Today the Half in Ten Campaign sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging their support for the Local Jobs for America Act, sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA). The campaign worked with our partners in the Jobs for America Now coalition to build support across the country for this crucial piece of legislation. The bill would provide funding to state and local governments, small businesses, and community organizations to create more than 1 million jobs over the next two years.

On April 9, the Half-in-Ten Campaign’s briefing on Capitol Hill shed light on the rural, suburban, and urban faces of poverty and illuminated place-based strategies to combat poverty in every type of district.

luveller Perkins, a single mother of four boys with an income barely above the poverty level, sought help in 2008 by applying for federal food stamps in Washington, D.C. But when social service workers reviewed her application, they found that her combined income and personal assets exceeded the limit by $50 – and she was turned down.

The Minnesota Half in Ten coalition has been very active the past month, holding several events and educating hundreds of Minnesotans on the Half in Ten campaign and our shared policy priorities. The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition just last week held a Day on the Hill at the Minnesota state capitol.

Colorado coalition members agree to incorporate current actions and advocacy efforts into a broader campaign to cut poverty in half in the next decade, develop a plan to reach even more community leaders with the coalition’s antipoverty message, and reframe poverty by talking about how many issues intersect.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Family is in full electoral advocacy mode this spring. The message of cutting poverty in half by 2020 is receiving resounding affirmation throughout the state, individuals are signing the Half in Ten pledge, and there is a plan on the horizon to tell the story to a widespread audience.

The Obama administration in its 2011 budget has kept program characteristics and funding levels essentially unchanged at about $17 billion. It has proposed extending an emergency fund with an additional $2.5 billion and replenishing a five-year contingency fund with $1.8 billion to fill holes left by the recession.

Half in Ten Campaign Manager Melissa Boteach testifies.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that it will be developing an alternative way to measure poverty. This new method will better reflect the realities facing struggling families and ways in which current government programs can help them to get back on their feet.

Why does this supplemental poverty measure matter for those concerned about good and efficient government? First, the new measure will provide a more accurate picture of how families are faring and what types of expenditures are driving household budgets.