Family Radio Forum 12/08/06

Producer/host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Topic: Poverty In Maine
Guests: Tim King, Executive Director, Washington-Hancock Community Agency
Dean Crocker, Maine Children’s Alliance

Poverty in Maine—the 2006 report- what are the highlights?
Are the rich getting richer and the poor, poorer? Is there a gold coast effect going on?

How do we measure “poverty??? (and what role do demography, employment, livable wages, education and public benefits play?

How do these and other factors influence whether someone is living in poverty (dealing with food, housing and health insecurity!)

What is the brief history of government response to poverty and the conditions that create poverty?

What makes poverty persistent?

What are the goals of public funding for these responses to poverty– keeping people from poverty, eliminating poverty, or a combination? Is it different when the focus is on children?

If you were given the opportunity to design public responses to poverty that work, what would you do?

What do listener’s need to know about coping with the conditions that contribute to poverty? What advice would you give to people who are struggling with those conditions?

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