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Could you survive on just food stamps?

January 4th, 2010 According this article in Saturday’s New York Times, 18 percent of food stamp recipients’ – or 1 in 50 Americans – now live in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card. Read the full report – including the...

Everyone counts. Or do they?

December 22nd, 2009 From today’s Anniston Star: More than 54,000 Alabamians were not counted in the U.S. Census nearly 10 years ago, researchers estimate. To put that in perspective, that would be as if census-takers missed the entire cities of Anniston, Oxford and...

Extraordinary times, extraordinary people.

December 19th, 2009 We live in extraordinary times.The unemployment rate is the highest it has been in 25 years.One in six Alabamians – and one in four children – live below the federal poverty line, which is just $22,050 a year. Perhaps most heartbreaking of all, 13...

Appearances can be deceiving.

December 15th, 2009 APP’s staff, VISTA volunteers and student workers took a trip yesterday to Greensboro to meet with folks at and HEROProject M. When we first arrived in Greensboro, it looked like a pretty typical Black Belt town – a Main Street with lots of empty...

Wrap gifts for a cause! – Volunteer Opportunity

December 7th, 2009 We are looking for volunteers to wrap gifts at the Patton Creek Barnes & Noble in Hoover and help raise money for APP! It’s festive, fun and the tips donated for gift wrapping will help fulfill our mission to educate and equip Alabamians to...

Competition is good.

December 5th, 2009 I am writing this while I take in the SEC Championship game.  (In case you were wondering, I am a born-and-bred Florida Gator.)  All season – and especially this week – I have felt the strong sense of competition that Alabamians have when it comes...

Are green jobs a silver bullet to eradicate poverty?

December 2nd, 2009 There is a great deal of buzz about “green collar jobs” – manual-labor jobs in rapidly growing green industries – and their potential to reduce our society’s impact on the planet while lifting people out of poverty. The Stanford Center for the Study...

Low literacy rate is bad business

November 24th, 2009 The Birmingham News followed up their analysis of Alabama’s low literacy rate amongst high college students with an examination of how it affects the business climate.  And, no surprise, they found that it is bad for busienss. Read the full story...