Statistics about marriage ensuring economic success are suspect at best

For low-wage workers, the math of marriage in which one plus one adds up and becomes two incomes may be true only infrequently over time. That creates instability. And while all workers may risk a job or earnings loss, there may be a low-income tipping point where instability feels boundless, not just some blip from which to bounce back.

-Jodie Levin-Epstein

Read more on the myth of marriage, poverty reduction and personal responsibility here.

Click the Link. Play the Game. End Poverty.

Can games change the way we think about the future? From April 3-5, the Rockefeller Foundation will be holding a global public online game, called Catalysts for Change, to identify a thousand new paths out of poverty in just 48 hours of gameplay with hundreds of players from all walks of life. The game is open to everyone, anywhere in the world. Register to play at game.catalyze4change.org. Follow the game on Twitter (@catalyze4change) and on Facebook.

http://catalyze4change.org/

HEALTH CARE REFORM, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT-IT'S ALL IN THERE

REMINDER TO JOIN US FOR THE DAY AT THE CAPITOL TAKE ACTION CAMPAIGN
APRIL 5, 2012 9:00 AM TO 2:30 PM WITH LUNCH AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
CALL OR EMAIL SHAIE WILSON TO RESERVE A SPOT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!
(SWILSON@CCLPONLINE.ORG OR 303-573-5669 EXT. 321)

THE DAY'S EVENTS~~

09:00 CLIFF EFFECT RESOLUTION PRESENTED TO THE COLORADO HOUSE WITH A TRIBUTE IN THE SENATE

09:45 MOVE TO OLD SUPREME COURT CHAMBERS

10:00 CAPITOL PROGRAM (LOREZ MEINHOLD—GOV. OFFICE HEALTH, KELLI PEREZ—GOV. OFFICE HUMAN SERVICES, LINDSAY HODEL—CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, BELL POLICY CENTER—BALLOT INITIATIVES)

11:00 STATE CAPITOL TOUR/COMMITTEE MEETINGS

12:00 COMPLIMENTARY LUNCH WITH LEGISLATORS (LEGISLATORS WILL HOST “ISSUE” TABLES SUCH AS CHILD CARE, CHILD WELFARE, ETC)

1:15 MOVE TO OLD SUPREME COURT CHAMBERS TO WRAP UP THE DAY (DEBRIEF AND GOODBYES)

2:30 PROGRAM CONCLUDES

April 5th is Advocacy Day at the Capitol-Join us on at "Po' People's Gathering"

Please join us for Advocacy Day—if he hadn’t been assassinated, Martin Luther King would have held a “Poor People’s March” on April 6, 1968.

In 2008 the CBMS Coalition held an Economic Justice rally in Denver’s City Civic Park and this year, organizations providing services to low-income women and their families are gathering at the capitol. Below is a list of the day’s activities. We expect a great turnout connecting the political to the personal and we hope you can join us.

If you require reimbursement or advance monies for travel please let us know.

09:00-09:45 CLIFF EFFECT RESOLUTION IN THE SENATE
09:45-10:00 MOVE INTO THE SUPREME COURT
10:00-11:00 CAPITOL PROGRAM(SPEAKERS FROM THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, AND OTHERS)
11:00-11:45 TOUR/ COMMITTEE MEETINGS
11:45-12:00 CROSS OVER TO 1ST BAPTIST
12:00-01:15 LUNCH WITH LEGISLATORS
01:15-01:30 MOVE TO OLD SUPREME COURT CHAMBERS
0130- 02:30 WRAP UP

TO RSVP, OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Shaie Wilson
Program Assistant
Family Economic Security
Colorado Center on Law and Policy
303-573-5669 ext. 321

State Representative Mark Ferrandino Gives out Urine Cups to Committee

This morning the House Appropriations Committee met to discuss House Bill 12-1046. Needless to say it passed to the Committee as a Whole, but not without members accepting Urine Cups for Drug Testing and a conceptual amendment that all elected officials should pass a drug test just like their friends, neighbors, and in some cases, family member who are receiving benefits from The Colorado Works (Temporary Aid to Needy Families or TANF) programs. For more on the day's meeting, listen here!

To hear from folks who will be affected by this change in policy, click here for the PBS NewsHour clip on CWEE and the women there who are struggling to make ends meet.

Poverty Scorecard -how we vote at the Federal level

Click here to review the Shriver Center Scorecard on Poverty. Colorado delegates vote as predicted, but the bill list is quite interesting.

Poverty and Rural Education

With rural areas getting hit hard with the economic downturn, it is important to look at the roles of education. Not getting a good education can increase your chances of living in poverty and living in an area with high poverty can decrease the quality of your education.

The Rural School and Community Trust put out a new edition of the report "Why Rural Matters 2011-2012: Statistical Indicators of the Condition of Rural Education in the 50 States" It is an interactive map so you can choose your state and get your statistics.

Here is the report: http://www.ruraledu.org/articles.php?id=2820