Daily Herald

 

April 30, 2009

According to Heartland Alliance’s report, more than 253,000 people in the city and suburbs, including 87,000 children, could fall into poverty as a result of the current recession.

 

From Daily Herald:

Mary Ellen Durbin said there’s an easy way to see how the recession has affected people in the suburbs – just look at her parking lot.

“We had to hire a parking attendant,” said Durbin, executive director of the People’s Resource Center in Wheaton. “That’s how busy we are. We’ve seen an astronomical increase in the numbers of people who need help.”

The center, which provides emergency assistance, food and other services to people in need, served roughly 2,400 families in the month of March, Durbin said. It was the second-busiest month in the center’s 34-year history.

When Durbin joined the center in 1995, it served roughly 300 families a month.

 

“A lot of the people coming to us now are new clients, people who have never been in this position before,” she said.

Durbin’s observations are backed up in a new report about poverty in the Chicago area. The report, released today, was written by the Heartland Alliance, a Chicago-based research and advocacy group.

According to the report, more than 253,000 people in the city and suburbs, including 87,000 children, could fall into poverty as a result of the current recession. That projected increase would amount to a 27 percent jump in the number of people living in poverty since 2007.

“We’ve never seen that kind of increase before. It would be staggering,” said Amy Rynell, a Heartland director who helped write the report.

A family of four is defined as “poor” by the federal government if it earns less than $22,050 annually. A family defined as “extremely poor” makes less than half that amount.

A good chunk of the new poor would live in the suburbs. Rynell said the suburbs now account for 41 percent of the Chicago area’s poor. In 1980, the suburbs accounted for just 24 percent.

“Poverty is not limited to specific areas of our state,” Rynell said.

 

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Peoria Journal-Star

 

April 30, 2009

The 2009 Report on Illinois Poverty released Thursday reveals signs of increasing poverty throughout the state.

 

From Peoria Journal-Star:

It’s not bad luck that’s keeping this Peoria resident from the work force. He is a product of his environment – of an expanding number of Americans pushed into poverty as a result of the recession.

The former Caterpillar Inc. 6 Sigma electrical engineer, who asked that his name not be used, lost his job about four months ago. He has no retirement. He’s exhausted his savings. The Internet technology specialist applied for between five and 10 jobs that match his skill set daily throughout the United States to no avail.

An income tax refund helped make most of his bills current. But he is behind on his mortgage payment. And if his situation doesn’t change in the next 30 to 60 days, he may lose his house and everything else.

“On the way to Caterpillar each morning, probably since September when I was aware of the economic downturn, I would pray that those people who had lost their jobs would find sustenance somehow. I also prayed that I didn’t want to be one of those people,” he said.

The story is not uncommon.

In February, there was one job opening available for every five Midwesterners. The number of workers in part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work has nearly doubled nationally since mid-2006, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The 2009 report on Illinois Poverty released Thursday reveals signs of increasing poverty throughout the state. Poverty worsened in more than half of the state’s 102 counties even before the recession began in December 2007.

The most current poverty data from 2007, therefore, does not capture economic realities, the report’s authors wrote.

As many as 405,000 more Illinoisans are likely to have been pushed into poverty as a result of the recession.

“We’re seeing a whole new segment of people who have never been in poverty before or needed assistance, and now they’re popping up in food pantries and shelters and places that they’ve never had to go before for help,” said Amy Terpstra, a senior research analyst at Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty, a not-for-profit Chicago-based organization that produces the annual poverty report.

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Study: Recession Pushing Illinoisans into Poverty

Chicago Tribune

 

April 30, 2009

The recession likely has pushed hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans into poverty, according to a Heartland Alliance study released Thursday.

 

From Chicago Tribune:

The recession likely has pushed hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans into poverty, according to a study released Thursday, and two leading indicators — use of food stamps and emergency food assistance — appear to support that assertion.

More than 400,000 people have fallen into poverty statewide since 2007, an increase of about 27 percent, the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty projects.

The most recent Census data on poverty are from 2007, so the projections were based on the relationship between unemployment and poverty, established during the last three recessions, said Amy Rynell, executive director of the poverty institute.

“The magnitude of our projection is very upsetting,” said Rynell. “We’ve never seen an increase in poverty over a two-year period that is anywhere near this large, and important mechanisms to address it are not strong enough.”

The state’s jobless rate was 9.1 percent in March, the highest in more than 23 years, and the number of unemployed was at a 25-year high of 596,000.

