For approximately 900,000 Alabamians, poverty is a way of life.
Some have always been poor but others have experienced financial setbacks from a job loss, illness or disability. These are not choices, said Melanie Bridgeforth, executive director of VOICES for Alabama’s Children, a statewide group that works to promote advocacy for children’s issues.
“We need to change the conversation around poverty,” she said. “It’s not necessarily that people are doing something wrong.”
Recent recession
Though poverty has been a consistent problem in the state, the recession hit many families hard, said Kristina Scott, executive director of Alabama Possible, a nonprofit organization that works to reduce systemic poverty.
“Our partners see folks who don’t have a lot of hope that they are ever going to feel economically secure,” Scott said. “Their employment outlook is not changing, they are making less money and they are stuck in a pattern of living day to day without enough to support themselves.”
There is a general belief that regardless of circumstances people who try hard enough can improve their financial situation, said Craig Baab, senior fellow for policy development at Alabama Appleseed, an organization that advocates policy reforms to help low-income and other vulnerable citizens in the state.
“That attitude is prevalent but it is not realistic,” Baab said.
The high number of working poor is evidence of that, said Carol Gundlach, policy analyst for tax and budget issues for Arise Citizens’ Policy Project (ACPP), a nonpartisan coalition that promotes public policy benefiting low-income Alabamians.
“Someone could work full time at minimum wage and still not be able to support their family,” she said.
“It’s a moral justice issue. It seems like we should reward work and people who are willing to work to support their families with at least adequate income so that they’re not in poverty when they’re working full time.”
It is especially important to talk about what poverty does to children, Bridgeforth said. Since poverty often is characterized by unstable resources it creates a stressful environment for children. Children cannot get themselves out of poverty so they need resources in place to help them.
“The fact of growing up in poverty can be a poison to a child’s development. If you want to break the cycle you have to help the children [get] on the right path,” Bridgeforth said. “Investing early in children pays dividends.”
Education is one way out of poverty, which is why Bridgeforth and other advocates for the poor praise the state’s expanded pre-kindergarten education program.
“When we look at what is being done to combat poverty in Alabama, Pre-K is one of the most important accomplishments,” Bridgeforth said. “It’s an example of the governor, Legislature and businesses coming together to do something right.”
Another success was Alabama’s comprehensive landlord-tenant act passed in 2007, Baab said. The legislation “leveled the playing field for tenants and landlords” and improved housing stability for lower income residents whose cost for housing is a much higher percentage of their income than for wealthier Alabamians, he said.
Despite the successes, however, there is still much to be done.
“Poverty is such a broad issue that just about anything you can touch on ultimately either keeps people in poverty or makes it very difficult to get out,” he said.
For example the rapid expansion of businesses that provide payday loans and title lending is still a major concern in the state. Alabama is one of 32 states that permit loans at triple digit interest rates or with no cap at all, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Such businesses offer poor people cash that they are never able to pay off thus keeping them in poverty, Baab said.
Medicaid coverage
Another concern is the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage to more than 300,000 uninsured Alabamians. The result of this policy will be more uninsured people seeking care at emergency rooms and poorer overall health for those who cannot afford adequate health care, Baab said.
“Over the next five years we are leaving $9 billion on the table that should be in our state. Those are our tax dollars not a windfall,” Baab said.
Finally Baab points to Alabama’s failure to exempt groceries from state sales tax, which affects low-income residents more significantly than wealthier ones. Alabamians pay sales tax on groceries just as they do on other household items and the tax rate is high throughout the state. The state has the 6th highest sales tax rate in the nation with an average combined tax rate of 8.51 percent (4 percent state tax and 4.51 percent average local tax rate), according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research think tank based in Washington.
“For the well-off the percentage of income paid for groceries is much smaller than someone who is barely getting by on a poverty-level income of $24,000 for a family of four,” Baab said.
Addressing conditions that keep people in poverty is essential to improving the financial outlook for poor Alabamians, especially the 300,000 children in the state who live in poverty. There is a need for jobs, for education and for diplomas, Bridgeforth said, but there is a need for hope as well.
“Poverty is demography not destiny,” Bridgeforth said. “Growing up in poverty does not mean that one’s path is set.”
“Alabama children can succeed and at the end of the day if our children are successful so is the state of Alabama.”
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Poverty by Age
Alabama
Children 0–18
27 percent
Adults 19–64
15 percent
Adults 65+
10 percent
Total
18 percent
United States
Children 0–18
20 percent
Adults 19–64
13 percent
Adults 65+
10 percent
Total
15 percent
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The poverty line in 2013 was $23,834 for a family of four.
18.7 percent
Percentage of people in the state with income below the official poverty line.
Child Poverty Rate in Alabama
27 percent
Percentage of children under 18 in the state living in related families with income below the official poverty line.
Poverty Rate for Working-Age Women in Alabama
20.2 percent
Percentage of working-age women (ages 18–64) with income below the official poverty line.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS/http://talkpoverty.org/state-year-report/alabama-2014-report)
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