Poverty is up in Illinois & How we bring it down.

It is official. The number of people living in poverty in Illinois has grown. 12.2% of the population are now officially in poverty, translating to 1,532,238 million people.

Given the lag in official poverty statistics, this increase comes as no surprise. The recession has pushed more and more people below the poverty line. (Keep in mind, the current measure is in desperate need of updating.)

When we look at a sample of the different villages, cities, and counties throughout our state, we see a wide range of poverty rates:

Peoria - 21.4%
Arlington Heights - 3.4%
Rockford - 23.3%
Decatur - 16.3%
Vermilion County - 12.3%
Schaumburg - 6.1%
Elgin - 14.8%
Sagamon County - 11.3%

These numbers demonstrate one consistent fact - poverty is everywhere. Higher concentrations in some areas than others for sure, but no place is immune to poverty. No place is free of hardship.

So, what does this mean? A couple of things.

1) Now, more than ever, we need to focus on poverty.

When this Campaign was launched back on Human Rights Day in 2006, our world looked different. Rod Blagojevich was governor. George W. Bush was president. The economy was roaring. Unemployment was incredibly low. Poverty rates were holding steady, with some jumps and some declines.

Now, in 2009, we have a different Governor and a different President. Our economy has screeched to a halt. The state's budget woes are the worst they have been in years. Unemployment is the highest it has been in decades. And poverty is up.

As a result, our work to directly address poverty is all the more important. More people are facing lives without opportunity. Long-term solutions, that strengthen the infratructure for protecting families and human rights, are critical. People that were experiencing poverty before the recession hit are that much further from self-sufficiency, and the compliment of human services they turn to in tough times has been undermined.

There has been a curious shift during the recession. Before the recession, we commonly heard that those experiencing poverty had no one to blame but themselves. Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, too many people felt poverty was simply the result of an individual making bad choices.

There has been a shift - some of it good, some of it bad. Many are now ready to acknowledge that larger forces and systems push families into poverty. This realization has opened the door to new thinking about what as a society can do. On the flip side, there are those that say we cannot focus on poverty now. We need to focus on recovery. Well, the people that were living in poverty before the recession hit were waiting for recovery back then. If we are going to get our economy back in shape, we cannot set one group of people to the side and say we will worry about them later. It is all hands on deck. Everyone that is given true opportunity to move towards self-sufficiency helps themselves and society as a whole.

2) There are concrete things we can and are doing about poverty.

We can make a real difference in our communities and our state. Simple acts and innovative programs can go a long way to ensuring individuals and families have real opportunity. The pieces of the stimulus funding that has focused on supports has had a real impact, and we can and should continue those policies beyond the recovery act.

Here in Illinois, the most important thing we can do is fix our structural deficit. As we documented many, many, many times over the past few months, inadequate revenue has caused the programs and services that help the most vulnerable in Illinois to be threatened.

It is not an easy thing to do, but it is the right thing. There are other policies that need to be put in place, other changes that should be done, but until we fix our state's budget, we are tinkering around the edges.

3) We cannot be discouraged.

When you are working towards the goal of ending poverty, and you see the number of people in poverty increasing instead of decreasing, you may want to throw your hands up in the air and give up. That is, on some level, a rational response.

But here's the thing - we just can't.

Too many people are counting on us to keep trying. Too much good work has been done to date to stop now. Think about how much larger the number of people in poverty would be today were it not for the hard work and perseverance of dedicated people who refused to give up in the face of adversity.

No one said it would be easy. We cannot stop simply because some numbers are reminding us of this point.

We will make progress. We will work together to give families real opportunity. We will end poverty.