The Mid-America Institute on Poverty is releasing a report today. Click on the map for a larger image.

Some excerpts from the report:

· 342,716 more Illinoisans are in poverty than in 1999

· Illinois’ current poverty rate of 12.4% is significantly higher than it was in 1999 when it was at 10%.

· 31 Illinois counties had an increase in the rate of poverty from 2002 to 2003.

· Illinois ranks worst in the Midwest on 15 key poverty indicators including overall poverty rate, child poverty rate, mass layoffs, housing affordability, and education spending.

· From 2001 to 2004, state human services funding decreased by $387 million as poverty increased. Small cuts are being made across the board resulting in the whittling away of human services. The impact is being felt by some of Illinois’ poorest families.

· The bankruptcy rate in Illinois doubled in the last 10 years, and nearly 50% of bankruptcies are the result of health expenses. The uninsured rate in Illinois is still 15%

I’ll have more from this report in the coming days.

       

18 Comments - Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 7:04 am: We can thank the supreme entity that we have such a dutiful ‘leader’ creating hundreds of thousands great new jobs. Hello? HELLo. - DOWNSTATE - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 7:36 am: Now Rich you would feel much better if you listened to the governor and his crew when they tell us how forunate we are to live in this land of riches they have created. - Beowulf - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:02 am: I wonder if Rod will be using this article in his campaigning? - Paul Powell - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:09 am: And we wonder why RGod will not debate double E! If he is held to the standard of running on his record I can understand why he won’t debate. I did not see this chart at any of the guv’s press conferences touting the spending bill. - Cassandra - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:26 am: No doubt the Dems will use these data to make another run on middle class pocketbooks while continuing to expand pork to favored political groups, maintain and expand the hugely bloated and underworked state bureacracy, and give lots of money to illegals through free university tuition, affordable housing initiatives and Allkids. Teachers will continue to be paid large salaries regardless of whether they even come to work and completely regardless of whether their students learn anything. Not to mention the huge corruption tax that each of us pays in Illinois every single day of the year. Of course, there are solutions that don’t involve higher taxes but Blago, never a leader, just a Chicago hack with a powerful relative, is completely incapable of being anything but the Santa Claus governor until the money runs out. - Bill - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:33 am: Jeez, Now you don’t like Santa Claus. What happened to compassionate conservatism. - Ron - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:49 am: a real issue with poverty statistics is theat income is the criterea for being classified as under the poverty level. someone on poverty can own there home and have other assets and still be classified as poor. the definition has not been changed for decades and does not give a clear picture of real poverty. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:58 am: Ron, this is from the report: ===many households in Illinois have zero or negative net worth, meaning that they owe more than they own. 12.4% of Illinoisans experience income poverty while 20.7% experience asset poverty.=== Asset poverty is defined as “being without sufficient net worth to subsist at the poverty level for three months — so that a crisis (such as job loss, illness, divorce) can push a household into poverty or homelessness.” - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 8:59 am: Also, according to the study, Illinois ranks worst in the Midwest in homeownership rate. - jimbo - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 9:34 am: Are there really three men standing in rich and richer Dupage County? - Logical - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 9:42 am: Ah but wait! Keno could come back and save the schools and lead these people out of poverty. Just give the Gov press people time to spin the report and try to gain support for Keno. - DOWNSTATE - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 9:59 am: Rich that is why the governor wants to make sure that every illegal immigrant gets a totally free home loan without having a down payment.See these guys already have a plan.Plus if re-elected Blago will sign the biggest tax increase in this state’s history to pay for all of this. - Jon Musgrave - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 12:11 pm: One thing to keep in mind as I look at the downstate counties, Jackson and Champaign have high numbers of poor people. They’re also home to SIU and U of I. Those would mostly be students who are voluntarily poor, meaning they have decided to forego income in the short term for the hope of higher income in the long-term by securing a college degree. What’s missing from the chart is a comparison to areas of high poverty rate and population growth (or usually decline). Alexander and Pulaski Counties at the south end of the state have the highest poverty rates according to the census bureau. They’re also facing steep population declines. The economy of Cairo (Alexander Co.) has almost entirely collapsed. What was once a city of more than 20,000 is now sitting below 3,000 people and falling. The last time I drove through they were down to just one gas station in town. The state is doing nothing to bring about a short-term turn-around. The governor has done one of his focused attempts at human services but as far as the economy is concerned, that’s just dealing with symptoms of the underlying problem. SIU and Shawnee Community College are working with the city’s schools and high school graduates to provide a better education, that again, in terms of the local economy that’s at best a long-term solution. Actually in the short-term it in part adds to the problem because it helps students realize there’s a better life out there so they leave town at the first chance they can get. I mention Cairo along with Carbondale, home of SIU, just to point out that there are vastly different causes to poverty (and we haven’t even mentioned the breakdown of the nuclear family as a major cause). One size doesn’t fit all. What we haven’t heard from any of the candidates for governor in either party is how they will fine-tune the state’s anti-poverty efforts to bring about near-term solutions. Obviously jobs are the solution, but what I want to hear is how they’ll get jobs to Cairo and other places that need some new investment, revenue and hope. - Ron - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 12:30 pm: rich- according to the lastest census bureau information(2004) poverty rate for illinois, as defined by the census bureau is 11.9%. also, the census bureau definition of poverty is “set of money income threshholds that vary by family size and composition to detect who is poor.” definition of poverty does not include other assets owned by the family, including a home or other assests. there has been a big debate on changing the definition of poverty to include assest owned, which would most likely reduce the poverty rate. - The Fatman Cometh - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 3:33 pm: Oh, you can just hear it, “If only they’d lower taxes, the poor people would be so much richer.” Bull. It’s time for Illinois to seriously restructure the income tax, including eliminating the flat tax and moving to a graduated tax that **GASP** puts a greater burden on the wealthy, provides a fair tax to middle class, and lowers or eliminates taxes on the poorest of citizens. Yes, then that money should go to provide **GASP** more social programming and education funding. Folks, it’s time to get real. Illinois has cut government well beyond fat. We’re cutting bone. It may be a conservatives dream to see that Illinois government is so small it’s having trouble meeting the needs of it’s citzens, but it’s time to recognize folks need help, and the only way to get it is to increase revenues. - Tony Soprano - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 3:38 pm: Blago is running this state right into the ground!! - Doug Dobmeyer - Thursday, Feb 2, 06 @ 5:14 pm: This report confirms what I and others have been saying for the past 30 years in Illinois. Others such as Jim Edgar, Jim Thompson are discredited as derelict leaders by ignoring the needs of low-income people in this state. GRod is making some positive changes by expanding health care, but as a Democrat he is inadequate. Too many legislators and lobbyists in Springfield do no understand one thing about poverty. Some if they did wouldn’t care anyway. Others would. People and groups that advocate for low-income people generally do not understand politics and thus fail to meet the minimum understanding of how you make changes. This report while detailing Illinois’ outrageous failures may have little long term impact. - Anonymous - Sunday, Feb 5, 06 @ 8:00 am: In addition to the counties of Jackson and Champaign, many of the “poor” in McDonough, Coles, McLean, and Dekalb are also college students. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.