Second Annual Poverty Conference Brings Community Together To Advocate For The Poor
The statistics are alarming.
According to a community report released by the John R. Oishei Foundation’s Mobile Safety-Net Team, poverty in Niagara Falls is growing, while the city’s population is shrinking. The number of Niagara Falls residents living in poverty has grown 2 percent since 2000, a significant change when put in context of the city’s overall population decline of 9 percent since 2000.
Approximately 10,900 Niagara Falls residents, or more than 20 percent, live on incomes below federal poverty levels, identified as $23,550 for a family of four.
Child poverty alone is estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than $500 billion annually in lost productivity, increased healthcare costs, and higher criminal justice expenditures.
Addressing those statistics was the focus of the second annual Poverty Conference that was held at Niagara University on March 7.