From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign

Realizing Human Rights in Illinois
A Project of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights

7/01/2008

Illinois Budget Action Alert

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The campaign holds these core beliefs and principles

Freedom from poverty is a human right.

Education on human rights and access to opportunity is necessary component to removing existing barriers.

All human rights – civil, political, economic, social, and cultural - are indivisible, interrelated, and interdependent.

Inequality and discrimination play a central role in the existence of extreme poverty.

Those living in extreme poverty must be engaged in the development, adoption, and enforcement of policies that grant freedom from poverty.

Poverty eradication will be progressively realized and is subject to the availability of resources.

Poverty eradication requires specific, measurable plans and policies.

Facts about Poverty in Illinois

In Illinois, more than 1 out of every 4 people live at or near poverty. Children are particularly vulnerable. Of all the people living in poverty in Illinois, 1 out of every 3 is a child under the age of 17.

For the millions of people in our state facing poverty, economic prospects are bleak. In the last five years, the median household income has dropped significantly, while cost of living has increased.

More and more hardworking Illinoisans are simply unable to pay for basic necessities and just one unexpected expense away from joining the nearly 700,000 people in the state who live in extreme poverty, about 1 in 4 of whom are children.

To put this in perspective: A family of three living in extreme poverty makes about $17,000 year. This family has less than $692 a month to pay for basic necessities, like housing, childcare, and food. The problem for these families is that $692 is often not enough to cover one basic necessity, let alone all of them. This leaves many thousands of people facing the most brutally de-humanizing effect of poverty: homelessness.

All facts cited are from The Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance. (2007). 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty. Chicago: Illinois Poverty Summit.

From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign

7/01/2008

Illinois Budget Action Alert

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