Demographer to talk about big trends changing Minnesota, nation
Jim H. Johnson Jr. has been studying inequality, urban poverty and sociological changes in the United States for more than two decades.
Cynthia Boyd, MinnPost’s Community Sketchbook reporter, covers poverty, homelessness, mental health, and other topics related to the social and economic challenges facing communities. Community Sketchbook is sponsored by The Minneapolis Foundation. Email Cynthia at cboyd@minnpost.com.
Jim H. Johnson Jr. has been studying inequality, urban poverty and sociological changes in the United States for more than two decades.
MinnPost asked the state demographer to compare Minnesota’s poverty numbers from about the time of LBJ’s declaration to today. Overall, they’re way down.
The study finds Minnesota’s 350,000 immigrants face discrimination, exclusion from the larger community and fear.
Justin Terrell and Jada Sherrie Mitchell will be honored for efforts to end racial disparities in education and employment.
Lawmakers push payday-lending bills in Legislature to help people like Renee Bergeron of Duluth.
A new study shows area residents who get government aid regularly shop outside their neighborhoods for better-quality food.
Tim Marx explains why his organization and Mayor Chris Coleman abruptly dropped a plan to relocate the center that serves the needy.
A Minnesota Without Poverty, a college student who grew up in poverty and a 17-year-old choreographer organize a flash mob at the Capitol.
About seven in 10 minimum-wage workers in Minnesota are women, according to the National Women’s Law Center.
At least one of them can tell his own story of being a victim of violence and torture.
Thirty organizations across Minnesota get $4.2 million in funding to provide services to young people like Lina Warner.
The definition is not as straightforward as it might seem.
Often alongside the man convicted of killing her son, group founder Mary Johnson preaches a message of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Officials say the economy and the bitter-cold will have a bigger effect on Minnesotans needing food.
Minnesotans are flooding social-service agency offices to sign up for help in paying home-heating bills this season.
Duluth joins a growing number of municipalities — as well as a few states — to adopt laws designed to draw attention to the needs of the homeless.
For state officials, Lorenzo Vasquez is a symbol of success who illustrates the goal of a new coordinated effort to end and prevent homelessness.
Extreme temperatures demonstrate the need for more emergency shelter beds for homeless youths, advocates say.
Life could be different for Darcy Landau if the Minnesota Legislature had agreed this year to raise the minimum wage.
With ceremony and sincerity, the names — including a 2-year-old child — will be read and their lives remembered.
By Cynthia Boyd
Dec. 19, 2013