Idaho

The Study Circles Resource Center has a web article about 2 of our Horizons communities, Bonners Ferry and the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. Check out what your neighbors are up to! The website also talks about other study circles across the nation and the topics they are talking about (education, immigration, racial equality, police & community, etc.)

The University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences publication, Programs & People, has devoted its winter 2008 issue to poverty and programs that the college offers to work with individuals and communities dealing with the real world impacts of poverty. To read the articles (including one about Horizons), please visit the publication’s website.

According to analysis of data by USA Today, Idaho remains in the top 5 states people are moving in to. Others in the top 5 include Washington DC, Nevada, Alaska & Wyoming. Are we prepared for this? Do we welcome newcomers to our towns? How will this change the realities of day to day life?

From the Small Business Advocacy Small Business Profile of Idaho:

“Small businesses are the heart of Idaho’s economy. Research by the Office of Advocacy shows that small businesses create most of the nation’s net new jobs, and they bring dynamic ideas, innovative services, and new products to the marketplace. They account for almost all of the nation’s employer firms and generate half of non-farm private output. New business creation is key to a state’s ability to increase its gross state product, state personal income, and total state employment. This small business profile uses the most recent data available to demonstrate the valuable contributions that small businesses make to Idaho’s economic health.” Click to download the pdf.

For more information about starting and running a small business in Idaho, please visit the
Idaho Small Business Solutions webpage.

A recent report by the Carsey Institute shows that rural mothers with children under age 6 have higher employment rates than their urban counterparts, but have higher poverty rates, lower wages, and lower family income. Find the report here.

From the Idaho Food Bank Website

• Two of every three people who rely on the Foodbank are either children too young to work or seniors who have already worked all their lives. Specifically, in 2005, agencies supplied by The Idaho Foodbank served 25,081 unduplicated children, 10,049 senior citizens and 22,421 adults per month.
• More than 40% of households that receive food from the Foodbank currently have at least one person working. About half those work fulltime jobs
  

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From an AP article by Anne D’Innocenzio: “The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner…..” read the rest of the article here

“We’re at the low end of middle income and we’re living worse than if we were on welfare.” Read about this family’s struggle to buy their own home, their experience with predatory lending and a less than perfect credit rating. (From the Dalles Chronicle)

Click here for a list of Idaho counties organized from highest overall poverty rate to lowest poverty rate (2004 data). See any suprises? How does your county compare?