News stories tagged with "low-income"

(06/22/11) The buildup of Fort Drum near Watertown has made Jefferson County one of the fastest growing places in Upstate New York. But it's also created a shortage of rental houses for military families and for civilians.

The problem hasn't come to a head yet because soldiers are constantly rotating in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. But as the U.S. draws down troop presence in the Middle East, the military population around Fort Drum is expected to swell.

Officials have been leading a public-private effort to build more housing for years. Joanna Richards reports now is crunch time. more

(03/24/11) A number of groups have been left out of Governor Cuomo's budget - the largest- is schools, who have been cut by a billion and a half dollars, but many of society's most vulnerable are complaining that they received short shrift in the governors budget, too.

(07/21/10) Millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits have run out are breathing a sigh of relief. The Senate is poised to pass legislation today restoring the benefits. The measure would then go to the House for a final vote. It is expected to pass then go on to President Barack Obama later this week.

A continuing fear of social services folks is what happens when unemployment benefits do run out. The jobless rate still hovers around 10%, and that doesn't include people who have stopped looking for a job out of frustration. Last December, the staff at One Stop Career Center in Canton predicted "a tsunami of job seekers" this year. It turns out they were right. In our ongoing series Story 2.0, we'll revisit the One Stop Career Center. But first, here's an excerpt from David Sommerstein's story from last winter. more

(01/11/10) This spring, an army of temporary workers will fan out across the North Country to count its residents for the 2010 census. The federal government is spending $300 million nationwide to remind people to fill out their census forms. The stakes are high, especially in places like New York, where the population has been declining. Census figures are used to draw legislative districts and distribute federal and state money.

So the pressure is on in northern New York to count as many people as possible. St. Lawrence County got a federal grant to reach out to hard-to-count populations, like college students, the Amish, and Mexican dairy workers. John Tenbush is a planner with St. Lawrence County. He spoke with David Sommerstein.

(12/30/09) Over the last year, the NCPR news team has been reporting on the impacts of the so-called Great Recession in our series, A Year of Hard Choices. What we didn't necessarily consider is that the year after the recession could be even tougher for many people. Unemployment remains around 10% throughout much of the North Country. The manufacturing sector has been hit hard with massive job losses, from General Motors and Corning in St. Lawrence County, to Pfizer in Clinton County, to New York Air Brake and Covidien in Watertown.

During 2010, those workers' jobless benefits will begin to run out. And they will join an already overcrowded market of job seekers. The situation is making for stressful times at the state-run career centers across the region. At the One Stop Career Center in Canton, the unemployed are trying to stay busy and keep their hopes up. David Sommerstein reports.

CORRECTION: The correct title of the employment center is "One Stop Career Center".

(12/10/09) As the unemployment rate in much of the North Country remains just under 10%, more families are struggling to put food on the table. Thousands of people live with food insecurity - that means at some point, they don't know where their next meal will come from. Demand at the region's food pantries and kitchens is up. But the Food Bank of Central NY says it's been planning for this kind of crisis for years, and it's still ready and able to fill the demand. Todd Moe and David Sommerstein revisit a story from 2008.

(04/07/09) St. lawrence County is starting a new public transit route, bussing people between Gouverneur and Watertown. Missing links connecting the towns and villages of the rural North Country have long been considered an obstacle to economic development in the region. Martha Foley has more.

(02/19/09) This week, we're viewing the recession through the lens of one North Country community: the village of Lowville in Lewis County. Yesterday we heard from Main Street merchants struggling to make a living. Climb the hill from Main Street, up the Tug Hill Plateau, toward the East's largest wind farm, and you reach Lewis County's social services building. Inside, caseworkers are flooded with new clients. Heating assistance and food stamp applications are up 40%. As David Sommerstein reports, those who hold the safety net want even more people to use it. more

(01/12/09) Coming off his first State of the State address, Governor David Paterson is taking his prescription for the state's $15.4-billion deficit on the road. The first stop on his Upstate tour was last night at the North Side Improvement League in Watertown. His message to the packed house of 400 people was as grim as it was simple: 2009 will be "the year of bad medicine" for New York State. Paterson offered little new from previous speeches. But as David Sommerstein reports, his frankness appeared to win the crowd.

(01/07/09) A piece of news yesterday brings us the next installment of our new series, "Story 2.0". We're revisiting stories from the North Country Public Radio archive to see what's happened since. CITGO, the U.S. branch of the national oil company of Venezuela, is stopping shipments of free heating oil for poor families in America's cities. That word came yesterday from the non-profit organization that distributes the fuel. CITGO also donates free heating oil to native tribes, including the Akwesasne Mohawks. The company has given away $1.5 million in heating oil to Mohawk families. David Sommerstein was there in 2006 when CITGO began the program, sparking some geopolitical controversy.