Bridget Agnello puts a face to the Oakland County poverty report: Bridget Agnello, a resident at Lighthouse of Oakland County, shares her story of struggling to make ends meet for she and her son. Mandi Wright/DFP
Poverty in Detroit’s suburbs skyrocketed — and rose 77% in
affluent Oakland County — during the Great Recession years of 2005-12,
key social service executives said at a news conference today in
Pontiac.
The shift makes it important to change how services are delivered in order to maximize the limited resources available for metro Detroit’s poor people, said John Ziraldo, CEO of Lighthouse of Oakland County. The nonprofit agency in Pontiac released a 10-page report today on the increase in suburbanites now mired in poverty.
■ Raw Data: Michigan ZIP codes with the highest average adjusted gross income
Being poor in suburban Detroit is different, and in some ways more challenging, than for those in a large city, Ziraldo said. He cited Oakland County’s spotty mass-transit service and a safety net that’s concentrated in Pontiac — the area’s longtime urban core — as hurdles.
The report, which was based on U.S. Census data, is mind-numbing for people who’ve been oblivious to poverty amid their own suburban affluence, said Gilda Jacobs, a former state senator from Huntington Woods and now president of the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Jacobs called for federal lawmakers to restore the earned-income tax credit, to boost the fortunes of those who work at low wages. She also championed raising the minimum wage along with other steps she said would alleviate poverty, she said.
■ Related: Michigan senator to propose alternative minimum-wage legislation
■ Related: History of the minimum wage
Bridget Agnello, 49, told listeners she’d become homeless and a resident of the two-year housing program at Lighthouse after losing her job and then her Ferndale house.
“I guess I am the new face of poverty” in Oakland County, said Agnello, a Wayne State University graduate and former marketing manager at several Fortune 500 employers.
“It’s not somebody in the deepest part of Detroit or Pontiac. It’s somebody standing next to you at the grocery store who can’t afford the broccoli.”
Agnello, who divorced six years ago and has a son, 11, said her ex-husband has a good job and always did his share to support and care for their child. But when she was laid off several years ago from a job that paid $74,000 a year, she tried to reinvent herself as a script supervisor in the film industry, then saw her hopes dashed after the state ended tax incentives for Michigan’s film industry.
Agnello’s three-year absence from marketing put her at a disadvantage to an endless stream of other applicants, she said. And she has been turned down for low-paying retail jobs because “they always say, ‘You’re over-qualified and as soon as you find something better, you’ll leave’ — and they’re right,” Agnello said.
She hopes her refuge at the two-year Path program of Lighthouse “is going to be my way back to normalcy,” she said.
According to the report, 58% of families and individuals living below the federal poverty level in the tricounty area now live in suburban communities.
“While Detroit continues to have the largest concentration of poor in the region, the total number of individuals in poverty is higher outside the city of Detroit than in the city itself,” the report said.
The shift makes it important to change how services are delivered in order to maximize the limited resources available for metro Detroit’s poor people, said John Ziraldo, CEO of Lighthouse of Oakland County. The nonprofit agency in Pontiac released a 10-page report today on the increase in suburbanites now mired in poverty.
■ Raw Data: Michigan ZIP codes with the highest average adjusted gross income
Being poor in suburban Detroit is different, and in some ways more challenging, than for those in a large city, Ziraldo said. He cited Oakland County’s spotty mass-transit service and a safety net that’s concentrated in Pontiac — the area’s longtime urban core — as hurdles.
The report, which was based on U.S. Census data, is mind-numbing for people who’ve been oblivious to poverty amid their own suburban affluence, said Gilda Jacobs, a former state senator from Huntington Woods and now president of the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Jacobs called for federal lawmakers to restore the earned-income tax credit, to boost the fortunes of those who work at low wages. She also championed raising the minimum wage along with other steps she said would alleviate poverty, she said.
■ Related: Michigan senator to propose alternative minimum-wage legislation
■ Related: History of the minimum wage
Bridget Agnello, 49, told listeners she’d become homeless and a resident of the two-year housing program at Lighthouse after losing her job and then her Ferndale house.
“I guess I am the new face of poverty” in Oakland County, said Agnello, a Wayne State University graduate and former marketing manager at several Fortune 500 employers.
“It’s not somebody in the deepest part of Detroit or Pontiac. It’s somebody standing next to you at the grocery store who can’t afford the broccoli.”
Agnello, who divorced six years ago and has a son, 11, said her ex-husband has a good job and always did his share to support and care for their child. But when she was laid off several years ago from a job that paid $74,000 a year, she tried to reinvent herself as a script supervisor in the film industry, then saw her hopes dashed after the state ended tax incentives for Michigan’s film industry.
Agnello’s three-year absence from marketing put her at a disadvantage to an endless stream of other applicants, she said. And she has been turned down for low-paying retail jobs because “they always say, ‘You’re over-qualified and as soon as you find something better, you’ll leave’ — and they’re right,” Agnello said.
She hopes her refuge at the two-year Path program of Lighthouse “is going to be my way back to normalcy,” she said.
According to the report, 58% of families and individuals living below the federal poverty level in the tricounty area now live in suburban communities.
“While Detroit continues to have the largest concentration of poor in the region, the total number of individuals in poverty is higher outside the city of Detroit than in the city itself,” the report said.
No comments:
Post a Comment