POVERTY
Working-class teens forced to trade sex for food
A new study by a nonpartisan Washington think tank, the Urban Institute, estimates that nearly 7 million young people aged 10-17 struggle daily to find enough to eat, forcing an increasing number of youth to feed themselves by shoplifting, drug trafficking, joining gangs and even the sex trade.
“It’s really like selling yourself,” said one teenage girl from Portland, who was interviewed by the Urban Institute for their report published Monday, “Impossible Choices.” “You’ll do whatever you need to do to get money or eat.”
The culprit, the Institute writes, is clear: growing levels of poverty, which is, in turn, triggered by a decline in wages for working-class families, and shrinking government-assistance programs.
“Research shows that the food budget is one of the first things pared down when times get tough for a family,” according to the report. “Under such conditions, these households can become food insecure — that is, they struggle to acquire enough affordable, nutritious food to healthily feed the whole family.”
Using the most recent U.S. census data, food insecurity expert Craig Gundersen estimates that 6.8 million young people are hard-pressed to find enough food to eat on any given day, and 2.9 million have very low food security.
The report notes that in low-income communities — both dense inner cities and isolated peri-rural communities—jobs are typically scarce, and what few jobs are available for teens and their parents are almost always low-paying, and for part-time hours at that. — Joana Suleiman
TRANSPORTATION
High-speed trains coming in 2021, Amtrak says
Amtrak will receive a $2.45 billion loan from the Department of Transportation to upgrade its services in the Northeast Corridor, Vice Presdient Joe Biden announced earlier this month. The loan is the largest ever issued by the department.
Of the loan, $2 billion will be used to buy 28 trains for the Acela line that connects Boston to Washington. The trains will be manufactured by New York-based Alstom and will offer more seating, power outlets, improved Internet connectivity and reach top speeds of 186 miles per hour. The new trains, which will expand the fleet by 40 percent, will enter service starting in 2021.
Biden has a strong track record of supporting Amtrak and made the announcement from a train station in Wilmington, Del., that bears his name.
He spoke about the power of transportation infrastructure to fuel the economy and praised Amtrak workers, saying, “They held together a lot of these old train cards with baling wire … they did an enormous amount of work to make sure that, quote, the trains ran on time.”
Biden also criticized anti-rail leaders, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who previously rejected federal funds for nationwide high-speed development. — Joana Suleiman
EDUCATION
GAO: School choice on the rise
According to a Government Accountability Office study, the number of students in private school choice programs nationwide has more than doubled in the past five years.
As of the 2014-15 school year, there are roughly 147,000 students in private school choice programs, up from 70,000 in 2010-11. Funding for programs also more than doubled, from $400 million to $859 million.
GAO credited growth to both expansion of existing programs and new programs. Students are more likely to be eligible for school choice if they come from a low-income family or are disabled.
The study also found that school choice programs complicate matters for education bureaucrats. Laws require public school districts to provide “equitable services” in order to receive federal grants, but it’s unclear how these rules apply to private school choice programs.
“Officials in all four states GAO visited — comprising half of all private choice programs and two-thirds of participating students — said that vouchers and ESAs complicate their efforts to implement these requirements,” the study said.
The study examined school voucher programs and education savings accounts programs. It appeared to omit programs like Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, which gives 92,000 students a voucher-like scholarship for private school tuition. — Jason Russell
