The Heartland News is a nonprofit organization committed to ending poverty and homelessness in the Heartland and is a member of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP). By hiring homeless and impoverished individuals in the community, as well as connecting these individuals with other organizations in the community in an effort to help improve their lives, The Heartland News hopes to completely erase homelessness and help fight poverty here in the Heartland. Being a nonprofit organization, The Heartland News strives to connect the community with their efforts to re-equip those in the community who have become impoverished among us. This is your chance to become part of the solution!Poverty in America and The HeartlandAccording to the US Census, as of 2007, the number of Americans experiencing homelessness was estimated to be between 1.6 and 3.5 million, with the baseline of 2.5 million at any one time being the excepted number reflecting a daily average of homelessness. More than 31.5 million people, of which more than 12 million are children, live in poverty in America. Nearly five million of those people live in deep poverty, or living below half the poverty line which is $10,890 for a single person and $18,530 for a family of three. Approximately 20,000 people are homeless in Nebraska, and 24,000 in Iowa, each night. That's enough to seat over half of the Huskers' Memorial Field or the Hawkeyes' Kinnick Stadium.According to national statistics, communities with a high level of poverty also experience a high level of violent crime, property destruction or defacement, and alcohol and drug-related crimes. As a business owner, the added cost of insurance, security, and repairs to damaged property can grow expensive. There is a simpler, more cost-effective solution to these issues; fix the root cause of the societal problems, which is the growing number of impoverished Americans.