Living Low-Income Exercise
So. You are living (or trying to) without much money. Is there help available for your child care, utility bills, medical needs, and other expenses? If so, where is it? How do you get to it? If you can find it, is it out of reach because of a language barrier? Maybe you can't get across town to the office you need to go to, or you can't read the forms you need to fill out? Keep these sorts of issues in mind as you figure out how to live on a low income. Of course, you'd be unlikely to have a web site like this to point the way, but there are places like the public library where people can get this sort of help (if they know to go there...). Good luck.
Print Resources
Unfortunately, this is a topic about which we don't have many print resources in the Uni Library. We do have the following, however, which will be available on the island near the reference section in the library:
The Help Book, a deceptively small publication of the News-Gazette that lists various social services available in and around Champaign County. Potentially very useful!
Other libraries on campus (like the Education and Social Sciences Library) have many books on related subjects, but to use them for this assignment you would need to go to the libraries (just because there isn't enough time for you to request them and have them get here). Talk to Ms. Harris if you need help with finding books.
Web Sites
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
There's a lot of information here, but there's so much information here that it can be difficult to find what you want. The following are a few subsidiary links for information you might want, but there are probably other places on the HHS site you might want to go:
- Information for low-income families in general
- Information for the elderly and caregivers of the elderly
- Information for immigrants and refugees
Miscellaneous links to search for information on Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps, Kidcare, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and other assistance programs (see how hard it can be to find what you need!):
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Illinois Department of Human Services page
- Illinois Department of Human Services WIC page
- Champaign County Department of Human Services Offices
- Links for food planning and budgeting from the US Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
A set of month-by-month PDF files that have nice, concise food-budgeting figures for individual children, adults, and families of 2 and 4 whose food-buying habits are either “thrifty,” “low-cost,” “moderate-cost,” or “liberal.” You'll want to use the most recent month, presumably.
A PDF file that includes lists of the items covered in all four food buying plans mentioned above (thrifty, low-cost, moderate cost, and liberal).
A PDF file from the USDA with multiple weeks' ingredients and menus.