[South Dakota] Poverty with us in Lawrence County: County poverty rates exceed state and national levels

from The Black hills Pioneer

SPEARFISH - One in five children in Lawrence County lives below federally determined poverty levels. That number represents more than 1,000 children under the age of 17 living in poverty and a nearly 20 percent poverty rate for our kids.

Do most of us acknowledge or even see this issue of poverty in our communities?
"I don't think many people see it because we keep ourselves away from places we may be exposed to it - such as the Salvation Army and the food pantry," said Our Savior's Lutheran Church pastor the Rev. Kent Stillson of Spearfish.

But the poor are not hiding and they do represent a significant proportion of our population.

The numbers of poor children in our county are higher than the state and national averages, as calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau. Statewide, 14.8 percent of children 17 and under live in poverty while nationally 17.8 percent of kids live below the poverty line.

Stillson believes that area educators do see the problems. "The hospital sees it (poverty) with patients who have no insurance, our school teachers see it with students who are poorly dressed and poorly fed, our 'service industry' businesses see it in their employees who get paid minimum wage and try to provide a life for them and their children. I would guess many of us don't see the poverty because we don't want to - people out shopping or at Wal-Mart or walking in the park may not look poor. But they are. Living one paycheck to the next and if something happens - an illness, a car break down, etc, these 'working poor' are in trouble," he added.
Those higher than average poverty statistics have real human ramifications.

Lead-Deadwood Elementary School counselor Greg Calabro sees 40 kids on a regular basis as a direct result of parents living in poverty. Some are seen because of misbehavior while others have signs of depression are becoming withdrawn.

At Spearfish High School, the results of living in poverty may be manifested by students who feel extreme peer pressure associated with the things well-to-do teenagers often acquire, such as trendy clothing or gadgets, said Spearfish High School counselor Marcia Price.

"In some instances we hear from students who are being made fun of because they are poor, because they have body odor or because of the car they drive," Price said of just some of the problems these kids face. "There is a common feeling of hopelessness with these kids. I hear comments like 'What is the point and how can I ever get out of this?'"

No matter how some of us may view adult poverty either as a matter of personal choice or some sort of moral flaw, it would be hard to argue that more than 1,000 children in our communities have chosen poverty and its related problems as a way of life.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in Lawrence County 528 families made up of an estimated 3,073 individuals live in poverty. That's 9.5 percent of our families and 14.8 percent of our people living with sub-poverty level incomes, as determined by the federal government.

"Every day it's like getting hit over the head with a sledge hammer. Just when you think you'll feel better, you just get pounded back down with the hammer again," said Rayetta Johnson of Spearfish as she described the day-to-day stress of living without enough money.

Overall, the state poverty rate is 13.2 percent (more than a full percentage point less than in Lawrence County), and that includes the counties on reservation lands where many often think the deepest and most intractable poverty is reflected.

Nationally, 12.7 percent of Americans live below the poverty level, and that represents more than 36 million Americans.

Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau also reported that only seven states - Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia - showed increases in their poverty rates based on two-year moving averages (as estimated during 2001-2002 and 2002-2003), while two states - Mississippi and North Dakota - showed decreases.

Yet even some of the folks helping out in the community see the problem more clearly in other communities, like Newell or Belle Fourche, where they believe lower income people must move to find affordable housing options.

Many pastors identified affordable housing, especially in Spearfish, as a problem faced by the poor in Lawrence County. Stillson considers the high cost of housing the most pressing problem he sees related to poverty. "People can't afford to live here so they move to surrounding communities which in turn affects those places," he explained.

The poor move their problems with them to other communities. But the reality is that plenty of poor do live in Lawrence County. With a countywide poverty rate more than one percentage point higher than the state average and more than two points higher than the national average, clearly the problem is not just someone else's with which to deal.

While Newell, St. Onge and Belle Fourche are often mentioned as more affordable communities in terms of housing, as land values rise throughout the county, some of those old ideas about cheaper places to live are dissolving as well.

Rev. Bunker Hill of the Spearfish Ministerial Association concurred. "There's nowhere in Spearfish for poor people to live," he said. He mentioned that they (the ministerial association) can provide temporary funds for housing but are unable to present a long-term solution.

But Shawn Rost, president of First Western Bank in Deadwood and board member for Neighborhood Housing Services of the Black Hills, acknowledges that housing options for low-income people can be limited.

"We have had some people with incomes of a $1,000 a month buy houses," Rost said. "They might have been $60,000 houses but these people were able to buy them and they were able to afford them. The problem is those houses are not available anymore. They have all been sold."

Especially in terms of home ownership -- one of the benchmarks of being lifted out of poverty -- few poor people are able to buy a home either because they make too little or because the housing costs too much or both.

Rost added that there are a lot of people in all of our communities making $8, $9 and $10 an hour on their jobs and there is not housing out there they can afford to buy.

With a robust and growing business climate and many out-of-state folks moving here to take advantage of land and construction costs when compared to high inflation, unemployment is not really the central issue. More that 65 percent of Lawrence County's residents over 16 are employed. But the income from those jobs does not always stretch to cover the basics.

Statistically, Whitewood has the highest poverty rate for families in the county followed by Lead then Spearfish and finally Deadwood. But individual poverty levels are highest in Spearfish at 17.4 percent.

Stillson added his own thoughts about the poor in the county. "Many of us have retired to the northern Black Hills, brought our wealth with us, and don't want to get involved. We did that years ago when we were young. My theme as I talk with people is to move from 'success to significance.' With their success in life, now in retirement it is time to be significant in the life of the community and in the schools and churches and local organizations. Jesus called people who simply stay in the 'success mode' of their lives and don't become 'significant' fools. Literally that's the word -- fool (Luke 12:13-31)."