Who Faces Poverty?

​If poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the nearly 1 in 2 people identified as being "in poverty" by the U.S. Census Bureau could be characterized as poor or low income. While material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in scope and severity.
The average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living standard higher than the public imagines, and whether or not you know it you most likely have family, friends, and neighbors who struggle to make ends meet. Did you know the following facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports?

• 14.5% of individuals and families of four, defined as poor, live on less than $11,982 and $23,836, respectively,

• 97.3 million (33%) people are low-income, defined by families of four living below $47,700

• 1 in 5 (21.8%) children live in poverty

• 4 out of 5 (79%) people in the U.S. live in danger of poverty.

 
At On Common Ground, we deliver service to individuals experiencing poverty through our Mentor Center, which is founded on establishing voluntary associations of emotional kindness as the basis for mentor-mentee relationships in order to create a conducive atmosphere for learning life skills. Our mentees are often referred from local organizations, but every mentee has taken the initiative to reach out to OCG by themselves with an eagerness to lift themselves out of poverty. Mentees in the program typically work with their mentors to find employment, further their education, improve budgeting skills and/or finding secure and stable housing, but every person’s story is different and every person is striving to improve their economic status.