Accessibility links
Rachel Jones Rachel Jones reports on education, social policy, and welfare reform issues at NPR. She has also covered children’s health and development, as well as well as racial disparities in health care.
Stories By

Rachel Jones

Story Archive

Saturday

Economy

Putting Low-Income Workers Into Cars, Stable Jobs

For many low-income Americans, the only thing harder than finding a job is getting there each day. One nationwide program offers low-income workers affordable loans that can put them behind the wheel of a decent car, and on the road to economic stability.

Putting Low-Income Workers Into Cars, Stable Jobs

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6519250/6533218" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Monday

Health

Projects Aim to Boost Minorities in Medical Trials

The federal government will announce two new projects designed to increase the numbers of minorities who participate in clinical trials. They were developed to help doctors better recognize the cultural and linguistic challenges facing minorities in such trials.

Projects Aim to Boost Minorities in Medical Trials

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/10057750/10057751" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

National

Feeding the Homeless in Sin City

In Las Vegas, the homeless population is growing faster than the city government can feed them. Private groups have stepped in with portable soup kitchens and feeding stations in public areas, but they have encountered resistance.

Feeding the Homeless in Sin City

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9775885/9775886" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Shooter Takes Deadly Toll at Virginia Tech

Henry Lee, Remembered as Funny, Brilliant

Henry Lee, one of the Virginia Tech shooting victims, was known at Fleming High in Roanoke, Va., as a funny, helpful and brilliant student. The 20-year-old was an immigrant from China who didn't speak any English when he arrived in the United States as a child. But he became the salutatorian of his high school class and was about to finish his freshman year at Virginia Tech when he was killed.

Lee Remembered as Funny, Brilliant

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9759154/9759155" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Weekend Edition Sunday

Lawmakers Reconsider Assets of Foster Children

Many states claim the assets of foster children to help save the taxpayers money on caring for these young people. But critics charge that this leaves these children penniless when they age out of the system. Congress is giving the issue new attention this session.

Lawmakers Reconsider Assets of Foster Children

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9128917/9128918" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Education

Democrats Eye End to Head Start Tests

Democrats in Congress want the federally funded Head Start program to stop giving preschoolers standardized tests. The Bush administration says the tests show whether the federally funded program works. Critics disagree.

Democrats Eye End to Head Start Tests

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9004700/9004701" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Politics

Report: Federal Spending on Children Dropping

An Urban Institute report indicates that the share of the federal domestic budget devoted to children is falling. Researchers say the number could drop even more in coming years.

Report: Federal Spending on Children Dropping

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/8922959/8922960" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

All Things Considered

The Difficulty of Counting the Homeless

How many people are homeless in this country? The number has been debated for years, and the answers often have more to do with politics than reality. This month, volunteers in many cities are trying to make an actual count of people living on the streets. But the method isn't foolproof.

The Difficulty of Counting the Homeless

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7371753/7371754" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

National

Rethinking Social Services in the Des Moines Suburbs

Suburban governments are facing new challenges as poverty spreads from the city to surrounding communities. A regional effort to revamp social services is under way outside Des Moines, Iowa.

Rethinking Social Services in the Des Moines Suburbs

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7077216/7077217" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Politics

Anti-Poverty Groups Set to Work with Democrats

Advocates for anti-poverty programs had little success with a Republican-controlled Congress. Now, they're eager for the new Democratic majority to step in, and they've identified several key priorities.

Anti-Poverty Groups Set to Work with Democrats

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6703068/6703069" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Business

Changes to WIC Program Upset the Dairy Industry

The federal government is seeking changes in the popular WIC program that provides nutritional food for poor women and children. But the dairy industry sees problems with the plan.

Changes to WIC Program Upset the Dairy Industry

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6663379/6663380" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Friday

National

For First Time, More Poor Live in Suburbs Than Cities

A move from the city to the suburbs used to signal prosperity. But last year, the number of poor suburbanites outnumbered poor people in cities by 1 million for the first time, a new report finds.

For First Time, More Poor Live in Suburbs Than Cities

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6598999/6599731" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

National

N.Y. Program Gives Aid to Prevent Homelessness

New York City has some of the richest, and poorest, neighborhoods in the country. It also has more than 30,000 homeless people, and an overcrowded shelter system. To confront the problem, the city has identified neighborhoods where people are at risk of losing their homes. The new program provides services and help to keep them off the streets.

N.Y. Program Gives Aid to Prevent Homelessness

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6241958/6241959" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

National

Can Marriage Help Alleviate Poverty?

In Baltimore, a small group of graduates completed a five-month class on how to be a couple and build a life together. None are married yet, but they all have children. And some experts believe the lives of those children might dramatically improve if their parents get married. This piece aired previously on NPR's Morning Edition.

Can Marriage Help Alleviate Poverty?

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5696247/5696248" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

National

Overhauling Welfare: Lessons from Georgia

Even before President Clinton signed the welfare law on Aug. 22, 1996, it was determined that the states would take the lead in moving welfare recipients into the workforce. Georgia is considered a model for reducing its caseload. But critics say that's come at a high cost for some poor families.

Overhauling Welfare: Lessons from Georgia

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5691909/5691910" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Welfare Reform Changes Women's Lives

At the end of his second term, former President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, making good on his promise of "ending welfare as we know it." Ten years later, millions of American women have moved off of welfare and into the workforce.

Welfare Reform Changes Women's Lives

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5688674/5688675" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Fighting Poverty in America

Promoting Marriage to Reduce Poverty

A program in inner-city Baltimore aims to stem poverty by promoting marriage among unwed parents. The program seeks to improve the lives of the couples' children as well.

Promoting Marriage to Reduce Poverty

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5675687/5675951" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Homelessness in America

Miami Offers Lessons on Handling the Homeless

This week in Washington, officials from across the country are meeting to compare strategies for ending homelessness in their communities. One place they'll be looking at closely is Miami, where officials have been methodically attacking the problem since the early 1990s.

Miami Offers Lessons on Handling the Homeless

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5561992/5561993" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

National

Feds Tighten State Rules on 1996 Welfare Law

States will have to put a lot more of their welfare recipients to work under tough new federal rules designed to jumpstart the 10-year-old welfare law. The government also wants states to keep track of those activities for every person on welfare -- a goal that some state officials say is unrealistic.

Feds Tighten State Rules on 1996 Welfare Law

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5519042/5519043" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Politics

Cities Seek New Formula for Urban Renewal Grants

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's method for dividing money to improve dilapidated neighborhoods has been the same for more than 30 years. Some cities want a system based on human needs, not a tally of old buildings.

Cities Seek New Formula for Urban Renewal Grants

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5484081/5484082" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Your Money

Housing Costs Help Keep Some in Poverty

For many Americans, the cost of housing is a daunting issue. That is especially true for low-income people. In many cities, high housing costs are a major factor in keeping people below the poverty line. New research suggests the problem is worse than statistics indicate.

Housing Costs Help Keep Some in Poverty

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5400410/5400411" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Homelessness in America

New York Welfare Rolls at Lowest Level in Years

The number of people on welfare in New York City is the lowest since the 1960s. City officials are claiming a huge victory but researchers and advocates say the numbers don't tell the whole story.

New York Welfare Rolls at Lowest Level in Years

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5389987/5389988" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

National

States Underserve Disabled Foster Kids, Study Says

State foster-care systems neglect the needs of disabled children -- and the foster parents who care for them -- according to a national analysis of the child-welfare system. More than one-third of the more than 500,000 children in America's child-welfare system have disabilities, according to the report, the first of its kind. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

States Underserve Disabled Foster Kids, Study Says

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5383604/5383605" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org