Poverty in Schenectady County

A glimpse into poverty in Schenectady County:

· 31.27 percent of children in the City of Schenectady are living in poverty;

· 40.2 percent of African-Americans and 44.8 percent of Latinos in the city of Schenectady are living in poverty;

· A fulltime worker in the Capital District would have to earn $14.46 per hour, well above minimum wage, to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent; and

· More than 40 percent of Schenectady households are paying more than 35 percent of their income on rent, which is defined as unaffordable by the federal government.

Catholic Charities encourages parishioners to call on local leaders and state and federal legislators to address the needs of struggling constituents.

This blog is participating in Blog Action Day (today), 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. We have been 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.