WOONSOCKET -- A greater number of Americans are living in poverty today than a year ago, according to federal statistics released yesterday. The same may be true in Woonsocket, but local social welfare advocates say no data exists to make such determinations on a yearly basis.
The U.S. Census Bureau says 1.3 million more Americans lived in poverty in 2003 than in 2002. Ben Lessing, executive director of Family Resources Community Action, estimates that percentage-wise Woonsocket saw a greater jump. "But really," he said, "that's just a guess. I don't have an accurate figure for the city."
Woonsocket hasn't had an official poverty count in four years, since the 2000 census determined that 19.4 percent of city residents were living in poverty. It isn't alone. Smaller communities rarely compile statistics more than every 10 years.
But those who use census numbers to target families in need know a lot can change in a decade.
So Lessing and others rely on their instincts to determine who needs help. "There are absolutely more Woonsocket families falling into poverty each year. We can see it in terms of housing and the increased numbers at our shelter," he said.
Worse off are the families who were already living in poverty a year ago. "They are even more challenged because resources to help them are going away. There just aren't enough to address their needs."
Lessing estimates that as much as a quarter of the city's population now lives in poverty. For children under age 6, it's more like 35 percent, he said.
Rhode Island's children are actually the best-monitored segment of the population. Each year, Kids Count, a statewide children's advocacy group, compiles statistics about youngsters in six core cities, Woonsocket among them. The organization can't yet breakout overall poverty numbers, but Executive Director Elizabeth Burke Bryant said it uses a patchwork of poverty indicators such as food stamp participation rates to predict how city children are faring from year to year.
The 2003 Kids Count study, released earlier this summer, suggested more conservative numbers than did Lessing, but still placed Woonsocket's children at greater risk than statewide averages.
The good news, Bryant said, is that the U.S. Census Bureau has announced it will begin conducting yearly supplemental surveys at the community level. The bad news: that work may not start until 2010.
Asked whether the City of Woonsocket would consider conducting its own mini-census in the meantime, Director of Human Services Owen T. BeBeau said he does not feel it is the municipality's job to do so, because the city does not directly finance anti-poverty programs.
"Even if we get the information, what are we going to do with it?" he asked.
Lessing may have a few ideas. Currently, his agency is developing a plan to go door to door in targeted low-income areas to address a variety of needs. It's not a perfect solution, he knows, but it may help to shore up local data and that's a start.
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