Latest Poverty News

What to know about the SAVE plan, the income-driven plan to repay student loans

Mar. 18, 2024 17:25 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 7.5 million student loan borrowers have enrolled in the U.S. government's newest repayment plan since it launched in August. President Joe Biden recently announced that he was canceling federal student loans for nearly 153,000 borrowers enrolled in the...

European charity ship rescues 135 migrants but is assigned to distant port in Italy with 359 aboard

Mar. 15, 2024 11:21 AM EDT

ROME (AP) — The European charity ship Ocean Viking said Friday it rescued another 135 migrants, including a pregnant woman and eight children, from a double-decker boat in Maltese search-and-rescue waters. In total, the vessel operated by the humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee...

Women blast through gender barriers in Colombia's emerald mines, but struggle to emerge from poverty

Mar. 14, 2024 00:12 AM EDT

COSCUEZ, Colombia (AP) — Deep inside mountain tunnels where the heat is so intense it causes headaches, women with power tools are chipping away at boulders in search of gems. They have opened a difficult path for themselves in Colombia's emerald industry, a sector long dominated by men. ...

Why is Haiti so chaotic? Leaders used street gangs to gain power. Then the gangs got stronger

Mar. 12, 2024 11:46 AM EDT

Haiti’s prime minister has said he will resign, bowing to international pressure to save his homeland gripped by violence and controlled by heavily armed gangsters. Ariel Henry made the announcement hours after officials, including Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State...

Head Start preschools aim to fight poverty, but their teachers struggle to make ends meet

Mar. 03, 2024 00:22 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — In some ways, Doris Milton is a Head Start success story. She was a student in one of Chicago’s inaugural Head Start classes, when the antipoverty program, which aimed to help children succeed by providing them a first-rate preschool education, was in its infancy. ...

Mississippi passes quicker pregnancy Medicaid coverage to try to reduce deaths of moms and babies

Feb. 29, 2024 16:03 PM EST

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Legislature is sending a bill to the governor that will allow women with low incomes to get Medicaid coverage earlier in pregnancy, in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in a state with abysmal rates of maternal and infant mortality. ...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore lays out plan to fight child poverty

Feb. 28, 2024 17:09 PM EST

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore presented legislation he's championing to address child poverty to state lawmakers on Wednesday, laying out a locally focused plan to attack the root causes of concentrated poverty statewide. Moore, who served as the CEO of one of the...

South Africa's ANC launches election manifesto as president highlights party's achievements

Feb. 24, 2024 17:30 PM EST

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday highlighted the achievements of his African National Congress, which has ruled the country for all of its 30 years of democrac y, as it heads into a tight race in May's election. Ramaphosa delivered...

Argentina's poverty levels hit 57% of population, a 20-year high in January, study finds

Feb. 19, 2024 21:54 PM EST

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Poverty levels skyrocketed to 57.4% of Argentina's 46 million people in January, the highest rate in 20 years, according to a study by the Catholic University of Argentina. The findings quickly unleashed accusations between Argentina’s former Vice...

Foreign aid drops sharply as Taliban abuses jeopardize the Afghan health system, group says

Feb. 12, 2024 08:56 AM EST

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Human Rights Watch said Monday that Afghanistan’s public health system has been hit hard following a sharp reduction in foreign assistance, coupled with serious Taliban abuses against women and girls, jeopardizing the right to healthcare of millions of Afghans. ...