Poverty takes toll in Alachua County
Area aid agencies and charities are being stretched even more by a new group of working poor.
By Anthony Clark
Business editor
Published: Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 2:26 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 8:58 p.m.
Alachua County's economy hasn't hurt as much as most of Florida's, but it still has taken an increasing toll on families living at the edge, with more falling into poverty or needing help with food, rent, mortgages and electric bills.
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Social service providers say a new group of working poor who have lost jobs or had their hours cut find themselves in need, putting an additional strain on area aid agencies and charities.
The percentage of people in Alachua County below the poverty level increased in 2009 to 24.2 percent from 20.6 percent in 2008, according to the most recent numbers available from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The numbers are skewed by the large population of college students with little income who accounted for 45 percent of Alachua's impoverished in 2009. Removing college undergraduates from the poverty numbers leaves Alachua County's poverty rate at 13.3 percent.
Florida's poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent to 14.9 percent in 2009, while the U.S. rate rose from 13.2 percent to 14.3 percent.
The 2009 poverty level was $10,956 for an individual and $21,954 for a family of four. It originally was set at three times a family's basic food costs and is revised annually to reflect the cost of living.
The census estimates can have significant margins of error at the county level because of smaller survey samples, said Rebecca Rust, chief economist of the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
That might explain why Alachua's poverty rate for all people increased significantly — with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points — while the child poverty rate decreased from 18.8 percent in 2008 to 17.1 percent last year, with a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.
Still, other more recent statistics bear out an increasing level of need in the community.
The number of food stamp clients in September increased 20 percent from the prior year to 32,962, while the number of Medicaid clients increased 8 percent to 26,872, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Becky O'Brien of DCF's Gainesville office said her agency sees a lot of people who lost work in construction, seasonal work such as landscaping, wait staff at restaurants or other hourly workers.
"A lot of those folks are right at the margins of meeting their bills anyway if they're in a minimum wage job, so any decrease is going to impact their ability to meet their families' needs," she said.
The increased economic stress has repercussions throughout the social safety-net system, with more reports of child and domestic abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and requests to agencies and charities that provide services and help with expenses.
Karen Slevin, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities Inc. of Gainesville, said the charity has always served what she calls its traditional clients: people who grew up in poverty and now their children are in poverty. But about two years ago, the charity started seeing a new group of working poor — some who considered themselves middle class — seeking help for rent, utilities and food.
"In a lot of cases, they used to be donors or volunteers," she said. "Now they find themselves where they need the help."
At the same time, overall donations are down a little, Slevin said. They have been able to meet food demands, but have a limited budget for rent, utilities or prescriptions, she said.
"We have 200, 250 calls a week for mortgage assistance and can maybe accommodate 20 people a month," she said.
The new needy present new challenges, as many don't know where to go for services, she said.
They also tend to wait too long to ask for help.
"It's really hard for people who have not needed help to ask for help," she said. "If you're somebody who finds yourself needing help, ask early. That's what we're here for. Sometimes people wait too long, and then there's no way you can help them. If they missed a month's mortgage payment you can help them, but in three months you just can't."
Children in poverty also present challenges for the school system.
Diana Lagotic, director of elementary curriculum for Alachua County schools, said many have not had preschool and are not as prepared to start school. They sense their parents' stress and don't get enough sleep because their parents work two jobs or work late. They often have health and nutrition needs that aren't being met. Many change schools two or three times in a year as their parents have to move.
Schools have programs to help with food and health needs and train principals and teachers to address other needs.
"We can provide a safe learning environment, be appropriate role models, teach them positive self talk, teach them how to plan and set up goals for themselves, teach them how to get access to information that will help them, promote successful behavior and appropriate choices."
The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch has risen each of the past four years and is on pace to top last year's 50.4 percent, according to schools spokeswoman Jackie Johnson. Even more are eligible, but they can't always track down parents with applications, and older students are more reluctant to apply, she said.
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