Pam Fessler is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. She covers poverty and philanthropy for NPR.
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Advisers from recent Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns have joined together to try to come up with a better way to register voters. In the future, for example, a voter's record could be automatically updated when he or she moves.
NPR correspondent Pam Fessler recently switched from reporting about homeland security to covering poverty — and that has involved many changes. But one has been especially striking: She gets a lot more hugs.
At ACORN Housing's North Philadelphia office, staffers worry that they may no longer be able to help the poor keep their homes if the funding freeze becomes permanent. The ACORN affiliate has already had to scale back some of its services.
ACORN, the troubled anti-poverty group, is fighting to survive. Its government funding is threatened, and so is the money it receives from foundations and other donors. Several major funders say that they've ended or are reassessing ties with the group.
Some charitable givers close their wallets when they learn of the sky-high salaries made by some nonprofit CEOs. A new study shows that the top pay at the nation's largest nonprofits rose again in 2008. The organizations say high pay is necessary to attract top talent.
The community-organizing group is under fire after its employees were caught on camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp how to buy a house without letting anyone know it's being used for prostitution. ACORN's CEO says the group will have an independent investigator look into what happened, but she also says it's the target of a broad, right-wing attack.
The Senate votes to block the community organizing group ACORN from receiving HUD grants. The move comes after hidden-camera videos captured ACORN employees giving advice on falsifying taxes to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.
Almost 40 million people in the U.S. lived in poverty last year, the first full year of the recession, according to a new report from the Census Bureau. Some say the numbers are grimmer than expected — and that the news will only get worse.
New York City is one of the first places in the country to take into consideration child and health care costs as well as geographic differences when measuring poverty. Backers of New York's method want the federal formula to reflect these real world costs.
Edward Kennedy, who served in the Senate for almost half a century and came from the nation's most storied political family, has been laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Senator Edward Kennedy came from one of America's wealthiest and most privileged families. But he was one of the most vocal advocates for the poor and underprivileged. The senator's friends and colleagues say it was no political act — that he truly empathized with those facing hard times.
Most homeless people lack insurance and rely on the emergency room and government-funded clinics for treatment. Advocates say the existing system is both inadequate and expensive for taxpayers, and that expanding Medicaid to include the homeless is a better option.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who has been supportive of calls to remake the health care system, has been getting a earful about the overhaul from seniors and others concerned about what they have been hearing. People began arriving at Hagerstown Community College more than four hours before the scheduled start of the meeting.
The Virginia Organizing Project is one of many community organizing groups that hoped to have more clout after the election of President Obama, a former organizer. And VOP has now found itself swept up in the biggest organizing effort of the year.
Welfare caseloads have been going up in most states over the past year, but not in all of them. In fact, cases are going down in some of the hardest-hit areas. That's raised questions about whether the program is an adequate safety net for families in need.
