Social Poverty

The Miami Rescue Mission is now known as The Caring Place. Our vision is “No One Is Homeless.” Celebrating our centennial (100th anniversary) in 2022, we are on the path of great vision for the next 100 years to continue to serve the homeless and the hungry. We are expanding our footprint to help abused women and children and increasing more permanent housing for the future. Learn about our inspiring journey and many stories that will touch your heart. It is a miracle in the making, and yes, the best is yet to come.

Nearly 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line - about $26,200 for a family of four. Low-income families and individuals are everywhere, from cities to rural communities. While poverty is commonly seen as a personal failure, or a deficiency of character or knowledge, it's actually the result of bad policy. Public policy has purposefully erected barriers that deny access to basic needs, creating a society where people can easily become trapped - not because we lack the resources to lift them out, but because we are actively choosing not to.

As former staffer to Robert F. Kennedy and current Georgetown law professor Peter Edelman explains in Not a Crime to Be Poor, Ferguson is everywhere in America today. Through money bail systems, fees and fines, strictly enforced laws and regulations against behavior including trespassing and public urination that largely affect the homeless, and the substitution of prisons and jails for the mental hospitals that have traditionally served the impoverished, in one of the richest countries on Earth we have effectively made it a crime to be poor.

This critical account of the fair trade movement explores the vast gap between the rhetoric of fair trade and its practical results for poor countries, particularly those of Africa. In the Global North, fair trade often is described as a revolutionary tool for transforming the lives of millions across the globe. The growth in sales for fair trade products has been dramatic in recent years, but most of the benefit has accrued to the already wealthy merchandisers at the top of the value chain rather than to the poor producers at the bottom.

In its history since Independence, India has seen widely different economic experiments: from Jawharlal Nehru's pragmatism to the rigid state socialism of Indira Gandhi to the brisk liberalization of the 1990s. So which strategy best addresses India's, and by extension the world's, greatest moral challenge: lifting a great number of extremely poor people out of poverty? Bhagwati and Panagariya argue forcefully that only one strategy will help the poor to any significant effect: economic growth, led by markets overseen and encouraged by liberal state policies.

In his thought-provoking and deeply moving book, Matthew Desmond tackles the issue of poverty in America through the lens of eviction. Desmond's Pulitzer Prize winning book follows the personal lives of several families and individuals struggling to survive in Milwaukee during the Great Recession. (Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. If you’re looking for the original book, it is available from Amazon and Audible.)

Tim Wise is one of America's most prolific public intellectuals. His critically acclaimed books, high-profile media interviews, and year-round speaking schedule have established him as an invaluable voice in any discussion on issues of race and multicultural democracy. In Under the Affluence, Wise discusses a related issue: economic inequality and the demonization of those in need.

Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Messenger offers the first humane, journalistic expose of an American tragedy: modern-day debtor's prisons and how they've destroyed the lives of poor Americans.

While Jodey Whiting was stuck in hospital battling pneumonia over Christmas, a letter dropped on her doormat from the Department of Work and Pensions, asking her to attend an assessment. Despite her health problems, the powers-that-be callously halted benefit payments for the mum-of-nine. With no money coming in, Jodey killed herself, aged just 42. Another DWP letter pronouncing her "fit to work" was sent to her home three days after her tragic death. A Mother's Job is the story of how Jodey's mum Joy Dove, 67, took on the system—and won justice for her daughter.

Zum 80. Geburtstag des Autors endlich wieder erhältlich: "Man muss sich verkleiden, um die Gesellschaft zu demaskieren..." - Günter Wallraff. Niemand hat mehr Missstände aufgedeckt als er. Junge Journalisten nehmen sich an ihm ein Vorbild, wenn sie in Rollen schlüpfen, um die dunklen Seiten der gesellschaftlichen Realität aufzudecken - eine Vorgehensweise, die im Schwedischen "wallraffa" genannt wird. Wieder war Günter Wallraff undercover unterwegs. Als "Michael G." recherchierte er den Alltag in deutschen Callcentern - das Echo auf die in der ZEIT veröffentlichte Reportage war gewaltig.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to How the Other Half Lives and learn about the conditions of abject poverty that the residents of the slums of New York at the end of the 19th century had to endure.

