Illinois Poverty News: Weekly Update

Here's the latest roundup of news articles highlighting issues related to our efforts to reduce poverty in Illinois.

A groundbreaking lawsuit was filed last month in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York targeting Morgan Stanley for their role in producing high-risk loans targeting African-American borrowers. If this lawsuit is successful,  it could transform the accountability process for holding investment institutions accountable for their rule in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and other future policies. 

• Connecting the Dots: First Lawsuit Linking Investment Banks to Racial Discrimination in the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Karen K. Harris, The Shriver Center, 11/06/12

Chicago Now discusses the connection between poverty and depression, and the vicious cycle it creates. This article looks at Gallop Wellbeing report to examine the influence that depression and poverty have on each other, and the high incidences of depression in people experiencing poverty. 

• Poverty and Depression: Which is the Chicken and Which is the Egg? , Megan Cottrel, Chicago Now, 11/7/12

A new study was released in October by University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital looking at the impact of children's health on their parents. The study found that nearly two-thirds of parents of young children in child care say that their children could not attend child care because of an illness in the past year. 8% of parents with kids in child care also said that it's more convenient to take their sick child to the emergency room than to see the child's primary care doctor. 

• National Poll on Children's Health: Sick Kids, Struggling Parents, University of Michigan, 10/22/2012

Join members of the Heartland Alliance Policy & Advocacy Team at the upcoming Illinois Asset Building Group for their conference: Assets Matter: A Bridge to Economic Security. This two-day conference will bring together community-based practitioners, researchers, advocates, decision makers, and financial institutions to lift up promising practices and move a comprehensive asset agenda forward in Illinois. The Illinois Asset Building Group have featured a number of speakers on their blog. 

• Illinois Asset Building Group Blog