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CURRENT ISSUES
SAVE THE DATE! 5th Annual Budget Rhode Map Conference Feburary 16, 2012, 8:30 am-12:30 pm, Rhodes on the Pawtuxet
Join us for our 5th Annual Budget Rhode Map Conference to hear from leading experts about plans to improve the economic vitality of Rhode Island and its residents. Featuring keynote speaker Jared Bernstein, Former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Biden.
Read more and register today!
REPORT: MONEY FOR SOMETHING: Job creation and Job Quality Standards in State Economic Development Subsidy Programs (Good Jobs First, 12.11)
At a time when unemployment remains high and states are spending an estimated $70 Billion a year in the name of economic development, taxpayers are right to ask if such expenditures are creating a substantial number of good jobs. Good Jobs First has done an analysis of major state economic development programs that finds many subsidy programs require little if any job creation.
Read the report.
View the Rhode Island-specific press release and tables.
View related articles from the Providence Journal and Providence Business News.
Health Coverage Workshop hosted by The Poverty Institute and RI Kids Count
The Poverty Institute and RI KIDS COUNT held a Health Coverage Workshop focused on implementation of health care reform in Rhode Island including changes to Medicaid, immigrant eligibility and the Exchange. The speakers included Christopher Koller, Health Insurance Commissioner; Jennifer Wood, Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Governor’s Office; Deborah Florio, Administrator, Center for Child and Family Health, EOHHS.
Click here to view the workshop materials, including presentation and handouts from the workshop.
26,000 more Rhode Islanders living in poverty, according to latest Census Data (9.22.11)
The Census Bureau has released a second set of state-level poverty data, this time from the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS). The results show that in 2010, more Rhode Islanders were experiencing economic distress, as 26,000 more Rhode Islanders fell into poverty last year. The data also gives demographic and geographic information for the Ocean State, and shows that, in Rhode Island, African Americans are four times and Latinos are three times more likely to be living in poverty than white Rhode Islanders.
Click here for a summary sheet of key data points, charts, and response from The Poverty Institute.
Click here to read the related news article "More Rhode Islanders Fall Below Poverty Level" (Providence Journal, 9.23.11)
Linda Katz, Poverty Institute co-founder and policy director, named to Governor-appointed Health Benefits Exchange Board
Governor Chafee has issued an Executive Order establishing the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange, one of the state’s first steps toward providing health insurance for all Rhode Islanders. The Governor has also established a board to oversee the project, and we are proud to have our Policy Director Linda Katz, and one of our board members, Peter Lee, named as members of this board.
Click here to read articles from The Providence Journal and GoLocalProv.com.
One in Eight Rhode Islanders under 65 Lacked Health Insurance Last Year, According to New Census Data (9.13.11)
According to data released from the Census Bureau, one in eight Rhode Islanders under 65 lacked health insurance in 2010. Employer-sponsored coverage declined, and coverage through the Medicaid program helped prevent more from falling into the ranks of the uninsured.
Click here to read the press release
Click here to view the chart on Health Insurance in Rhode Island
IN THE NEWS Five Questions With: Linda Katz (Providence Business News, 12.26.11) R.I. subsidies’ standards rank 8th (Providence Business News 12.15.11) Report on R.I.'s Global Medicaid Waiver Finds $22M in Savings (Providence Business News 12.14.11) PowerPlayer: The Poverty Institute’s Kate Brewster (GoLocalProv, 10.24.11)
As policy director at The Poverty Institute, Linda Katz often plays an important, behind-the-scenes role in evaluating the impacts and outcomes of health care policy decisions on the most vulnerable Rhode Islanders. Providence Business News asked Katz to share her views about the changing landscape of health care in Rhode Island in 2012.
Locally, in 2008, The Poverty Institute and other accountability groups won “significant transparency reforms which require reporting on job creation, wage rates and fringe benefits as well as disclosure of economic impact statements on subsidies and the creation of a Unified Economic Development Budget. The recipient reporting was put into effect but the other provisions remain unfulfilled,” Good Jobs First said.
Linda Katz, the policy director at The Poverty Institute, said the Lewin Group report supported what advocates had been saying about the Global Waiver from the beginning. “Most everything that the waiver purported to bring about could have been done without the Global Waiver,” Katz said. “The trend moving seniors and people with disabilities to provide more options in the community instead of nursing facilities was something that was underway before the Global Waiver was announced.”
Expert: COLA freeze won’t strain RI budget’s social safety net (Ted Nesi, WPRI, 10.26.11)
One argument made by state Sen. Frank Ciccone and other opponents of the Raimondo-Chafee bill’s extended freeze on cost-of-living adjustments is that lawmakers may rob Peter to pay Paul, as impoverished retirees wind up on the rolls of state welfare programs. But that concern is a red herring, according to Linda Katz.
This week’s PowerPlayer is the Poverty Institute’s Kate Brewster. Ms. Brewster was kind enough to chat will GoLocalProv about the state’s most pressing issues and the work she is doing to address them.
