Cost of living for urban singles

Poverty, middle class and the cost of living. . .

This just in from The Huffington Post:

The Economic Policy Institute has just updated their cost-of-living budgets to reflect how much a family needs to earn to get by in 2013.

Looking at over 600 locations and estimating community-specific costs, EPI found that families need more than twice the amount of the federal poverty line to have a secure yet modest living standard.

"Our family budget calculations show that the real costs for families to live modest -- not even middle class -- lives are much higher than conventional estimates show and virtually impossible for families living on minimum-wage jobs," said Elise Gould, the Economic Policy Institute director of health policy research.

Read more here.

Low wage realities. . .

[Many of us don't understand the plight of the working poor in the United States today.  The fact is most of us work.  And, most poor people work.  As a result, millions of our neighbors don't earn enough to provide even the basics for themselves and their families.  We face this harsh reality every day here at CitySquare.  When I saw the following clip from Bill Moyers, it connected for me.  The fact is our national programs that assist the working poor turn out to be wonderful investments in our people.  And, take it from me, far too many of our people need the hand up.  Watch the program and let me know what you think.]

SPENT

Urban Ministries of Durham offers a real challenge in the form of an on-line game they call "SPENT."

Here's how they describe the challenge game: 

We’re going to challenge the way you think about poverty and homelessness.Work hard. Do the right thing. Homelessness is something that will never happen to me. Sometimes, all it takes is one life-changing experience to land you on the streets: a job loss, death of a loved one, divorce, natural disaster, or serious illness. Next thing you know, a chain of events sends things spiraling out of control…

How would you cope? Where would you go? What would you do? Figure something out, right?

To take the SPENT challenge click here.

Let me know how you do!