Half of all Americans will live in poverty sometime before age 65. The federal government defines poverty for a family of four as an income of $24,343 a year. The “true poverty level” for our region, however, is $46,000 a year due to the high cost of living on Long Island.
Nowhere is the need to combat poverty made more apparent than in the growing number of individuals who don't know where their next meal is coming from. According to a 2010 LI Cares/Island Harvest study, Hunger in America 2010, 285,000 Long Islanders seek help at food pantries each year--almost half of them working poor people. Of these hungry Long Islanders, 110,000 are children.
We know that the best anti-poverty program is a union job. Read about the union advantage here.
- Find out what a family of four needs to get by on Long Island.
- Find out who is hungry on Long Island.
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