Poverty tightens its grip on N.C.

More than one out of every five people in 18 North Carolina counties lives in poverty, according to a report released this week by the N.C. Justice Center.
None of the high-poverty counties are in Burke County's area, but the report lists other indicators of the intensifying financial pressure on people in Burke and neighboring counties, such as more students enrolled in the Title I free and reduced-price meals program.
The N.C. Justice Center's report analyzes and compiles several sources' data from 2008 when, the Raleigh-based organization said, about one out of seven people in the state survived on incomes at or below the federal poverty level.
Robeson County in the southeastern area had the highest poverty level in North Carolina — 31 percent. Its neighboring county, Scotland, was second at 29 percent, followed by Lenoir County (in central eastern North Carolina) at 26 percent.
About 15.6 percent of Burke County's residents in 2008 lived at or below the poverty level, according to the Justice Center. Other area counties' numbers are: Caldwell, 15.4 percent; Catawba, 14.7 percent; Cleveland, 17.4 percent; McDowell, 15.9 percent; and Rutherford, 16.7 percent.
All of those area counties had relatively high unemployment levels last year — 7.8 percent in Catawba in August 2008 to 8.9 percent in Burke and 9 percent in Cleveland County.
Also, all had low median household income compared to the statewide average, $46,549. Burke County's median household income in 2008 was $35,520 — 76 percent of the statewide average or more than $11,000 less than the median. Among the area counties, only McDowell County's $35,114 was lower.
As the nationwide recession that began in December 2007 also tightened its stranglehold on North Carolina, the state's 2008 household income fell below what it had been eight years ago: $47,241 in 2001.
The N.C. Justice Center tracked food-stamp participation as another measure of financial hardship. In September 2008, nearly 10,000 Burke County residents — the county's total population is about 89,400 — received food stamps. In area counties the numbers of people receiving food stamps were: Caldwell, 11,088; Catawba, 18,099; Cleveland, 15,933; McDowell, 5,167; and Rutherford, 9,184 residents.
Another measure of poverty and financial stress is the federal Title I free and reduced-price meals program. In 2008-09, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, slightly more than 7,000 Burke County Public Schools students – 52 percent of nearly 14,000 youngsters — qualified for free or reduced-price meals.
Analyst Meg Gray Wiehe in the N.C. Justice Center's budget and tax division, who compiled its report, also looked at indicators of how 2009's snapshot of N.C. poverty will appear.
Joblessness is up sharply, to 14.2 percent in Burke County in August 2009, which is more than 5 percent higher than a year earlier. None of the area's counties currently has less than 14 percent unemployment. State economists predict jobless levels will increase — or, at best, remain about as high — well into 2010.
Food-stamp participation also is much higher. In Burke County, the number of people receiving food stamps increased by nearly 3,000 over the past year, to 12,800. More than 4,000 more Catawba County residents receive food stamps — a total of almost 23,000. In McDowell County, the number of food stamp participants rose by nearly one-third since 2008.
N.C. DPI also reports more children receiving free and reduced-price meals. Here in Burke County last month, the number of children qualified for Title I assistance was up to nearly 55 percent of the district's 13,415 students. However, some of that increase since 2008-09 can be attributed to a proactive campaign launched in October by Superintendent Dr. Art Stellar to acquaint more parents with the possibility their children may qualify for Title I free and reduced-price meals.
The North Carolina Justice Center in Raleigh is a non-profit, progressive advocacy and research organization whose mission is, according to its Web site, "to end poverty in North Carolina by ensuring that every household has access to the resources, services and fair treatment it needs to achieve economic security."
On the Web: http://www.ncjustice.org