Knowledgebase

National Overview: Poverty

Quick Facts: A Nationwide Perspective

According to Poverty in the United States, 2008:

• In 2008, more than 1 in eight Americans were poor.
• Nineteen percent of children live in poverty.
• The poverty rate among black children is three times higher than that of white children.
• Poverty rates are higher for unmarried female headed families than for married couple families.
• In 2008, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia and the District of Columbia each had more than 16% of its population living in poverty.

According to Kids Count Data Center:

• In 2012: 16,397,000 or 23% of children were living in poverty.
• Thirty-five percent of children were living in a single-parent home.

Local Needs?

• Organize a food drive
• Share resume building skills with someone looking for a job
• Offer to help someone with home repairs
• Volunteer at a free health clinic for those who do not have insurance
• Become a mentor or tutor
• Volunteer to teach a financial literacy course
• Volunteer at a homeless shelter

Other Resources

• Rooting out Poverty: A Campaign by America's Community Action Network
• The Urban Institute: Workforce Development as an Antipoverty Strategy
• Center for American Progress From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half
• Massachusetts Association for Community Action: Workforce Development Guide
• American Community Surveys: Poverty 2007 and 2008
• Institute for Children and Poverty: National Data on Family Homelessness
• National Center for Children in Poverty: Child Poverty
• Federal Reserve: The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America: Case Studies from across the US