African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Churches in the USA The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Church of the Brethren The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America The Episcopal Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Friends United Meeting Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Hungarian Reformed Church in America International Council of Community Churches Korean Presbyterian Church in America Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Mar Thoma Church Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province National Baptist Convention of America National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America Orthodox Church in America Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Polish National Catholic Church of America Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc Reformed Church in America Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada The Swedenborgian Church Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America United Church of Christ The United Methodist Church NCC MINISTRY PARTNERS REGIONAL ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH
ORGANIZATIONS |
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York, NY10115. Comments/ suggestions: 212-870-2227 or news@ncccusa.org. Copyright 2002 by National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.
