Poverty plagues rural Ohio, too: Athens leads region with 27 percent below poverty line

from The Marietta Times

By Connie Cartmell, ccartmell@mariettatimes.com

Poverty knows no geographical limits.

A recent U.S. Census Bureau report shows Cincinnati and Cleveland ranked third and fourth, respectively, among the nation’s 10 poorest big cities, as determined by the number of people living below the federal poverty level.

People expect poverty to plague such cities, but across the rolling hills, picturesque villages and lush farmland of rural southern Ohio, poverty is also real.

“Of course there is poverty out there — homelessness and all the current issues of poverty,” said Jim Baker, director of planning and development with Washington/Morgan Community Action.

Poverty in the cities simply gets more media attention.

“There’s just a lot of poor people out there,” Baker said of rural Appalachia. “We don’t have quite the racial tensions and other factors of the city, and there is a stronger element of families and ‘inside protection’ here.”

Of the 29 counties of Appalachian Ohio, 12 counties now bear the dubious distinction of 15 percent of their population living below the poverty level.

Washington County is not one of them, but at 11.4 percent, the statistics are not far off.

Jessie Thompson, 42, of Marietta knows all about numbers, poverty and struggle.

“It’s not easy for anybody right now,” she said. “I’m struggling to get by. The problem is everything is going up except paychecks.”

At one time Thompson, a single mother, received public assistance to help provide for herself and her son. She is no stranger to living below the poverty line.

“Sometimes you have to do without to pay bills, and it doesn’t leave much,” she said.

Today Thompson is buying a house, has a car and works as a homemaker aid.

“I’ve always been pretty much on my own,” she said. “Budgeting is always hard. Everything’s going good and something unexpected happens. I got help when I needed it. Sometimes you have to work jobs you don’t want to do.”

Elsewhere in the region, 19.8 percent of Morgan County residents live below the poverty line, along with 18.4 percent in Meigs County and 13.9 percent in Monroe County.

Athens County, on Washington County’s western boundary, has the highest percentage, at 27 percent.

When he was touring rural Morgan County earlier this summer, Fred Deel, director of the Governor’s Office on Appalachia, saw compelling evidence of critical needs of rural Ohio residents.

“There are a lot of people living in Morgan County who are still hauling water to their homes,” Deel said. “Improvements to local infrastructure, such as community water systems, is an important part of what we do.

“It’s a real desperate situation in many areas,” he said.

The average number of Ohio residents below the poverty level is actually 10.6 percent. The goal is to bring local numbers more in line with, and lower than, the state averages, Deel said.

“I’m not saying that the rest of the state doesn’t have needs,” he said. “But this Appalachian area is isolated in many ways and has special needs.”

Dave Riggs is coordinator of Newport Community Food Pantry, which serves 90 to 100 local families every month.

“We’ve had as many as 15 people in a single family,” he said. “We’re open one day a month, but we get calls for help all the time.”

People losing jobs is one major reason for the growing need, he said.

When a new food pantry opened last year in New Matamoras, taking about 100 families from the Marietta Community Food Pantry, Scott Britton, director, thought demand might ease locally.

It didn’t.

“We sent 100 families to New Matamoras and today we are exactly where we were last year, before they left us,” he said.

The local pantry serves about 3,600 households or just less than 10,000 people a year, he said. The numbers are growing.

“I’m thankful the need isn’t growing faster, but it is growing,” Britton said. “In addition, the amount of food we receive through Second Harvest has diminished quite a bit.”

David Brightbill, executive director of Washington/Morgan Community Action, said the trend of jobs moving from manufacturing to service is hurting local people more and more.

“We are seeing more jobs, but less money,” Brightbill said. “The cost of utilities, gasoline (and) insurances are increasing faster than people can keep up. People are losing ground.”

In addition, resources to help families struggling to live in poverty are shrinking, he said. The waiting list for people seeking help from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development are “outrageous,” he said.

“Resources don’t grow at the same rate as need,” he said. “Also, our program costs are going up. Affordable housing is a problem.”

In addition to all the other issues, the number of senior citizens is growing in the region, along with the number of seniors needing public services.

“The senior population is beginning to seek services in greater numbers. In past years, this group has been slower to ask for help,” Brightbill said. “We certainly have seen an increase in the number of seniors coming to us for H.E.A.P. (Home Energy Assistance Program).”

Brightbill said the needs of rural Ohioans are different from city residents, but services are available if people are willing to ask for help.

“One of the problems here is often access to services,” he said. “We don’t have a bus line or services within walking distance to most of the population.”