C.E.F.S. Economic Opportunity Corporation has provided the attached poverty information for the seven (7) county service delivery area of Christian, Clay, Effingham, Fayette, Montgomery, Moultrie and Shelby.
The individual and cumulative county information during this economic recession reflected that poverty and economic hardship have negatively impacted our neighbors and all Illinoisans. More than 1.5 million Illinoisans 12.2 percent of the state's population lived in poverty. An additional 16 percent - more than 2 million people, were on shaky financial ground with incomes between the poverty line and twice the poverty line.
For the C.E.F.S. seven (7) county service area nearly 21,033 people live in poverty, or 12.9 percent, with the poverty rate at 18.3% for people under the age of eighteen. As a nation and as a state we will need to develop meaningful policy changes to address the needs of those lives and hardships reflected in the attached report.
The poverty information assembled for reference was obtained from the 2010 Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty.
If you would like to reference the full statewide document, please go to the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty website at:
www.heartlandalliance.org/research/