“A glance into poverty”

30% of Kent residents are below the poverty line and 13.1% of Portage County residents are below the poverty line, according to the census. The situation is dire in our local communities, not only because of the pandemic, but because that has increased the number of people who need help. 

The lack of supplies such as food and housing along with the lack of income to support you and your family defines poverty. Poverty is something that affects most of the population and is a conversation we as a society like to avoid. 

Being in poverty is seen as failing in life and the problem is that there is no easy way to escape poverty. There are programs to help people who are stuck in poverty such as food banks and other government programs. However, those can only take you so far. 

The United Way of Portage County has been working within the community to support those who are a victim of poverty. From setting up food drives, to giving money to philanthropies and food banks, they are here to support the community. 

One of their programs is the 2-1-1, where people can call to get connected to different programs. The number of calls during the pandemic has increased as people lost their income and cannot afford to support themselves. 

“They manage multiple counties and based on the area code that they’re calling from, they’ll usually get directed right to the one that they need,” said Maureen Gebhardt, director of community impact and volunteers.  “If there’s area code of a Portage County number, they can just dial the number to one and there’ll be directed to that county to one service.”

2-1-1 referred about 17% of their calls to food banks and 12% to rent assistance from July 1st to July 31st. During August, the calls about food banks went up to 19% while rent assistance went down to 7%. 

However, the problem with poverty is statewide. According to the ALICE report, 33% of Ohioans cannot afford an accident, whether it is a medical issue, a car emergency or even a housing issue. Ohio is facing an economic crisis and the pandemic has only accelerated things. Things are not looking up in Ohio and the people who are going to pay the most are those who are already struggling now. 

If you were poor before the 2008 Recession, chances are you are still poor and are struggling to beat the cycle of poverty. Along with that, the rate of housing expensitives are on the rise and show no signs of decreasing. 

These statistics show how drastic things are in this state and area. Ravenna, right next to Kent faces an uphill battle with poverty. At 17% for poverty, according to the census, parents struggle to feed their children.

“Ravenna school district [is] at about 75%. Yeah. So, when you get to a certain point, I think it’s 70%. [The] reduced lunch program is managed by the United States Department of Agriculture and they have standards on,” Bill Childers, president and CEO of United Way of Portage County. “There’s so many people, being that 70% of the students qualify, then they tell you everybody qualifies because they don’t want to have to deal with the paperwork and the administrative cost.” 

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The pandemic has only added to the situation. The problem was here before, but now it is more important than ever to help those in need. 

Family and Community Service helps along with United Ways to bring food and support to those in need. They make hot meals for anyone who needs it, while their food pantry is based on income. 

“Well so it definitely has been a different world, for us, our dining room guests, used to come in and receive meals. And now we are doing everything curbside and that is for the pantry,” said LaJoyce Harris, program director. 

Places are adapting to the changes Coronavirus has brought us, but community wise we can do our part to help. There are food drives, coat drives and even donation bins to still help and do not have to be in-person. 

“A lot of the ways that you can help in terms of communities and everything like that if you’re in a position to donate. A lot of what we get is from donated items so we have like gift cards,” said Elena the intern. “Money donations food items we have people that come in that drop off like from their garden or their vegetables from their garden, all sorts of things that can come through our door we also do like school supplies and hygiene products. So really anything that’s donated, we can usually put to use.”

As a community, we could do better– we could discuss this issue more. Being in poverty is being a victim of the failures of society. With the pandemic happening, and with no end in sight, we all need to work together. 

As a Kent State student, I truly had no idea how bad poverty was until I wrote this story. https://t.co/mA4Krs7zWf

— Ry-anne? (@ryalocker) October 15, 2020