McLean County added nearly 5,000 people to the poverty rolls in one year. That's one of the reasons McLean is on the Heartland Alliance's poverty watch list for the second year in a row.
McLean County's poverty rate has grown to 15.6 percent, higher than the state average and up 3 percent from 2016. The county's unemployment rate of 4.2 percent and teen birth rate of 118.5 per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 19 are on the rise based on 2017 data, the most recent data available.
McLean County has 25,273 residents living in poverty, according to the 2017 data.
Katie Buitrago, the alliance's research director, said many social service agencies across the state are still recovering from years of budget uncertainty.
“Human services providers have had to lay off staff or close their doors or take out lots of credit so stay afloat,” Buitrago said. “The level we are investing now just doesn’t do enough to repair those damages.”
McLean County did see a 5-percent increase in its median household income to about $68,900 and the county’s rate of food insecurity dropped slightly from 12.4 to 12.1 percent. It’s food insecurity rate for children also dropped to 14.1 percent, down from 16.8
Peoria and Ford are among 14 counties named to Heartland Alliance’s poverty warning list. The rest of the warning counties are in southern Illinois.
Illinois saw its number of watch and warning counties increase from 52 to 67 in one year.
Buitrago calls for more funding for programs that address poverty. Heartland is backing the progressive tax that voters will consider next year.
“We are just not doing enough, even after the budget crisis is over to invest in fixing the massive holes that it left behind in our infrastructure that moves people out of poverty,” she said.
Buitrago added that people of color still bear the brunt of Illinois’ fiscal troubles, as that population faces higher poverty, unemployment, high school graduation rates and lower rates for having health insurance.
“That’s due to hundreds of years of institutionalization of giving opportunities to white Americans and raising barriers for people of color,” Buitrago said. “That has effects across generations that we will see today.”
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