Study finds one in six children in poverty

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By AP Anne Wallace Allen - Times Argus - December 2, 2003

MONTPELIER, VT - One in six children in the far northeastern
corner of Vermont lives in poverty, according to a new
study.

While the statewide poverty rate for children under 18 was
10 percent in the 1990s, the rate for children in Orleans,
Essex and Caledonia counties was as much as 18 percent,
according to the updated Job Gap Study to be released this
month by the Burlington-based Peace and Justice Center.

"I see it every day," said Jan Rossier, director of state
centers for parents and children in St. Johnsbury and
Newport. "We see a lot of ill-dressed kids, with clothes
that don't fit; we see the need for food, or somebody trying
to feed a baby Mountain Dew because they don't have anything
else."

The Peace and Justice Center has released seven reports
since 1997 on issues surrounding its work on the livable
wage, a campaign to see workers paid an amount that is
necessary to cover basic needs and taxes.

The nonprofit group gets its livable wage estimate from the
Legislature's Joint Fiscal Office.

For a single person, with no children, the center says, the
average livable wage is $9.50 an hour, or $19,760 a year;
for a single parent with two children, it's $21.50 an hour,
or $44,720 a year.

For two parents who work and have two children, it's $14.03
an hour, or $29,182 a year.

The minimum wage in Vermont is $6.25 an hour. It is due to
rise to $6.75 an hour in January and to $7 in 2005.

The Peace and Justice Center report said about 35 percent of
all working Vermont families - with two working adults and
two children - weren't earning enough to meet their basic
needs under the livable wage formula. For single people, the
number was 29 percent.

Studies show children who grow up in poverty are more likely
to suffer health problems, require special education, drop
out of school, and earn less as adults, said Emma
Mulvaney-Stanak, the director of the Peace and Justice
Center's economic justice project, which put out the
report.

"Of course, poverty's not the only reason, but it's a very
influential factor in these children's lives," she said.

The report said that the number of Vermonters classified as
living in poverty declined in the 1990s, but had started to
rise again and was now almost 10 percent.

People who work with low-income families said they have seen
that trend.

"More and more families are falling into poverty," said Eric
Erwin, the early childhood programs coordinator for the
Orleans-Essex North Supervisory Union.

"We had a homeless shelter put up here in Newport, and we
had the highest number of families we've ever seen attend
this summer, looking for help. They fell into poverty
because they couldn't afford to heat their apartments."

The Peace and Justice Center updated and expanded earlier
versions of its Job Gap study for this month's report using
data from the 2000 Census.

It found that statewide, about 31 percent of all families
led by single women were in poverty. In Caledonia County,
that number was 43 percent.

Of all full-time workers with limited educations, women who
worked full time outside the home were much more likely than
men to have low-wage jobs.

"Based on the data, we are not making progress," the report
said. "Median earnings are stagnant or declining; income
inequality is growing; and there are persistently high
levels of poverty.

If the primary purpose of the economy is
to create jobs, wealth and opportunity, it is not working
for many Vermonters."

Many companies and cities have adopted recommendations for a
livable wage, and the Peace and Justice Center report called
for more to do so.

"We believe that our hard-earned tax dollars should be
invested in our communities to promote livable wage job
creation rather than corporate subsidies which threaten the
economy and culture of our state," the group said.

Meanwhile, Rossier has some immediate advice for the young
people she meets through her agency's programs for high
school students.

"What we recommend to these kids is, you need to move
outside of this area if you want to increase your level of
living," she said.

On the Net: http://www.vtlivablewage.org
Barre-Montpelier Times Argus source page: http://tinyurl.com/xhyp
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©THE HOMELESS NEWS - H.C. Covington, Editor http://tinyurl.com/2yg2