Poverty

A Complicated Life: Rebellious past
Friday, June 11, 2010 - 21:49

While living in Evanston Yolanda met Anthony Foster at Fleetwood Jordan Park, which was near where they both lived. They spent time talking and playing basketball at the park and became close, she said.

Soon Yolanda was pregnant with her first child. She was put in touch with a person who gave refuge to teenage mothers and was invited to live in the woman’s home with her newborn, she said.

A Complicated Life: Turning point
Friday, March 12, 2010 - 18:37

Around 1998 Yolanda developed a relationship with Izear Davis, whom she married and had two children with.

But complications continued for her.

A Complicated Life: First steps
Friday, March 12, 2010 - 18:37

Of her hardships, worrying about her children’s welfare is the toughest. 

“Being on the street, being homeless, having to ask someone ‘could you feed my kids?’ Not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow, or [what] the next day after that is going to bring.”

A Complicated Life: Tools to survive
Friday, June 11, 2010 - 21:46

Yolanda’s resolve is being tested.

She did not receive her monthly Illinois Link Card benefits last October. The Link program provides needy families with cash and food stamp benefits electronically, which are accessed via the card,according to the Illinois Department of Human Services Web site.

A Complicated Life: Unresolved issues
Friday, March 12, 2010 - 18:39

Davis believes the issues Yolanda had with her late mother are still not resolved.

“The death of her mother plays a big part in [Yolanda’s] life … as far as how she [acts] towards the kids because she does not want to treat [them] they way she was treated,” he said.

A Complicated Life: The road less traveled
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 17:34

In December Yolanda’s public aid benefits were reinstated and though she doesn’t have a job currently, she is still in the No Limits program and continues to meet with Woodard on a regular basis. 

An Ameren IP representative was able to ignite the pilot light and Davis and her family have heat.

Since Jan. 10, Yolanda has been attending adult education classes on a weekly basis and she has also enrolled in Even Start, an educational program for mothers and their children.

 

A Complicated Life: Dark days
Friday, March 12, 2010 - 18:36

As a high school dropout with no job skills, Yolanda moved in with her paternal grandmother, who is now deceased. She struggled to earn money.

Teen mothers are more likely to seek financial support from family or from public assistance and 75 percent of unmarried teen mothers go on welfare within five years of the birth of their first child, according to a March of Dimes study.

Housing

Landlords face charges about overflow of raw sewage at apartment complex
Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 21:37

 

A Champaign County landlord convicted Wednesday of renting a condemned apartment was in court again Thursday on charges that raw sewage is overflowing at his apartment complex near Rantoul.

Bernard Ramos, 36, was found guilty Wednesday in a bench trial of criminal housing management for renting an apartment with numerous health and safety hazards at 709 W. Church St., C.

On Thursday, Bernard Ramos, and his father, Eduardo Ramos, appeared to answer charges that a septic system is leaking sewage at Cherry Orchard Village apartments, located on U.S. 45, just south of the Rantoul city limits.

Extras: Seeking 'Safe Haven'
Friday, June 11, 2010 - 21:48

The Safe Haven community began late in the spring of 2009 when a small group of homeless people began pitching tents in a backyard near the Catholic Worker House in Champaign.

The organizers were seeking a sense of safety and community in a group, supporters said.

Food

Extras: Feeding a Need
Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 11:50

At the end of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank’s 2008 fiscal year, it was serving approximately 33,000 people. By the end of 2009, it was up to 43,000.

The food bank distributes food to 14 counties, including Champaign County. As more people have been using the services available, the places that provide those services need more resources to keep up.