Vermont charities say Census economic estimates ring true
By Matt Sutkoski, Free Press Staff Writer • Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Kendra Payea, 25, of Winooski credits the Community Kitchen program at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf for helping her secure a job after bouncing between temporary positions. Photo Credit: EMILY McMANAMY, Free Press
Crowds visiting food shelves, demands for government assistance and the difficulty some people have finding enough work to get by are all reflecting new U.S. Census estimates that many Vermont families are sliding backward financially.
Some examples from the Census estimates:
• About 11.4 percent of Vermonters were living in poverty last year. The total grew from about 63,000 people below the poverty line in 2008 to roughly 68,000 in 2009. That’s a 7.9 percent rise in one year.
• Vermont’s median household income slipped from about $52,100 in 2008 to about $51,600 in 2009.
• Per-capita income declined from about $27,500 in 2008 to about $27,000 the next year.
The numbers are approximations based on data from vital statistics and government databases. Even if the numbers are potentially a little off, the Census estimates for 2009 provide clues to an eroding financial foundation for Vermont households.
Judy Stermer of the Vermont Food Bank said she is not surprised by the data and thinks things continue to be rocky in 2010. In the 12 months ending in September, the food bank distributed nearly 8 million pounds of food, about 500,000 pounds more than the year before, she said.
In 2006, about 66,000 people sought help from the Vermont Food Bank or its associated food shelves. That number has risen by about 20,000 since then, Stermer said.
“What we’re seeing is, jobs aren’t returning like we thought they would. Unemployment is still high,” Stermer said.
The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf has been trying to counter similar trends in the Champlain Valley in part through jobs training, said Robert Meehan, the agency’s director. People can participate in a 14-week class to train for employment in food preparation. The food the students make is packaged and given to people seeking help from the food shelf, Meehan said.
“What we’ve seen is an over 90 percent success rate in people getting jobs,” Meehan said.
One of those success stories is Kendra Payea of Winooski, who said she graduated from the culinary training program on a Friday in May 2009 and started a food-preparation job the next day.
Payea said she is grateful for the job training and has gained even more experience on the job. However, her employer had to cut back on hours, illustrating how Vermonters still must navigate through an iffy economy.
“It’s been so slow, I’m getting ready to do resumes again,” Payea said. “It’s starting to get hard again.”
Meehan said increasing numbers of people are coming to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf.
“People who normally had a situation living below the poverty level were deciding whether to heat or eat. Now we’re looking at folks having a hard time doing either of those things,” Meehan said.
In Vermont, roughly 180,000 people are receiving some sort of public assistance, such as health care and food stamps, said Steve Dale, commissioner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families. That’s a 33 percent increase over three years, he said.
Much of the increase is due to the bad economy, but some is because the state started using federal money of which it previously had not been taking full advantage, Dale said.
The bulk of the public-assistance recipients are receiving help for health care through programs such as Medicaid and Catamount Health Insurance, Dale said.
Dale said the rate of increase in the demand for public assistance has slowed but not stopped.
“The best the economy is doing is probably bottoming out,” he said.
At the Salvation Army of Burlington, development director Chuck Bongiorno said demand for services rose sharply in 2009 and continues to rise in 2010.
“We’re seeing no slowdown, and everybody’s very concerned about what the cold weather’s going to bring,” he said.
Bongiorno said the number of families seeking help at the Salvation Army has increased from about 30 to 90 per month during the past two years.
One small piece of positive news emerged Monday in the public-assistance front: The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a three-month postponement of a pending reduction in food-stamp benefits for about 16,000 Vermonters, according to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office.
Vermont’s congressional delegation has been opposing the planned reductions.
Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101005/NEWS02/101004012/Vermont-charities-say-Census-economic-estimates-ring-true#ixzz11UaOfCv8
