Florida Poverty Agenda Set for 2012
(Posted October 10, 2011 08:05 am)
By Les Coleman
MIAMI, FL - The 2010 U.S. Census reported the Florida poverty rate at 15 percent and Miami-Dade County poverty rate at 17.7 percent. According to a CNN Money.com article, "Poverty Pervades the Suburbs," poverty in Florida spikes the nation's poverty rate and is now at the highest level since 1994.
Read the article "Poverty pervades the suburbs" here.
Last week, Miami-Dade Community Action Agency (CAA)
held its second annual Florida Association for Community
Action's (FACA) Symposium on Poverty. The symposium is
part of the legislative process to establish the agenda
for a Florida Commission on Poverty.
John Edwards, who directs Community Action Agency
efforts to help poverty-impacted South Florida, says
it's time.
"Florida has no strategic plan, no comprehensive plan
whatsoever, for getting people out of poverty within our
state."
Newly elected Gov. Rick Scott has proposed a plan to
fight poverty - a seven-point plan over seven years -
and get people back to work. Although Florida has lost
800,000 jobs since 2008, according to recent Florida
figures, the governor says the state is making progress
on the unemployment front.
"Unemployment has dropped from 12 percent - which is the
highest it's been on record, the month before I came
into office - down to 10.7 percent. We've bucked the
national trend."
While Edwards hopes the governor's proposals bring jobs
back, he also urges that a new poverty commission be
established to assist the thousands of children and
adults scrimping for food and shelter.
"What we need is a long-term strategy to help low-income
people in our state and the neighborhoods in which they
live."
Emphasis will never be placed on the poor without the
establishment of a statewide commission designed to
recognize the issues and recommend the changes needed to
attack poverty, he adds.