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2020-09-17
Heartland Alliance;
Poverty rates and household incomes improved in Illinois in 2019. However, this data reflects conditions from the last year before a global pandemic and related recession--meaning the picture is likely much worse today. And even before the 2020 recession, millions of Illinoisans--especially people of color--lived in poverty or on the brink.The poverty rate for the United States was 10.5% in 2019, a decline of 1.3 percentage points from 2018 and the lowest on record. There were 34 million people in poverty nationwide. In 2019, 1.4 million Illinoisans were in poverty--a rate of 11.5%. Additionally, 1.9 million Illinoisans are near poor and economically insecure with incomes between 100% and 199% of the federal poverty threshold.The data also revealed that health insurance coverage rates declined in Illinois and throughout the nation in 2019, continuing a disturbing trend of eroding the gains of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), right before a global pandemic and economic recession hit.
2018-04-19
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights;
Heartland Alliance's Illinois Poverty Update indicates that millions of people in Illinois are experiencing poverty or are on the cusp. Rooted in inequity, poverty prevents people from meeting basic needs, improving their quality of life, and creates barriers to opportunities including quality education, stable employment, affordable housing and safe neighborhoods. The update sheds light on who is most likely to experience poverty in Illinois: Women, people of color, and children have the highest poverty rates.In addition to the Illinois Poverty Update, Heartland Alliance also released state legislative district poverty fact sheets.These releases are the first of a series Heartland Alliance is publishing on poverty in Illinois this year. Local- and county-level data books will be published this summer, and an in-depth exploration of the forces that contribute to gender-based poverty inequity will be released in the fall.
2011-11-29
Social IMPACT Research Center;
Based on Social IMPACT Research Center's analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates.
2003-12-30
Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights;
Rural Illinois is experiencing greater and greater declines in its well-being, growing barriers to economic viability and increasing disadvantage for economic and human development. 74 of Illinois' 102 counties are rural, non-metropolitan counties. Almost half of these rural counties have poverty rates higher than the state rate. **Limited job opportunity, limited access to health services, inadequate housing options, and declining populations perpetuate this rural poverty. This decline in regional development and growth is clearly linked to poverty populations facing poverty of housing, poverty of education, poverty of health, and poverty of opportunity. **This report examines population, economic, and basic needs issues in regions of Illinois, as defined by the Bureau of Tourism. These regions represent large areas of common demographic, economic, and geographic characteristics. Information on the South and Southwest regions of the state is highlighted, as they are disproportionately impacted by poverty. Data for each county in the state are included in the appendices.
2019-09-26
Heartland Alliance Research & Policy Division;
Millions of people in Illinois experience poverty or are living on the brink. That societal position keeps opportunities out of reach and nearly guarantees worse outcomes in every quality of life domain—making ALL of us worse off. The poverty rate for the United States was 11.8% in 2018, a decline of 0.5 percentage points from 2017. There were 38.1 million people in poverty nationwide. In 2018, 1.5 million Illinoisans were in poverty—a rate of 12.1%. Additionally, 2.0 million Illinoisans are near poor and economically insecure with incomes between 100% and 199% of the federal poverty threshold. This year marks the first time that the U.S.poverty rate is below pre-recession levels; Illinois lags behind this trend,with its poverty rate just returning to pre-recession levels.
