Poverty in Columbia County

A glimpse into poverty in Columbia County:

· A quarter of residents in the City of Hudson are living in poverty.

· Catholic Charities of Columbia-Greene Counties served 1,215 individuals in need of food assistance in 2006.

· 13.3 percent of non-elderly residents of Columbia County lack health insurance.

· More than 1,000 seasonal workers are estimated to arrive in Columbia County between May and July each year. The average total annual income of farmworkers in the Hudson Valley, which included Columbia County, is $8,078.

Catholic Charities encourages parishioners to call on legislators to address the needs of struggling constituents.

This blog is participating in Blog Action Day, an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion: this year the issue is poverty. Between now and October 15, we will be posting about poverty in our diocese, with material provided by Catholic Charities in its report "Poverty in the Diocese of Albany: A Threat to the Common Good." The report, and additional information, is available here.