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The Johnson Family (WNYC/Cindy Rodriguez)
The Johnson Family. (Cindy Rodriguez/WNYC)

Reaching Out of Poverty

Poor and Struggling to Making it in Bloomberg's NYC

For decades government has written off poverty as an intractable problem - one that has to be managed rather than gotten rid of. According to the census nearly 20 percent of New Yorkers are living in poverty--that's about 1.5 million people. But the Bloomberg administration believes it can reduce those numbers and at the same time become the national leader on finding new ways to fight poverty in the United States. The WNYC newsroom is looking into the Mayor's initiative and talking with poor New Yorkers to hear their voices and stories and find out what they think they need to experience the American Dream.

Our series on poverty was edited by Karen Frillmann and mixed by engineers Wayne Shulmister and Paul schneider. Patricia Willens was supervising producer.

Reaching Out of Poverty: New York's Young and Unemployed

November 24, 2006

In the coming weeks the Bloomberg Administration will announce details of its effort to reduce poverty. One group city officials plan to target is young adults who are struggling to get by. Many of t....

Samuel Hernandez (Fred Mogul/WNYC)

Reaching Out of Poverty: Almost Homeless

November 23, 2006

Samuel Hernandez is one of nearly a million city residents with serious mental disorders. He has lived in supervised housing for almost three years. But as of last week, he planned to check out and t....

The Goody Kids by Jill Freedman

Reaching Out of Poverty: An Arts Perspective

November 22, 2006

New York has long been considered a city of the arts. But that doesn't mean it’s a haven for artists. The intermittent incomes of the self employed can't always keep up with the skyrocketing cost o....

The Johnson girls (WNYC/Cindy Rodriguez)

Reaching Out of Poverty: A Family's Struggle to Make it to Middle Class

November 21, 2006

Welfare reform was deemed successful at moving people off the welfare rolls but not necessarily at lifting them out of poverty. Many still struggle to get by even though they are working full time. ....

Chinese immigrant Choi Keung Tsui on his way back from a Chinatown market, where he bought four pounds of carrots for one dollar.

Reaching Out of Poverty: An Immigrant's Experience

November 20, 2006

One in five New Yorkers lives in poverty according to federal standards. But in one of the most expensive cities in the world many more are struggling to make it. This morning, the story of a retir....

Principal Marie Chauvet-Monchik at PS 138 in Crown Heights

Reaching Out of Poverty: The Impact on Schools

November 17, 2006

Officially there are 1.5 million poor New Yorkers. Thousands of them are children. Improving their attendance at school so they can read and write at grade level is one way the city thinks it may e....

Mayor Bloomberg releases recommendations on poverty on September 18, 2006

Will Poverty Always Be With Us?

November 16, 2006

For decades government has written off poverty as an intractable problem - one that has to be managed rather than gotten rid of. According to the census nearly 20 percent of New Yorkers are living i....