The percentage of school-age children living in poverty has grown in Orange and Ulster counties and leaped ahead in Sullivan County since the recession took hold, according to figures released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
The numbers, broken down by counties and school districts nationwide, show a wide disparity in poverty among children ages 5 to 17 within the three local counties, ranging from a low of 4.4 percent in Tuxedo School District to nearly 52 percent in Kiryas Joel.
The federal poverty threshold varies by household size. In 2010, for example, a couple with two children was considered poor if their gross income, including unemployment payments but excluding food stamps and housing subsidies, was $22,113 or less.
Kiryas Joel, ranked as one of the poorest places in America, is a fast-growing community of about 21,000 Hasidic Jews, who prize religious study over secular education and tend to have low incomes as a result. Many families are large — with six or more children — and rely on Medicaid, food stamps and other government programs.
(Source: Times Herald Record)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
8 Responses
Would someone please explain how all of these poor people were able to purchase homes in this nice looking community?
and they have the highest concentration of single mothers!
They dont talk about how mamesh b’simcha most of the people are. When you dont know you are living in “poverty” its so much easier. The problem is that too many of these stories are written with a slant of look how poor they are, they dont realize how poor they really are.
QUESTION: How is it that these “poor” folk can all afford the fanciest cars, homes, designer clothes that are fit to kill, etc….??
I have no objection to living like a king, we all should be zoche to that – but don’t rub in the faces of others, that’s what’s causing all the jealousy which continues to fuel the daily hatred and anti-semitism.
Their statistics focus on documentable income and family size. If they looked at things like nutrition, literacy, liklihood of substance abuse or juvenile delinquency you get different results. Their income statistics don’t take into account the economic importance of community structures that contribute to quality of life but don’t show up on an accounting balance sheet.
These people generally lead fairly simple lives. There are wealthy people in the community who live better, but it is a false accusation to say that they live like kings.
5. Gut g’zugt!
How sad. Why do they choose to live like this?