Eddie Electrician may provide eight hours of his time to Pete Plumber who, in return, provides eight hours of his time to Eddie Electrician. At the end of their workday, they have both received the services they needed. All services were provided as economically as possible and with no hidden costs, i.e., eight hours for eight hours.

Poverty is a condition that's very hard to escape even once an individual has taken necessary steps to do so, such as obtaining a better paying job or finding a way to get additional education or training. So Catholic Charities Community Services has created a volunteer program - Circle of Support - to help mentor and counsel people who are trying to improve their lives.

WASHINGTON — The poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level, according to a revision of a half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living.

If you live in Scottsdale, chances are you can afford your own social services.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The ranks of the nation's poor have swelled to a record 46.2 million - nearly 1 in 6 Americans - as the prolonged pain of the recession leaves millions still struggling and out of work. And the number without health insurance has reached 49.9 million, the most in over two decades.

WASHINGTON -- The level of poverty in America is even worse than first believed.

The percentage of Arizonans living in poverty increased twice as fast as the national average last year. New figures Monday from the U.S. Census Bureau show an estimated 938,924 residents were in households below the poverty level. That computes to 14.7 percent of the state.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI sought to give a message of hope on Easter Sunday to victims of wars, poverty and financial turmoil, saying it was urgently needed to overcome the miseries that are plaguing Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the globe.

New U.S. Census Bureau figures on income, poverty and the uninsured paint a bleak picture locally and nationally, portending more bad news next year and setting the stage for this fall's political campaigns.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Deep in the mechanic's pit, 12-year-old Jihad Robin found refuge, secretly smoking cigarettes on a break from his job in a car repair shop.

WASHINGTON - The nation's poverty rate dropped last year, the first significant decline since President Bush took office.

WASHINGTON - Even with a robust economy that was adding jobs last year, the number of Americans who fell into poverty rose to 37 million - up 1.1 million from 2003 - according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Poverty rose and income levels declined in 2002 for the second straight year as the nation's economy continued struggling after the first recession in a decade, the Census Bureau reported Friday.

NEW YORK - This week on his newsmagazine show, Bill Moyers interviews Bill Gates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.

Fewer Arizonans were living in poverty last year than the year before that, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

Ten years ago, Anita Cota and her family moved from the Gila River Indian Community into Tempe, and her two older daughters enrolled at Wood Elementary School. Shortly after, Cota and her husband separated. Then he was deployed to Iraq.