Local Churches Fight Against Poverty
Portage County, Ohio is home to 162,927 people according to a census recorded in 2018. The same census also found that of those, almost 162,000 people, approximately 13 percent of individuals, were living below the poverty line.
In Portage County, 43% of the community is living either under the poverty line or paycheck to paycheck said Shawna Borkoski, the Community Based Program Director of Family and Community Services Incorporated. This high percentage impacts over 69,000 people throughout the county.
Some in the surrounding communities believe not everyone is aware of how many individuals are struggling to make enough money. “Every time I start talking about the root issue, and I start throwing out numbers and stats, and inviting them to our programs, these community members and groups are completely shocked,” Amina Hall said, the Marketing and Development Director of Family and Community Services Incorporated.
Hall said the reason behind people not being aware of the poverty issue around them is the assumption that “it does not happen in my community.” However, the facts show that it happens in every community all over the country.
Every year the U.S. Department of Health and Family Services releases a list of the poverty level which shows the minimum amount of money a person or family needs to make a “livable wage.” The graph below shows the average for each group over the past ten years:
As one can see from the above information, the numbers have stayed fairly consistent over the last ten years. In fact, there has only been an approximate 17% increase over those years. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website also shows that these numbers mark the line of when someone is considered poor. If a person or family is even slightly above the poverty level, they are not considered poor by the government, even if they still don’t make a true liveable wage.
According to an article on nokidhungry.org, in 2019 the federal poverty level was $25,750 a year for a family of four. The same article would go on to say that 40 million people were living under the poverty line in 2017. Of those 40 million people, 13 million of them were children. Below is a chart that shows how Portage County’s poverty numbers match up to the stats given above:
Not only is a large number of people living under the poverty line in Portage County, but another 28% of people are living paycheck to paycheck according to Borkoski. These types of money issues can cause people to not be able to afford food, clothes, school supplies, or even cause individuals to lose their homes.
Polls and studies done by the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the homeless show that all of northeast Ohio is struggling with the issue of individuals losing their homes due to the lack of money.
There are also many non-profit organizations that have goals to help figure out the poverty issue. One of the major contributors to helping those in need in Portage County are local churches opening food pantries and soup kitchens.
“I’m afraid to think about that, because it would be very, very hard,” Hall said when asked what it would be like to try and help the community without the aid of churches. “What we do is really close to the church community.” Several local churches help Family and Community Services Incorporated by donating money, time, supplies, and resources. St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Stow, Ohio, does a lot in the community to help improve the poverty crisis.
Hall said the majority of their workers are volunteers. They accept help from all people in the community and do not have a lot of paid employees. “One of the things that we’re starting to see and struggle with as a non-profit that is running income based programs is finding the volunteers,” said Hall.
A way to help improve the poverty issue is by finding more ways to get volunteers to help go out into the communities and raise income awareness according to Hall. Only 25% of adults volunteered their time to local non-profits around the US in 2016 according to a study done by nonprofitssource.com.
Both Hall and Borkoski are strong believers that the first step to fixing the poverty issues in Portage County is by going out and making people aware of the issues. The only way to correct the problem is by first realizing that there is something to be corrected.
Individuals living in Portage County should look at the facts about the poverty level in their community. Find out more at https://t.co/Ydl54cjH4y
— Jonah Young (@jonah_old) March 4, 2020
Jonah Young: Completed interviews of sources in written story, two infographics, calculated averages/percentage change of poverty level in three categories for last ten years (used infographic to display the calculations,) and tweet.
Gianna: Interviewed sources in package and written story, Package, Pictures, audio and tweet.
