The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I am a poor woman who has been poor all of my life. I make under 10,000 dollars a year and have had to rely on both government aid and charity. This is often seen as a racial issue but no one sees it as a gender issue. The majority of people who are living in poverty are female and it is the female who must deal with everything that goes with …

A slur is a slur is a slur…
When Jerry Brown’s aid was caught on audio tape calling Meg Whitman a whore, people started comparing the W- word to the N-word. Many people began commenting that the N-word is worse then the W-word. Granted this was mainly said by men who have never been called both of these insults or neither of them. No one bothered to ask African American women which one was worst or even if there was a comparison. The truth is BOTH of these …

Helen, who many of you know as an important part of our organization, has bravely agreed to share her journey with us.  We wish Helen all the strength in her battle against cancer.
On April 22, 2010 I went to the Emergency Room for an outbreak of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. They ran the usual CT scan and found lesions on my spleen. I was admitted to the hospital despite the fact that I do not have insurance. They told me I may have cancer. I was advised …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Women’s eNews posted an article yesterday by Julia Marsh titled Marriage Loses Ground as Anti-Poverty Panacea which is interesting for several reasons.  First the So-called ‘Experts on Poverty,’ which means the people who did the study, spoke to poor people. The so-called experts on poverty have NEVER lived below the poverty line which is less then 10,000 a year.  The so-called experts on poverty have no idea what its like having …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I grew up in the ghetto and like a lot of other ghetto people I grew up listening to the voice of the Streets or rap music.  Its my favorite type of music and it dominates my MP3 player. Yes I know I am 46 but I still grew up with rap I was a sophmore in high school when the first rap song hit number 1.
Nas: Rapping without "ho"
There …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I was on a social network last week when I replied to a thread because I didn’t agree with the one commit about ACORN being good for poor people and how we shouldn’t listen to the Republicans about ACORN. I have very different  experiences with ACORN than the writer did; mine were negative and I said so. Neither the Democratic or Republican Parties have ever formed any of my opinions. Like everyone else, …

Working women are being blamed for a lot of things one of which is poverty. They look at the fact that the majority of poor people are women, and so it is assumed that working women are either the cause of poverty or that they contribute to it.  The fact is that most poor adults are women has nothing to do with either the breakdown of our families and communities or of the poverty in these communities.
The breakdown of our families and communities occurred because of the old …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I have been blessed with six beautiful grandchildren with another one on the way in March. I have four soon to be five granddaughters as I hold my youngest one in my arms this holiday season.
I have several wishes for all my granddaughters.  My first wish is for them to be judged as individuals and not as girls.  I hope they can walk into a Science or Math class and feel …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I live in what we call “the hood.” In our neighborhood there isn’t much to celebrate: we have a high murder rate and the New York Times called our neighborhood one of the worst places to live in the US.  The young people and kids often have to cross gang territories as they go to school and back, or go to one of the convenience stores in the area.
The kids do see people …

I am a poor woman living in the United States. I make a little more then $12,000 a year working in a group home for the mentally ill in their group home. A lot of poor women work in nursing homes or in hospitals as Aides. Most of the time this is the only training offered to poor women. The work is difficult and the pay is lousy but for me the big payoff is when I help someone.
The poor people of America are often invisible except for when we …