American poverty in a Chemung County perspective

1. American poverty in a Chemung County perspective Randi Lynn Quackenbush Cornell Cooperative Extension AmeriCorps VISTA

2. How can we define poverty? • Webster’s: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions • World Bank: extreme poverty (>$1 PPP/day) moderate poverty (>$2 PPP/day) • UN: 2 categories- income poverty and human poverty

3. Income vs human poverty: “It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. Poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.” (UN Statement, 1998)

4. Ruby Payne defines poverty as “the extent to which an individual does without resources.” • Financial • Spiritual • Emotional • Mental • Physical • Support Systems • Relationships/Role Models • Knowledge of hidden rules

5. A “Culture of Poverty” • Stemming from “The Other America” (1964), this theory contends that the poor have their own value systems • Has since been rejected by many social scientists who believe this theory “blames the victim,” focuses too much on a seemingly lack of morals ie-there is something wrong with them, and ignores structural and economic inequities • Belief in this culture helped propel 1996 welfare reform • Still is strong in popular culture

6. Absolute vs. Relative Poverty • Absolute, or extreme poverty, is when people lack the basic necessities for survival, such as food, clean water, housing, sufficient clothing or medicines, and access to social services. • Relative poverty is when the cost of maintaining an average, acceptable standard of living, relative to other members of society, exceeds available income. Basic needs may be met, but fewer resources, opportunities, and goods are available.

7. Poverty in America • Poverty in the US is based on the notion of income poverty. The federal government sets a poverty threshold for individuals and those with dependent children. • The formula for calculating the poverty threshold in the United States was developed in 1963 and was based on the USDA’s economic food plan times three (the average family spent 1/3 of their income on food). • It is not designed to be an itemized budget and does not take into consideration housing and childcare costs, for example. • It is the same across all the lower 48 states. Different guidelines exist for Alaska and Hawaii. • (In the international context, it equals about $30/day)

9. American poverty guidelines

10. The 2011 American Community Survey estimates that 15.9% of Americans live below the poverty line (BPL) = 48.5 million people • White – 13% (21.1 million) • Black -28.1% (10.5 million) • Asian- 12.8% (1.9 million) • Hispanic – 25.8% (13.1 million) • Two or more races – 21.4% (1.8 million) • 22.5% of all children are BPL (16.4 million)

11. A parent working full-time at minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) earns, before taxes, $15,080 annually. • For a single-parent family with one child, these wages are just below the poverty line. • Thus, it is entirely possible to work full time and still earn less than the federal poverty line if you have children.

12. Problems with these guidelines • Current poverty measures only count gross pre-tax income, but do not include in-kind benefits or tax credits; nor medical, childcare, housing, child support, or tax-related expenses • These measures are not geographic-specific • Some economists and policy makers have created the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)

13. The SPM takes additional necessities into account and finds that for renters and mortgage owners, the actual poverty threshold should be higher.

14. However, using the SPM, while average poverty rates are higher, child poverty rates are actually lower due to programs such as SNAP, school lunch programs, WIC, and various subsidies and tax-credits available for families with children. These programs are essential in keeping children from falling deeper into poverty.

15. Extreme Poverty in the US

16. Generational vs. Situational poverty

17. Generational poverty is defined as experiencing poverty for at least 2 generations. • Situational poverty is defined as experiencing economic hardship because of a particular event such as chronic illness, death, divorce, etc. Often there exists an attitude of pride in refusing public assistance or charity.

18. Dr. Payne states that hidden rules are the unspoken cues and habits of a group. • Generational poverty: entertainment and relationships, focused on the present • Generational middle class- work and achievement, focused on the future • Generational wealth- financial, political, and social

19. Inequality of opportunity

20. Source: ‘Wealth Mobility and Volatility in Black and White,’ The Center for American Progress, 2008.

21. Financial Self-sufficiency Source: Diana Pearce, 2010.

23. Perceptions of Poverty • Individual • Structural

24. Poverty in Chemung County • “The economic insecurity of low-wage workers and the middle class threatens the viability of our communities. When members of the middle class flee the cities, taking the tax base and spending power with them . . .when Main Street empties of viable businesses and refills with pawn shops, used clothing stores, social service storefronts, and payday lenders . . .when people can’t afford to stay in the community to raise their children because of the lack of well-paying jobs . . . And when the free and reduced-price lunch rate at the schools hits 50%, our communities are becoming unsustainable.” (Bridges Out of Poverty, p. 5)

27. “The economic insecurity of low-wage workers and the middle class threatens the viability of our communities. When members of the middle class flee the cities, taking the tax base and spending power with them . . .when Main Street empties of viable businesses and refills with pawn shops, used clothing stores, social service storefronts, and payday lenders . . .when people can’t afford to stay in the community to raise their children because of the lack of well-paying jobs . . . And when the free and reduced-price lunch rate at the schools hits 50%, our communities are becoming unsustainable.” (Bridges Out of Poverty, p. 5)

28. By age 4, then, the average welfare child would have heard 13 million words, the average working-class child would have heard 23 million words, and the average professional child would have heard 45 million words. This produces what has been called the “30 million word gap.” • COP are far more likely to drop out of school prior to graduation than other children. The annual dropout rate for children in families with incomes less than $20,000 is 9.0%. In contrast, the annual dropout rate for children in families with incomes of $40,000 or more is 2.3%.

31. Source: 2013 Chemung County Budget