A Statement of Need - Chris Shaeffer

There is an ever growing number of people in our society who have lost their way. Some families have gone without jobs or education for generations. Poverty has been bequeathed by the old to the young, who have lived their entire lives surrounded by the effects of poverty. As the number of "old" poor continues to grow, a new population is being added, the "new" poor.

The "new" poor are not necessarily unemployed. Their problem may be that their wages have failed to increase proportionally with other segments of the community, so they have slipped into poverty. While in the early '80s a worker earning minimum wage could expect to support a family at slightly above the poverty level, by the '90s that same worker at minimum wage was earning at 25% below the poverty level. Such a family would no longer be earning enough to afford basic housing, food, and clothing. Such families are now living in poverty, often without any permanent shelter; they are "homeless".Among the "old" poor, the youth are being pushed out into the streets as the construction of new housing falls to keep pace with the demand. Old housing projects are becoming more dilapidated, and units are being boarded up as the number of those needing housing continues to grow.