A comprehensive study released by MDRC finds that people who turn to payday lending services are increasingly diverse, yet share common problems such as high debt loads, little or no savings, poor credit histories, and a chronic inability to cover regular expenses.
"Online Payday and Installment Loans: Who Uses Them and Why" analyzes nationwide borrowing trends and finds that nearly 64 percent of respondents used payday loans to cover regular expenses, even though most had stable incomes. According to the report, state regulation of storefront lending diminishes online borrowing, but Native American tribal lenders commonly undermine these efforts because they are not subject to the same rules as state-licensed lenders.
*Poverty and salary data sourced from the 2010-2014 U.S. Census American Community Survey.
U.S. News and World Report, July 6, 2016
America's poor are increasingly shifting from the cities to the suburbs, the most recent Census data show - and that's causing problems with the way the government delivers assistance to them.
The prolonged economic recession forced millions of Americans into poverty, with nearly 15 percent of the population - or roughly 46.7 million people - living below the poverty line in 2014. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, that figure is up from about 11 percent in 2000.
These Americans tend to live in areas with a few common features, like economic dependence on the agriculture industry and an abundance of low-skilled labor. A typical high-poverty U.S. city is in the South or West, has extensive suburbs outlying the metropolitan area, and is populated disproportionately by minority residents. Of the 10 most populous metropolitan areas with the highest poverty rates all but San Juan, Puerto Rico, fit that description.
Facebook introduced a new tool Thursday that allows people to raise money for U.S.-based 501(c)3 nonprofits directly on the social media site.
The fundraising tool allows individuals to set up a page to share their story with their friends and followers, talk about a nonprofit's mission and solicit funds.
Last fall, Facebook launched a fundraising tool for nonprofits, where organizations can raise money directly from the News Feed and use the Donate button. Facebook's new tool now lets ordinary users create pages to collect donations for a nonprofit they choose and set fundraising goals.
Earlier this week, Facebook announced changes to its News Feed, where users will see more updates from their Facebook friends and less articles and updates from brands and publishers.
Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership Funding Announcements Posted
Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 2pm ET (1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT)
Is your agency applying for the newly-announced second round of funding for the Early Head Start/Child Care initiative? If so, please join the Partnership for a webinar on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 to hear more about the initiative, the application process, and program implementation from a panel of national experts and peer agencies who participated in the first round of funding for the initiative.
Join Community Action Partnership and the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) for an inspiring webinar on free and for-purchase fatherhood resources to help fathers better engage in their children's lives.
The webinar will feature Community Action Agencies that are currently incorporating father engagement tools into their offerings. Edith Rivera and David Bryant of Community Action of Central Texas will discuss their successful implementations of the "24/7 Dad" and "Understanding Dad" programs, and other NFI resources and training.
This webinar is free, but registration is required - Registertoday.
Upcoming Trainings from the Learning Communities Resource Center
Social and economic conditions have changed dramatically since the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Yet 46.7 million people in the U.S. live in poverty, 15.5 million of whom are children. As the U.S. Census Bureau reported in its annual estimates on income, poverty and health insurance coverage, the poverty rate for 2014 was 14.8 percent, unchanged from 2013. This Poverty Trends webinar series will offer in-depth information on the state of poverty in America and will provide participating agencies with resources on how to analyze their community data on the poverty level and provide tools for anti-poverty advocacy on the local and state level.
This webinar series is designed to improve the effectiveness of Community Action Programs (CAP) agencies working on the frontline of addressing family homelessness. Building on the research and information shared in ourprevious twowebinars, this next presentation will provide a deeper dive into the various processes and challenges of implementing innovative homelessness strategieswithin the Community Action network.
OCS and NASCSP analyzed your feedback to help modify the ROMA Next Generation framework and incorporate and respond to the comments we received during the Initial Comment Period. The ROMA Next Generation framework underwent significant changes-all in an effort to use the collective expertise and response from the Network in moving us forward. The ROMA Next Generation component revisions are all included in the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Annual Report, which has been submitted in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Clearance packet.
These sessions of the Community Economic Development Webinar Series are hosted in partnership with the California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA).
Assessing the Use of Debt (Loans) in Community Development: Upsides and Downsides
Monday, July 27, 2016 2pm ET (1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT)
Level: Intermediate
This is an intermediate session for those organizations that are considering using debt in a proposed CED project or are thinking of taking out a note (debt) on existing properties. Many projects can afford to fill project financing gaps with debt, but should you? This session will focus on the considerations you should make before taking on debt. You will learn basic underwriting from experienced lenders who have financed many community development and related commercial projects. What types of projects and tenants can best withstand debt? Where are the best sources for obtaining debt? How much debt could I afford or will be limited to? These are some of the questions that will be answered during this session.