2008-02-19
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law;
Congress pushed past the distractions of the election year to get more done on poverty-related measures in 2008 than the year before, according to the only national analysis that ranks Members of Congress solely on their performance in fighting poverty, released today.The Shriver Center's 2008 Poverty Scorecard, www.povertyscorecard.org, acts as a year-end report card for every member of Congress. The Scorecard assigns letter grades to each member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives according to their voting records on the most important poverty-related issues that came to a vote in 2008.In the Scorecard, four of the most important anti-poverty bills that Congress considered during 2008 passed both the House and Senate and were signed into law by President Bush. Two more were signed into law after being substantially amended; making a grand total of six important anti-poverty measures that became law. These bills address aspects of the economic downturn such as the housing crisis, unemployment compensation and the impact of high credit costs on students. Although Congress considered more important anti-poverty bills in 2007 than in 2008, only three of them passed both the House and Senate and were signed into law by President Bush."Overcoming poverty is a huge job that requires national leadership now more than ever," said John Bouman, Shriver Center president. "We hope to use the Scorecard to elevate the subject of poverty in the national policy dialogue, educate the public about why certain votes are important to promoting equal opportunity, and improve legislators' voting records by demonstrating that they will have to be accountable on these issues."These votes, as well as in-depth bill summaries, poverty rate by Congressional district, analysis from the Shriver Center, and links to antipoverty resources, make up the interactive website through which users can simply click on a map to learn how well their representatives are working to end poverty:* Although half of all Senators had a perfect A+ voting record and over half of all Representatives ranked an A or A+, only five of the 18 bills in the Scorecard passed both Houses and were signed into law by the President.* Several states with high poverty rates have Congressional delegations that had poor records in supporting measures to fight poverty. (Kentucky's poverty rate is the fifth highest in the country, but its Congressional delegation ranked the 40th lowest of the 50 states.)"No matter what your ideology, I think we all can agree that government needs to take some role in providing economic opportunities to all Americans during a tough financial climate," Bouman concluded. "We are looking for members of Congress to realize their performances on these issues are being assessed."
2017-02-01
Albany Community Action Partnership;
The New York State Community Action Association (NYSCAA) is pleased to present its annual edition of the New York State Poverty Report. Providing a statewide look at poverty, this publication is designed to be a comprehensive resource for New York's Community Action Agencies, community-based organizations, policy makers, advocates, community coalitions and the general public. This report does not offer policy recommendations; rather, the intent is to serve as an informational source that adds value to the larger dialogue on how to address poverty in communities across our state.
2019-01-14
Family Foundations;
When I was City Council President, I was invited by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to an Asset Building Conference, where I joined a team of colleagues from Jacksonville. We were challenged to set a bold goal around poverty in our community. We decided that our goal had to be big – we chose 1,000 people – and our goal had to have a time limit – we chose 1,000 days and that is how 1,000 in 1,000 was born.I assumed that this initiative would be like most, where a group comes up with some great ideas, but then we get back home our good intentions wither. But Team Jacksonville was different. We completed research on the latest learnings on poverty, including literature reviews and national site visits. We ran pilots, working with 100 families over 3 years, to determine what specific strategies were the most powerful for building assets.We learned from the families directly. They told us that their top goal was to provide a better life for their children than their own. They wanted a job that paid a living wage and were willing to work for it, but needed child care and reliable transportation to get to job training. They emphasized the need for life management skills, including goal setting, budgeting, parenting andinterpersonal skills. Families were frank that many of them had a past criminal arrest or conviction, but for relatively minor offenses that were still classified as a felony, such as bouncing a check or driving with a suspended license.Poverty is everyone's problem. I am justifiably proud of our community for examining poverty through the magnifying glass of our collective vision.
2001-06-14
Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights;
It is increasingly clear that a focus on welfare reduction and "official" poverty levels greatly underestimates who is poor and why poverty persists. The Illinois Poverty Summit urges the State of Illinois to begin evaluating its progress in reducing poverty on an annual basis against measurable benchmarks. To do that, however, will require a more sophisticated analysis of poverty than "official" poverty figures permit and moving beyond reduction in the welfare roles as a primary indicator of economic well-being. The data in this report contributes to achieving that goal.
2006-01-31
Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights;
This is the sixth annual publication of the Report on Illinois Poverty. Since the release of the first report six years ago, 342,716 more Illinoisans are in poverty, rising from 10% in 1999 to 12.4% in 2004. Through the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the eyes of the nation were opened to the devastating effects of poverty, and people were shocked that such detrimental poverty is a daily reality for millions of Americans, including over 1.5 million Illinoisans. Hopefully, the vivid portrayal of the social disaster of poverty will harness energy for a renewed anti-poverty effort in individual states and in the nation as a whole.