Food banks are seeing a big surge in individuals and families requesting assistance, and the Illinois Department of Human Services says the state’s emergency food program has distributed 36 percent more food in the first three quarters of the state’s 2009 fiscal year, which began last July, than it did in the entire previous year.

More than 672,000 households used food stamps last month, up 14 percent, or an additional 82,300 households, since December 2007, DHS data show.

The report did not project poverty numbers by county, but placed 24 counties on its poverty warning list and 46 on its watch list, based on four indicators: unemployment, poverty, high school graduation and teen birth rates.

Suburban areas outside of Chicago are among those most at risk, and have seen “an exponential growth in poverty” as more people move to the suburbs and work in lower-paying jobs, Rynell said.

“The importance of the report right now is that … our struggling economy has the greatest impact on those who have the least income to begin with,” Rynell said.  

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Chicago Sun-Times

 

March 30, 2009

Stagnating wages and higher costs for health care, housing and college leave many struggling for American Dream

 

From Chicago Sun-Times:

In Chicago, the Heartland Alliance estimated recently that it would take a family of four nearly $50,000 annually just to pay for bare essentials like food, housing and health care — an amount higher than some households at the lower end of the middle class earn. That doesn’t include savings for college or retirement, vacation or preschool or private school costs.

“Our definition of middle class has shifted a bit,” said Heartland senior research analyst Amy Terpstra. “The cost of our basic needs have really increased at a time when our incomes have declined.”

 

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Use Break to Learn about Homelessness

Northwest Herald

 

March 3, 2009

If you are one of the “unlucky” staying behind this spring break, I have a worthwhile read for you: the executive summary of “McHenry County: A Place to Call Home, A Call to Action.” It talks about our poverty problem in McHenry County and how affordable housing can help.

 

From Northwest Herald:

A couple of months ago, I heard Amy Terpstra of The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty speak. As I listened to her, my attention along with those around me went from blasé to intense concentration. What we heard was very sobering.

How could it be that one out of every 17 people in McHenry County lives in poverty? How could it be that nearly 6,000 of these faces belong to children? Why has the poverty rate grown 38 percent in McHenry County since 1980?

Terpstra described what happens when a person lives in poverty. Life is more likely to be unstable. It affects job retention and children’s ability to learn; people can’t afford needed medicines; nutritious foods are bypassed; and homelessness, domestic violence and divorce rates go up. The cycle, if not interrupted continues.

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Lake County News Sun

 

December 20, 2008

Heartland Alliance works with the suburban PADS shelter to provide health care for people experiencing homelessness.

 

From Lake County News Sun:

The number of PADS clients making use of the Healthcare for the Homeless program has exceeded expectations, according to Angela Trotta, a grants specialist with the Health Department. She said Chicago-based Heartland Alliance Health contacted the department three years ago about utilizing federal funds to provide medical care for the homeless.

PADS was selected as a partner in the project, with an annual goal of providing aid to 250 patients with a total of 625 visits. Between December 2007 and the end of November 2008, Trotta said, records show 279 patients making 670 visits, even though PADS sites are closed from May through September.

 

 

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Decatur Herald & Review

 

December 9, 2008

The first demographic portrait of smaller-sized counties and cities since Census 2000 shows that Central Illinois was losing ground economically even before the current downturn.

 

From Decatur Herald & Review:

The first demographic portrait of smaller-sized counties and cities since Census 2000 shows that Central Illinois was losing ground economically even before the current downturn.

Christian, Coles and Fayette counties, which include Taylorville, Pana, Charleston, Mattoon and Vandalia, all experienced significant reductions in their median household incomes and significant increases in their poverty rates, according to multiyear estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

“This follows the trend we’ve been seeing at the state level the last couple of years,” said Amy Terpstra, senior research analyst for the Mid-American Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance in Chicago. “People have less and less money in their pockets to buy the things they need to get by.”

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Weak Economy May Increase Poverty

ABC-7 News

 

October 17, 2008

The weak economy could send more people in Illinois into poverty according to a report released Friday by the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty.

 

From ABC-7 News:

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When It Rains, It Pours for the Poor

Illinois Times

 

October 23, 2008

Contrary to the belief of many in our society, poverty is not the result of laziness. Rather, a study published recently by the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty finds that disability, job loss, earnings decline, having children, not finishing high school and living in a female-headed household are most likely to push to people into poverty.

 

From Illinois Times:

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