Progress Illinois

Child poverty is on the rise in the U.S. as evidenced by a recent report by the U.S. Census showing that one in three poor Americans are children; reaching 16.4 million over the last decade, including 7.4 million living in extreme poverty. A graphic created by Remapping the Debate shows how the number of poor children in the U.S. measures up against statewide populations -- and the end result is quite dramatic. Read more »

A report (PDF) released this week show that millions Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water and an increasing number of families are sinking below the poverty level.

According to the new numbers by the U.S. Census Bureau, 15.1 percent or more than 46 million Americans are living in poverty, which is the highest number since the data started being collected over 50 years ago. The median household income has taken a dip while poverty has gone up, falling more than two percent. The figure is back at 1996 levels at $49,445. The Raw Story laid out five interesting facts about the Census Bureau's dismal poverty report.

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The following op-ed is by Alan W. Houseman, executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy.

How many more have to fall into poverty before we say enough? That should be the question every American asks the nation’s policymakers as they begin debating President Obama’s jobs package and how to cut more than a trillion dollars from the nation’s deficit over the next decade. Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released data revealing we not only have a jobs crisis, we have a poverty crisis.

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Sometimes words are not enough to describe the impact of poverty on Americans, especially here in Chicago where poor and thriving neighborhoods can be found only a few blocks apart and language differences tend to serve as economic boundaries that keep us apart. Click through for a compelling graphic that lays out the complicated issues of poverty, where it has hit the hardest, who suffers the most; and why the nation’s taxation policies and health insurance costs are making things worse.

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That’s the number of people in Cook County who are “food insecure,” according to a report by the Chicago Reporter citing data by Feeding America, a hunger-relief charity. That means 1 in 5 people or 16.1 percent of people here don’t have enough food every day. What’s more frightening is that 36 percent of them are actually living above the federal poverty line.
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That's the percentage of children in Illinois public schools who come from poverty-stricken homes and thus qualify for a free or reduced lunch at school, according to data recently released by the Illinois State Board of Education.

It's a big increase over the percentage of poor students the board tracked in 1996, when just less than 35 percent received a free or reduced lunch. A multi-year analysis (PDF) shows that for much of the late 1990s the percentage of low-income students remained relatively constant, at about 36 percent. But that number started to creep up in 2001. Two years later, 40 percent of all public school students were poor. In 2009, the percentage was 42.9. The 2.5 percent leap between '09 and last year is the biggest the state has recorded in 15 years, and a result, no doubt, of the continuing fallout from the Great Recession. "We are seeing additional stress on families ... and we know this impacts students," state schools Superintendent Christopher Koch told the Tribune.

How can lawmakers fight this disturbing reality for children and families in Illinois? At the state level, members of the General Assembly might take another look at the Illinois Commission on the Elimination of Poverty paper. The document offers 42 substantive policy recommendations on how to tackle "extreme poverty" in the state. High on that list is tripling the state's minuscule Earned Income Tax Credit and supporting transitional employment efforts similar to Put Illinois To Work (PITW). The former policy, however, was not included in the General Assembly's recent tax deal. And PITW, absent federal support, is now defunct. Meanwhile, poor children in Illinois are left wanting.

That's how many Illinois households were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) this December, according to data obtained by the Sun-Times. The figure represents a 12 percent jump from one year ago.

Illinois' unemployment rate may be falling, but hunger continues to rise. In 2009, 17.2 percent of Illinois households qualified as "food insecure," meaning that at one point in the year, the family did not have enough money to purchase food. The Greater Chicago Food Depository -- which provides food to over 650 pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters in Cook County -- told the paper that it's witnessed "a roughly 65 percent to 70 percent increase in individuals served at its pantries since 2007." And while Congress included additional support for the successful (and stimulative) food assistance program in the Obama administration's economic recovery package, emergency funding will be cut short earlier than anticipated because Republicans insisted that a critical state aid package this summer be "deficit neutral." If these trends continue, lawmakers in the capitol may have to rework the terms of that Faustian bargain.