Know someone struggling to make it financially?

Help them get connected to this program to help low-income folks remain able to access jobs and services.   Cellphones are crazy overpriced, and totally unregulated, so the poor are hard-pressed to find a deal that doesn't turn into a nightmare for them, with shady bottom-feeding services dominating.  But the inability to connect to employers and service providers readily via a phone is one of the biggest barriers that financially stressed people face.  Solution?  A subsidy program that helps use the Universal Service Fee money we've been stocking up for years to make sure the poor can stay connected without having to deal with a payday-loan type cellphone operation.

Here's a program that uses the Universal Service Fee money to help such people stay connected.  (Clip starts about 15 seconds in.)

  Assurance Wireless is a federal Lifeline Assistance program brought to you by Virgin Mobile.  Lifeline is a government benefit program supported by the federal Universal Service Fund.

Enrollment is available to individuals who qualify based on federal or state-specific eligibility criteria. You may qualify if you are on certain public assistance programs, like Medicaid or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). You can also qualify based on your household income. You must provide proof of program participation or proof of income.

The Lifeline Assistance program is available for only one wireless or wireline account per household.  Separate households that live at the same address are eligible, including residents of homeless shelters and nursing homes, for example.  Residents with temporary addresses are also eligible.

Related articles

• Assurance Wireless Marks One-Year Anniversary of Providing Cell Phones and Wireless Service to Maine Residents
• Assurance Wireless Provides Cell Phones and Wireless Service to Aid Idaho Residents Facing Economic
• Your Universal Service Fee at Work

How “Overpaid” Government Professionals Reduce Public Expenditures « The Reality-Based Community

Worth repeating in a town like Salem.

Got too much stuff? Need storage?

You need more stuff to hold all your stuff! See this Salem Craigslist ad for info on how to get $25 off first month's storage rental at Northgate Storage (just north of Pine near Portland Rd.). We rented a unit there for two years while we searched for the perfect place to set up LOVESalem HQ and it was fine. I can't compare it to other places in Salem, but we had no problems there in two years; our 10' x 10' unit was stuffed to the gills and it was clean and dry and seemed plenty secure.