Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, January 18, 2011,
Item 1
Number 1 is a -- to approve resolution proclaiming January as poverty awareness month in Travis County.
and should we read the resolution?
>> please.
>> whereas, an estimated 163,630, that's 16%, Travis County residents live in poverty -- lived in poverty in 2009, higher than the national poverty rate of 14%.
whereas the child poverty rate in Travis County reached a 10-year high in 2009 with 23%, 56,690 of children under age 18 living in poverty.
whereas most researchers and policy makers agree that families typically need incomes of at least double the federal poverty income guideline levels, which is $10,830 for an individual or $22,050 for a family of four in 2010 to make ends meet.
whereas through the expanded lens over one-third of Travis County residents, that's 35%, or 352,398 people live in households with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty level.
whereas families living in or near poverty often struggle to meet basic needs and have to make hard choices about what to go without.
whereas there continues to be a need for services to support individuals and families in poverty.
whereas the success and well-being of every Travis County resident is tied to the long-term prosperity of the entire community.
now therefore be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court do hereby proclaim the month of January 2011 as poverty awareness month in Travis County and encourage all of our residents to increase their awareness of poverty by engaging in activities and supporting programs designed to reduce the effects of poverty in our community, and I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
andrea with health and human services and veterans services and I’m here with my colleague today who will introduce themselves and I want to thank four recognizing poverty awareness month and ongoing support for your services throughout the county and our investment.
>> beth atherton, co-chair of the basic needs coalition and executive director of caritas.
>> we're here representing the basic needs coalition.
we're a collaboration of the 40 agencies made up of nonprofits, faith based groups, governmental entities, all working to solve issues surrounding poverty.
our vision is to eliminate the effects of poverty and to promote self-sufficiency.
and our mission is to lead the community in creating solutions that secure basic resources, food, housing, utilities, of our neighbors in need.
and we are looking at systematic change.
we are looking at what we can do as agencies individually and collaboratively.
and we sincerely appreciate the constant support of Travis County in those efforts.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
we appreciate your dedicated hard work.
>> thank you.
>> these numbers tell kind of a dire story.
>> they do.
>> we've definitely seen ongoing increases throughout the past several years, and been really working hard together with our partnerships and trying to streamline our service delivery model and are looking forward to some additions to that as well.
>> systems changes is always hard, but it's wonderful when you can work together in a collaboration to do that, and we really appreciate the leadership of the county and helping us with solid and good research and good partners in that effort.
so thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> good work.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all.
you get this beautiful proclamation to take with you.
>> thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, January, 2011 2:47 PM
