NEOCH Index

By Luke Drotar

 Rank of depression among the leading causes of disability (WHO): 1

 Years by which the average lifespan of a homeless person is shorter than the overall average (Crisis): 30

 Factor by which the gap in standardized test scores between affluent and low-income students was wider than the gap between blacks and whites (Sean Reardon): 2

 Percentage of federal student loan borrowers who made payments as agreed between 2005 and 2009 (IHEP): 40

 Average monthly rent burden (Amount of monthly income vs. monthly rent – 30% is considered affordable) for people facing eviction and contacted by the Cleveland Tenants Organization (CTO): 54%.

 Percentage of federal benefits that went to the bottom fifth of U.S. households in 1979: 54

Today (CBO): 36%

 Percentage of African-Americans and White non-Hispanics as a share of total U.S. population: 12%, 64%

 Percentage of government benefits received by each racial group, respectively (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities): 14%, 69%

 Number of jobs lost by African-American women during the recession: 233,000

 Number of jobs lost by African American women during the first two years of the recovery (Nat’l Women’s Law Center): 258,000

 Percentage of residents of the shelters in Cleveland in 2011 who identified themselves as African Americans: 69.4%

 Percentage of residents of the City of Cleveland who identify themselves as African Americans according to the 2010 Census: 53.3%

 Chance that an employed American works in the service industry (B. of Labor Statistics): 6 in 7

 Percent increase in the rate of alcohol abuse for every percent by which U.S. unemployment increases (U. of Miami): 17

 Percentage of doctors who will make an obesity diagnosis if a patient’s weight is equal to or greater than their own (Johns Hopkins U.): 93

 Percentage of patients of Care Alliance in 2010 who do not have access to any insurance: 88%

 Percent increase in total U.S. health-care spending in 2009 and 2010, respectively: 3.8%, 3.9%

 Respective rank of these annual increases among the lowest of the past fifty years (CMS): 1, 2

 Amount of the Pentagon’s FY 2013 budget request: $525,000,000,000

 Estimated number of jobs created by every billion dollars of military spending: 11,000

 Estimated number of jobs created if those military dollars were spent on education (Political Economy Research Inst.): 27,000

 Number of U.S. service people dismissed for pre-existing “personality disorders” between 2002 and 2007 (DOD): 22,656

 Amount each dismissal saves the federal gov’t in annual treatment costs (Linda Bilmes): $13,890

 Minimum adjusted gross income needed to be in the top 1% of taxpayers: $380,354

 Percentage of the population who enter the shelter without any income: 65%

 Rank of George Washington among America’s wealthiest presidents (24/7 Wall St.): 1

 Percent of the $62 million raised by major presidential Super PACs in 2011 that came from the top twenty-two givers (Sunlight Foundation): 50%

 Copyright NEOCH Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless--Cleveland Street Chronicle Issue 19.1 May 2012