I take a look at two recent reports on poverty in New York, and their widely divergent findings:

When elected officials and nonprofit advocates gathered on the steps of City Hall last Wednesday to announce the release of a new Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies report, “The State of New York’s Social Safety Net for Today’s Hard Times,” it marked the culmination of a season of reports criticizing the city’s policies toward the poor.

“Despite an increase in the need for public assistance a year into a deep recession,” declared FPWA executive director Fatima Goldman, “the welfare rolls in New York City have actually decreased in 2008 by nearly 70,000 recipients.”… [read more]