Tag: Poverty

A ‘Culture of Poverty’ and Other Myths

This presentation was given by policy analyst Kate Richey, on 4/24/12 and discusses common myths surrounding poverty, data on people living in poverty in Oklahoma, and an overview of the structural barriers to moving up the economic ladder.… Read more [More...]

Watch This: Fighting Hunger, Feeding Hope

Oklahoma has the highest rate of households with very low food security in the nation; 7.5 percent of the state’s households reported being hungry at times during the year because they could not afford enough food.  This six minute video… Read more [More...]

Five reasons not to drug-test welfare applicants

Two bills that would require applicants for TANF benefits to submit to and pay for a drug test, HB 2388 and SB 1073, have cleared their first committees and are moving through the legislative process.  TANF stands for ‘Temporary Assistance… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk – February 3rd, 2012

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. This week OK Policy and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) co-released the 2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which… Read more [More...]

Up a Creek: Scorecard shows over a quarter of Oklahomans unprepared to weather financial crisis

In Oklahoma, more than one in four households are “asset poor,” meaning they have little or no financial cushion to rely on if unemployment or another emergency leads to a loss of income, according to a report released today by… Read more [More...]

At a Crossroads: Which path for Oklahoma's troubled health?

Is it the role of government to put policy in place to impact the overall health of our citizens?  As the Oklahoma legislature’s interim study committee prepares its final report on the state’s obligations under the new federal health care… Read more [More...]

[The Weekly Wonk] October 14, 2011

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. This week at OK Policy, we interviewed Steven Dow about recent controversy at the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services. … Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk – September 23, 2011

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. This week the Census Bureau released new state-level data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in 2010.  The… Read more [More...]

Poverty rises in Oklahoma; children especially bearing the brunt

Update: Click here for our 2010 Poverty Profile based on the Census Bureau data Despite Oklahoma’s comparatively modest unemployment rate and steady wage growth over the last two years, many of the state’s low income residents continue to be left… Read more [More...]

Watch This: Making ends meet – The Medicare generation

This ten minute documentary produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation profiles the experiences of three Medicare families struggling to keep up with health care costs and other necessary household expenses on a fixed budget.  According to the Census Bureau, 13.5… Read more [More...]