"There are children in Holbeck without crayons. Living in a city with an opera company. An opera company paid for with money from all of us. Until everyone has crayons, no one gets opera. That’s what I believe." A deeply moving memoir of how a group of artists fed their local community during the COVID pandemic. When crisis hits and audiences stay home, what’s the most useful thing a theater company can do? The answer was to become a food bank and one-stop help shop for those in need. In 15 months, Slung Low would go on to deliver over 15,000 food parcels.

Growing up in a prosperous neighborhood, B. Morrison was taught that poverty was a product of laziness and public assistance programs only rewarded irresponsibility. However, when her marriage soured, she abruptly found herself an impoverished single mother. Disowned by her parents and facing destitution for herself and her two small sons, she was forced to accept the handout so disdained by her parents and their world: welfare. This dramatic memoir tells how one woman finds and grasps the lifeline that ultimately enables her to become independent.

En este libro pionero, Karlan y Appel conjugan la economía del comportamiento con la investigación de campo. Llevan a sus lectores consigo por pueblos de todo el mundo–desde Ghana hasta Kenia pasando por Sudáfrica, la India y Filipinas, Perú y México–en los que la teoría económica choca con la realidad. Muestran que ciertos cambios en la banca, los seguros, la asistencia sanitaria, la educación junto con otras iniciativas que tienen en cuenta la irracionalidad humana pueden mejorar radicalmente el bienestar de la gente pobre en todo el mundo.

"Meine Tochter machte ihre ersten Schritte in einem Obdachlosenheim." Stephanie Land steht kurz davor, ihren Traum vom Studium in die Tat umzusetzen, als sie ungeplant schwanger wird. Ihr Freund fängt an, sie immer stärker zu kontrollieren und zu bedrohen, von ihrer Familie bekommt sie keine Hilfe. Zusammen mit ihrer kleinen Tochter flüchtet sie schließlich aus ihrer toxischen Beziehung und landet auf der Straße. Doch statt zu verzweifeln beginnt Stephanie zu kämpfen: Mit einem Job als Putzhilfe schafft sie es gerade so, sich und ihre Tochter über Wasser zu halten.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive: when you live in an old school bus instead of a normal house; when you have mostly just bread and ketchup to eat; and especially when you have to go to a new school where all the other kids already have friends. But the sweet and creative boy in this story discovers that he can do things he never thought possible, by using the skills his parents have taught him: imagining . . . and trying . . . and finding a way to look on the bright side. This honest, accessible, and compassionate story is based on the author’s own childhood.

David’s audiobook is one of despair and hope; one that paints a picture of our society that is both dark and broken up by fleeting rays of light. From his plight on the streets in one of England’s richest regions, to the interactions of people he observes and encounters every day, to the impacts of Covid-19 and the changing seasons--this is poetry and prose at its most powerful. It is an audiobook that reveals the double-talk of homeless service provision--a society that consigns people as worthless without knowing their backgrounds.

Eight hundred seventy-eight dollars. That’s how much Ronny needs to make by January 4 to keep his family’s only car from getting repossessed. Since a workplace injury disabled his dad and forced the family to move from their home into the apartment complex across the street, Ronny’s been learning all sorts of things—like what letters marked with "Final Notice" means and that banks can take cars away for being behind on payments.

The Day We Met the Queen: 10-year-old Ahmet has become the Most Famous Refugee Boy in the World. In fact, he's so famous even the queen wants to meet him - and his four best friends! So they're off to Buckingham Palace, with a list of questions for her and one special challenge. The Great (Food) Bank Heist: On Thursdays, Nelson, Ashley and Mum head out to the bank. But not just any old bank - the food bank. With its shining tins and packets of food stacked from floor to ceiling, Nelson thinks it's the best kind of bank there is. But there's a thief in town.

Der Berliner Bezirk Neukölln steht seit etlichen Jahren für Armut, Arbeitslosigkeit, Gewalt, Verwahrlosung, Selbstjustiz, Autoritätsverlust und Staatsverachtung. Doch seit der Corona-Pandemie haben sich die Zustände um ein Vielfaches verschlimmert. Denn nach Sonderausgaben in Milliardenhöhe bleibt kein Cent mehr für die Finanzierung sozialer Projekte. Falko Liecke arbeitet seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt als Stadtrat für die Bereiche Jugend, Gesundheit und nun Soziales.