Women, People of Color, Hit Harder by Poverty

By Bob Smith

Rochester, NY – A new study shows that poverty across New York is growing, and it disproportionately affects children, women and people of color.

The New York State Community Action Association is a consortium of non-government, non-profit service agencies fighting poverty across the state, including Rochester's Action for a Better Community. The organization's executive director, Denise Harlow, says poverty touches more than 2.6 million people statewide, including over 120,000 in the six county Rochester region.

Speaking on WXXI's 1370 Connection, Harlow says a typical family in poverty consists of a single mother with two young children.

"Of all the families who are living below the poverty line 61.4 percent of them are headed by single women with children. So we know that, for children especially, living in a home headed by a single mother, their likelihood of living in poverty is greater. You look certainly at a single income, you look at a potential of employment opportunities ... you have fewer options, if you're a young mom with a couple of children and no other breadwinner in the household."

Harlow also says race and ethnicity have a disproportionate effect on poverty.

In the Rochester area, poverty is three times more likely to affect African-American or Latino families than white families.

Education is also a key determinant of poverty. Of people with only a high school diploma, 11 percent are poor, but just 4 percent of those with at least a bachelors' degree live under the poverty line.