Record poverty levels. . .

One of CitySquare's great board members sent me this summary of last Wednesday's report on the dramatic growth of poverty in the U.S. over the past year. 

Dramatic. 

Sobering. 

Sadly challenging. 

Difficult beyond words.


The Dallas Morning News has an article on the front page today:  Poverty in US Reaches Record. 

46.2 million now live at or below the official poverty line.

Poverty line for family of four is $22,314.00.

Texas poverty rate is up 9% to 18.4%. National average is 15.1%.

Breakdown is:

Blacks – 27.4%
Hispanic – 26.6%
Asian – 12.1%
White, non-hispanic – 9.9%

Since 2001 median household income has fallen 6.4% to $49,445 in 2010.

Concerning numbers indeed.

Reconsidering the "Texas Miracle"

The entrance of Texas Governor Rick Perry into the already swift moving presidential race for the 2012 nomination in the Republican Party prompted stories about the so-called "Texas Miracle."  At the heart of the case for proving up the miraculous performance of the Texas economy stands jobs creation data that appears impressive.  On the other hand, we find quality of life issues that concern growing numbers of hard working Texans. 

Consider the following from the Texas Legislative Study Group, "Texas on the Brink":

• Tax revenue raised per capita--46th in U. S.
• Tax expenditures per capita--47th in U. S.
• Sales tax per capita--15th in U. S.
• Public school enrollment--2nd in U. S.
• Average salary of public school teachers--33rd in U. S.
• Expenditures per pupil in public schools--44th in U. S.
• % of population 25 and older with HS diploma--50th in U. S.
• High school graduation rate--43rd in U. S.
• % of uninsured children--1st in U. S.
• % of children living in poverty--4th in U. S.
• % of population without health insurance--1st in U. S.
• % of low income population covered by Medicaid--49th in U. S.
• Per capita spending on mental health services--50th in U. S.
• % living below federal poverty level--4th in U. S.
• % of population who visit a dentist--46th in U. S.
• % of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in first trimester--50th in U. S.
• % of women living in poverty--6th in U. S.
• Median net worth of households--47th in U. S.
• Amount of carbon dioxide emissions--1st in U. S.
• Amount of toxic chemicals released into water--1st in U. S.
• Amount of cancer-causing carcinogens released into air--1st in U. S.
• Income inequality between rich and poor--9th in U. S.
• Median household income--34th in U. S.
• % of households with Internet access--42 in U. S. 
• Number of executions--1st in U. S.
• Rate of incarceration--9th in U. S.
• % of voting age population that is registered to vote--43rd in U. S.
• % of voting age population that votes--45th in U. S.

87 % of Texas Communities Exceed U. S. Poverty Rate

John Hennenberger's (Texas Low Income Housing Information Service) research provides the hard data on poverty in Texas. What follows is worth a careful read. Poverty in a city like Dallas can be avoided by carefully chosen travel decisions. Even though we still encounter people who are surprised by Dallas' poverty, the preality remains and grows, both here and across the state. Here's John's report:

My New Year’s resolution is to put doing something about the high levels of Texas poverty on our state’s agenda for 2009. Here is an assessment of where Texas communities stand in terms of poverty based on the recently released American Communities Survey.

There are 61 Texas communities represented in the Census survey of more than 900 communities across the US.

Six Texas communities have poverty levels below the average US poverty level of 13.3 percent. However, three of the six are large metro areas (Austin-Round Rock, Dallas-Plano-Irving Metro Division and Fort Worth-Arlington Metro Division) that include affluent suburban communities that dilute much higher percentages of central city urban poverty. The “urbanized areas” of major Texas cities themselves have the following poverty rates: Austin - 14.1 percent; Dallas/Fort Worth - 14.1 percent and; San Antonio - 17.2 percent; and Houston - 16.1 percent. All are above the US community average.

Three smaller Texas communities have poverty rates below the US average: Dumas, Gainesville and Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg’s poverty rate is actually less than half of the US average.

Two Texas communities have poverty levels equal to the US average. A whopping forty-four Texas communities have poverty levels above the US average but less than twice the US level.

Nine Texas communities have poverty rates more than double that of the average US community. All of these communities, except College Station-Bryan, are along the Texas-Mexico border. Raymondville, Texas ranked as the community with the highest percent of persons in poverty of all US communities with an astonishing 50.1 percent of its residents below the poverty level. Rio Grande City-Roma ranked second in the US in poverty.

Eighty-seven percent of Texas communities in the American Communities survey have higher rates of persons in poverty than the US.

Read the entire report and review a most helpful data table here.

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