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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Columbia Daily Tribune Series on Poverty

The Price of Poverty: An occasional series on poverty in Boone County, Series homepage, Columbia Daily Tribune:

  • Lunch program gives some a hand up, By Catherine Martin, April 23, 2012, Columbia Daily Tribune: “When Dewanna Miller got sick after having surgery in 2009, things got rough for her and her three children. She was in the hospital for three months and was unable to work until January of this year, when she returned to work at Macy’s. There were a lot of challenges and frustration, she said, and without support from her family and the public school system, Miller said she doesn’t know whether she could have pulled through…”
  • Spending grows, shifts in fight on poverty, with mixed results, By Jodie Jackson Jr., Columbia Daily Tribune: “As spending increases for programs aimed at battling poverty in Boone County, reaching an estimated $300 million in 2010, the number of residents in poverty also continues to climb. The struggle to stem that tide has social service leaders looking to tackle the problem at its roots, with a focus on kids and education. ‘We have thrown billions of dollars to poverty, and we’re in worse shape than ever,’ said Peggy Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. ‘Our Band-Aid has gotten about as big as it can get.’ Boone County’s population grew by 20 percent from 2000 to 2010, while the number of children age 18 and under in poverty increased by 49 percent during that time. The county’s overall poverty rate is 18.4 percent. The current local push-back against poverty is largely a response to the cost of providing services, a total that reached an estimated $300 million in 2010 for Boone County, including social service and government programs…”