Poverty in Lyon County
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 01:29 p.m., April 15, 2008
Updated 01:29 p.m., April 15, 2008
Last week's release of the annual Kids Count data held no good news for Lyon County. The number of poor children — children whose families live below 100 percent of the federal poverty level — is high and climbing. The federal poverty level is $17,600 a year or less for a family of three.
Statewide, according to Kansas Action for Children, which publishes the data, just over 15 percent of children are being raised in poverty. In Lyon County, last year, 20.10 percent of children were in poverty. The year before, the county figure was 17.10 percent.
What does it mean for a community when one out of every five of its children is living in poverty? Nothing good.
It is a strong signal that the community cannot provide a living wage for too many of its residents. It means that the community at large must bear a greater burden in education, social and health services to try to balance the economic inequity for children and their families.
What is the percentage of poor children going to be next year?
With the loss of jobs at Tyson, there is a possibility that the poverty rate in the county could go down, as people leave to find work elsewhere. But it is just as possible that the rate will rise alarmingly as the general loss of business in the community pushes more people out of work. Some people cannot afford to move to find work.
Clearly, Emporia and Lyon County are facing a double-barreled problem. Just as the community is organizing to deal with the aftereffects of the Tyson layoffs, it discovers an older, more persistent problem that is getting out of hand.
It is important to remember that the problem is not poor people, but poverty. The solution for Lyon County is not to hope that all the poor people move away, but to act to eliminate poverty for those who live here.
The community’s plans — for industrial and retail development — should take the poor into account. The plans should aim to create living-wage jobs at all levels of the economy.
Decent jobs and education are the only things that can make a real difference in a community’s poverty level.
When it comes to children in poverty, 1 percent is too many; 20 percent is sad beyond expressing.
gazette_reader (anonymous) says...
"The community’s plans — for industrial and retail development — should take the poor into account. The plans should aim to create living-wage jobs at all levels of the economy."
This is the most important paragraph in this piece. I applaud the city's efforts to bring in more retail and more jobs, but they're worthless if they mostly offer a pay scale targeting your average high school student instead of your average independent adult.
April 15, 2008 at 6:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Bjnemp (anonymous) says...
This article could have been written 20 years ago! I moved to Emporia in 1995 and it took only a week or two to realize what the Gazette just figured out. Do we actually think white collar, upscale, good paying companies are going to locate to a dirty city with a beef plant in the center of town that emits odors so caustic and offensive as to burn nasal passages and eyes? And what group of successful business people would want to move to a sanctuary city where illegal immigrants are not only protected and catered to, but recruited? Let's get real. If you want people to come visit your home, make sure it is spotlessly clean, the welcome mat is out, and you have cookies baking in the oven. It might also help to have local businesses remember who their core customer base is and do business in English only. Having citizens display flags of red, white, and blue instead of Red, green, and white would help, too.
April 15, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
The article written earlier states Lyon County's higher than state average of mothers who have no high school diploma. The article did not offer an average age, but I can't help but view this statistic along with poverty rates as having something to do with the dropout rate at area schools. Somewhere there is a correlation. Poverty is a great cause of indifference in so many areas, education being only one.
April 16, 2008 at 5:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )