by Naomi Kenny

Created on: June 19, 2008

Poverty is a political issue, a religious issue, a human issue, social issue and an issue with many causes. It is an issue that must be addressed at many levels and grassroots reforms maybe the starting point.

Political Poverty

The politicians spout the statistics and can demonstrate that only 12.3 percent or 36.5 million people were in poverty in 2006 (last US Census Bureau numbers) down from 2005. Even the number of uninsured, 41.0 million in 2006 is not statistically significant from 2005. A lot has happened in our country since the numbers for 2006 were gathered.

It is time for the decision makers to take a hard look at the US Department of Health & Human Services Poverty Guidelines and compare them with the real world.

There are two terms that we need to understand; "poverty thresholds" and "poverty guidelines." The "poverty thresholds" are updated annually and used for statistical purposes, to estimate the number of people in poverty. The "poverty guidelines" are issued yearly and used to decide who can receive benefits from federally funded programs.

2008 HHS Poverty Guidelines

Persons
in Family or Household 48 Contiguous
States and D.C. Alaska Hawaii
1 $10,400 $13,000 $11,960
2 14,000 17,500 16,100
3 17,600 22,000 20,240
4 21,200 26,500 24,380
5 24,800 31,000 28,520
6 28,400 35,500 32,660
7 32,000 40,000 36,800
8 35,600 44,500 40,940
For each additional
person, add 3,600 4,500 4,140

SOURCE: Federal Register, Vol. 73, No. 15, January 23, 2008, pp. 39713972

The above chart demonstrates the numbers used to determine if a person or family can receive government assistance. So a family with a total income (money from everyone living in that household) earning even a few hundred dollars over the guideline will not qualify for assistance.

Who can live at these levels of income? How do you pay for food, housing, medical expenses, insurance for a car, gas so you can work, child care, and other necessities of life?

The question is what does it take to make poverty a headline story? The answer is personalization of the problem. Have the decision makers live within the numbers they use. Have them meet and get to know a family in trouble. Have them adopt a family in need and see what is required to pull them out of the quicksand of poverty.

Perhaps there would be a significant raise in the minimum wage?

Religious Poverty

What about the religious side of poverty? Most churches have a calling to help the under-privileged and down trodden. The problem is this support is inconsistent and

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