Rural homelessness is a growing problem in many areas and is not known as much as the larger problems of the city.  Most studies estimate homeless people in small towns account for about 9 percent of the 600,000 or so homeless nationwide.

HUD provided $120 million for 700 projects in rural areas last year which has remained constant for several years.

UCLA--While today's college students have a very high level of interest and involvement in spirituality and religion, there are important differences among student subgroups, most significantly between African Americans and Whites, and between men and women, according to new research from UCLA.

• 95% of African Americans believe in God, compared to 84% of Latinos, 78% of Whites, and 65% of Asian Americans 
• 91% of African Americans pray, compared to 75% of Latinos and 67% of Whites 
• 53% of African Americans attend religious services frequently, compared to 42% of Whites, 39% of Latinos, and 35% of Asian Americans 
  
• The Spiritual Life of College Students: A National tudy of College Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose, Full Report.    Spirituality in Higher Education, Higher Education Research Institute, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA

• 80 percent of Americans think colleges and universities welcome students of faith 
  • 20 percent do not
• 81 percent of faculty consider themselves "spiritual beings"
• When asked to specify their current religious preference 31.2 percent of the professors surveyed said "none"
• Respondents were asked to select the statement that comes closest to expressing their views about God
  • 10.0 percent chose the statement, "I don’t believe in God"
  • 13.4 percent chose the statement, "I don’t know whether there is a God, and I don’t believe there is any way to find out." 
  • About 23.4 percent of respondents are either atheists or agnostics