More Hoosiers feeling the pain of poverty, By Bill Ruthhart, October 5, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Indiana is one of only eight states that last year had a statistically significant increase in its poverty rate — likely yet another troubling effect of devastating layoffs in the auto and RV industries, experts said. The percentage of Hoosiers living in poverty increased to 13.1 percent in 2008, up from 12.3 percent the year before, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. That survey estimates that more than 807,000 Hoosiers were living in poverty in 2008, up from 757,000 in 2007. The numbers are particularly disturbing for black and Hispanic Hoosiers. In 2007, 25.5 percent of blacks and 22.2 percent of Hispanics lived below the poverty line, compared with 10.4 percent of whites. But this year’s survey shows those numbers have climbed to 28.1 percent of blacks and 23.7 percent of Hispanics. The percentage of whites rose more slowly, to 11 percent. Experts who work with the homeless and help distribute food stamps say Indiana’s increased poverty rates reflect what they’ve seen since last year: More Hoosiers are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty