By Ruth Liljenquist, Managing Editor, Charities USA magazine

In September, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States. The report shows that 46.2 million Americans are now living at or below the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is set at $22,350 or less in annual income. The recession and the still weak U.S. economy have driven the poverty rate up from 12.7 percent in 2007 to 15.1 percent in 2010. That’s an increase of 8.9 million people in poverty over the last four years.

Many of these people have sought assistance from Catholic Charities agencies across the country, which together served nearly a fourth of all Americans in poverty in 2010. Many are people who have never asked for assistance before but because of job losses, foreclosures, and other factors find themselves unable to make ends meet. This reality is reflected in the census numbers on poverty.

“The U.S. Census Bureau’s report on poverty in America is reflective of the devastating reality in which Catholic Charities USA operates every day,” Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, commented. “With 170 agencies throughout the country, our network of service providers served over 10 million people in 2010, an increase of 12.1 percent over 2009. The fact that the U.S. Census Bureau found that the national poverty rate has climbed to 15.1 percent comes as no surprise to us.”

The high unemployment rate in the United States is driving up the number of people in poverty; the poverty rate is higher now than it has been in 52 years. And until unemployment comes down, which looks afar off at this point, the poverty numbers will remain high.

But even before the recent spike in the poverty rate, millions of Americans were living in poverty, a reality that Catholic Charities USA has been working to address. In 2007, CCUSA launched the Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America, with the goal of cutting poverty in half by 2020. Since then, CCUSA has created awareness about poverty and gathered input from Catholic Charities agencies, other nonprofit organizations serving the poor, national advocacy organizations, government agencies, foundations, and businesses to discover the most effective strategies for reducing poverty. In this process, CCUSA has developed a broad approach to poverty reduction that entails reforming our nation’s safety net service delivery system to help people in poverty move toward sustainable independence, which over time can strengthen our economy and our nation. With the spike in the national poverty rate, the urgency to enact reforms is even greater.

“[The Census Bureau] report is further evidence that the United States of America needs comprehensive reform of the nation’s service delivery system. This reform should be focused on innovative solutions to the individual needs of the now 46.2 millions of Americans living in poverty,” said Fr. Snyder. “To truly respond to these staggering numbers we need a system that is market driven, results oriented, and locally controlled, enabling the country to permanently make a difference in the lives of those living in poverty, and establishing accountability for the investment of taxpayer dollars.”

This poverty reduction approach is being advanced through the National Opportunity and Community Renewal Act, a bill developed by CCUSA and recently re-introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA). The act would authorize a nationwide five-year pilot project to test the best community strategies to reduce poverty.

“The principles represented in this legislation will be vital to any successful reform of our nation’s service delivery system,” said CCUSA’s Candy S. Hill, senior vice president for social policy and government affairs. “For far too long our nation has remained complacent as regards to the safety net, and as a result, tens of millions of Americans continue to suffer in poverty.”

Central components of NOCRA include implementing individual opportunity plans for those living in poverty, enabling a locally controlled approach to service delivery, incentivizing innovating funding streams, and utilizing waivers to ensure limited resources are focused on precise areas of need.

Catholic Charities USA has also brought together a coalition of national partners to raise up the issue of poverty before our nation’s public and lawmakers. In September, Catholic Charities USA hosted the first annual National Poverty Summit in Fort Worth, TX, which brought together ten national organizations—CCUSA, American Human Development Project, Save the Children, Bread for the World, Corporation for Enterprise Development, Coalition on Human Needs, Feeding America, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul—in a forum to bring attention to the plight of Americans in poverty and to discuss strategies and develop a common advocacy strategy.

Catholic Charities USA is hopeful that the U.S. Census Bureau’s report as well as the National Opportunity and Community Renewal Act and the National Poverty Summit will draw the attention of American policymakers to the moral obligation we have as a country to address this growing crisis.

“What we must remember as we look at these statistics is that every number represents a face,” said Fr. Snyder. “With one out of every six Americans now living in poverty, we must recognize that it may be your neighbor, the person shopping beside you at the grocery store, or your child’s friend from school.”

Tags: Catholic Charities USA, census, economy, National Opportunity and Community Renewal Act, National Poverty Summit, poverty, unemployment

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