Did You Know?
The U.S. unemployment rate is under four percent, the lowest rate since 2000. And yet, 11.8 percent of the American population is food insecure.
1https://www.ers.usda.govhttps://www.ers.usda.gov
Even with the economy approaching full employment, nearly 40 percent of adults reported that they or their families had trouble meeting at least one basic need for food, health care, housing, or utilities in 2017.
1Material Hardship among Nonelderly Adults and Their Families in 2017: Implications for the Safety Net, Urban Institute, August 2018 https://www.urban.org/ – https://www.urban.org/
Nearly 51 million U.S. households do not earn enough to afford a monthly budget that covers housing, food, child care, health care, transportation, and a cell phone.
1United Way ALICE Project, a nationwide effort to quantify and describe the number of U.S. households that are struggling financially. May 2018https://www.unitedwayalice.org/ – https://www.unitedwayalice.org/
66% of all jobs in the U.S. pay less than $20 an hour. They comprise child care workers, home health aides, office assistants, store clerks, Uber drivers, hotline operators, grocery baggers, adjunct professors (college students) at community-colleges, and more, all working two or three jobs to make ends meet with little if anything left to save.
1United Way ALICE Project, a nationwide effort to quantify and describe the number of U.S. households that are struggling financially. May 2018https://www.unitedwayalice.org/ – https://www.unitedwayalice.org/
Today, nearly a third of the American work force — 41.7 million laborers – earn less than $12 an hour, and almost none of their employers offer health insurance.
1“Americans Want to Believe Jobs are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not.” New York Times Magazine, Matthew Desmond, September 11, 2018.
Minimum wage workers in the U.S. would need to work a 122-hour week, or hold down three full-time jobs, to make a modest two-bed rental home affordable.
1Out of Reach 2018” National Low-Income Housing Coalition http://nlihc.org/oor – http://nlihc.org/oor
Over 1,000 individuals utilize the food pantry at St. Peter’s Haven every month. Half are seniors and home-owners. They could be your neighbors, friends, or people that serve you in low-paying jobs.
1St. Peter’s Haven, 2018, Clifton’s only food pantry https://www.nj.gov/education/students/homeless/ – http://www.saintpetershaven.org/
During the 2016-2017 school year, 193 children in the Clifton school system self-identified as homeless, living with relatives or friends or in temporary housing.
1• Regional Coordinator, McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless and Youth Program 2018,https://www.nj.gov/education/students/homeless/ – https://www.nj.gov/education/students/homeless/
Experiences of homelessness and housing instability in early childhood are associated with delays in children’s language, literacy, and social-emotional.
development.
1Ziol Guest, K. M., & McKenna, C. C. (2014). “Early childhood housing instability and school readiness”. Child Development, 85(1), 103–113
In the winter of 2017/2018, 12 homeless individuals were living on Clifton streets. Three homeless men died on the streets.
The Federal Reserve Board recently reported that four in ten Americans can’t afford to cover an unexpected $400 expense.
1https://www.nj.gov/education/students/homeless/https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres.htm