Nebraska workers and Nebraska Appleseed have cause to celebrate as the legislature has passed a bill, LB 961, that works for working people in our state. LB 961, introduced by Senator Council, will make it easier for job training programs in rural and high poverty areas to access economic development funds through the Job Training […]
Legislation that Works for Nebraska Workers Read More »
Sad news today. LB 1110, Senator Campbell’s bill to restore prenatal care coverage, was “bracketed” today by unanimous consent. This means that, while the bill is technically still alive, it won’t come up on the floor this session and is essentially dead. Unfortunately, politics prevailed over good policy and there weren’t enough votes to pass
Nearly another whole week has gone by for over 1,500 women and children cut off from prenatal care. Thankfully, there were a few bright spots this week in the effort to pass LB 1110. The Omaha World Herald came out with a very strong editorial in support of LB 1110. Other press stories made clear
Just The Facts Please – The Truth About Prenatal Care Read More »
I am blogging today from Washington, D.C.  I am attending the Food Research and Action Center’s Annual Anti-Hunger Policy conference and visiting our federal delegation. There is a real movement here surrounding President Obama’s goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015. This would mean that by the time our current class of sixth grade students
Making the Grade on Child Nutrition Read More »
Monday, March 1st was not a good day for Nebraska. On Monday, over 1,500 women and their unborn children lost their access to prenatal care. For decades Nebraska has been a state that prioritized the health of the mothers and babies in this state. On Monday, the Administration and the Department of Health and Human
Healthy Babies or Politics? Read More »
Increasingly, the economic downturn is leading Americans, and Nebraskans, to access public benefits programs such as Child Care Assistance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In fact, the New York Times ran a recent story about “the new poor†entitled “Millions of Unemployed Face Years without Jobsâ€. The story chronicles the experiences of folks
Last week, we launched our Economic Opportunity Campaign, which is a values based policy agenda to build opportunity in the state.  The Campaign puts forth a vision where programs and policies change the odds for working Nebraskans. The vision includes job training, adult education, child care assistance, and access to health care. In that spirit,
For years Nebraska has had a common sense, compassionate, and fiscally sound policy of providing prenatal care to low-income mothers regardless of immigration status. But now, over 1,000 pregnant women face the terrifying prospect of losing their coverage for prenatal care as of March 1st. One of the worst parts of this? The coverage could
Common Sense and Prenatal Care Read More »
Nebraska Appleseed has used the tag line “Core Values, Common Ground, Equal Justice” for a long time. We look to these central principles in a variety of ways about a variety of issues. Last Thursday, our own Becky Gould testified regarding ACCESS Nebraska – our state’s on-line application system for public benefits programs. And, in
For many of us, the holidays bring great feasts – traditions ranging from turkey and gravy to oyster stew to Mom’s infamous Christmas cookies. For many of us, they also make our thoughts turn to those who are not able to celebrate the holidays in the same way. In the weeks surrounding the holidays, hunger