Continued access to local telephone service can be the difference between finding help and feeling isolated. The Washington Telephone Assistance Program (WTAP) offers eligible residents a low-cost landline phone for about $8 a month. If you, or someone you know, is receiving assistance from the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), you may quality for the WTAP program. For more information on the WTAP program or landline telephone services, contact the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission by phone (1-888-333-WUTC (9882)) or e-mail.
Proposals sought to support struggling families
The Building Resilience Initiative invites applications for one-time grants of approximately $20,000-$50,000 each to support organizations or communities using innovative strategies to support adults and families who are struggling as a result of the recession. The Seattle Foundation is part of a group of philanthropic organizations called the Building Resilience Initiative that was formed in late 2008. The group is working together to respond to the recession in ways that help adults, families, organizations and communities cope with hardships and build strengths even in these tough times. The deadline for this Request for Proposals (RFP) is Nov. 1, 2010. For details, please see the complete RFP.
Report shows access to benefits improves child health
A report by Children’s HealthWatch shows that access to benefits such as nutrition, housing and utility support programs makes a significant difference in a child’s lifelong development and learning. Compared to children in low-income families receiving no benefits, children in households receiving benefits were more likely to meet the criteria for being a “well” child, less likely to have been hospitalized since birth and less likely to be at risk for developmental delays. See the full report at: http://www.childrenshealthwatch.org/upload/resource/multiplehardships_report_jun10.pdf
2009 Annual Report
The Seattle Human Services Department has published (online) its 2009 Annual Report. The report provides a snapshot summary of the department’s accomplishments and outcomes in 2009 in data, photographs, and inspiring stories of people who have turned their lives around with the help of City-funded programs.
Poor communities bear brunt of recession
“There is a great tendency in this country to refuse to see what is right in front of everybody’s eyes,” wrote Bob Herbert in his Feb. 8 column in the New York Times. “While there is now, finally, a great deal of talk among the politicians and in the news media about unemployment, there is still almost a willful refusal to focus on just who is suffering the most from joblessness and underemployment….For those in the lower-income groups, the scale of the employment crisis has been mind-boggling.” Read the rest of the article here.
