League of Women Voters takes on poverty project

Sally Ousley, Gazette Reporter | Jan 22, 20140

Last week the U.S. Census Bureau released a report on the nation’s poverty level. Whitman County’s poverty level is more than 30 percent, more than double the poverty levels of surrounding counties and has the highest poverty level in the entire state.

The Census Bureau defined the poverty line as $23,283 a year for a family of four or $11,945 for a person under the age of 65.

Taking a look at the Inland Northwest, Whitman County shows up as having the highest percentage of people living in poverty in the state with nearly a third of the population at 32.2 percent of 12,846 people. Larger counties such as King and Pierce counties on the west side of the state are at 11.9 percent and 12.8 percent.

The Pullman League of Women Voters is undertaking a two-year study on the county’s poverty level. According to project chair Mary Collins, this is an information gathering project.

“We will be studying demographics, who are the poor and where are they,” she said. “We are trying to understand the discrepancy because this county also ranks as one of the most prosperous and most educated. We suspect some of the numbers are biased by the university students who are below the poverty level.

“But we also believe there is more poverty in Whitman County than people really know about,” she said.

The project also will explore the services available to the poor.

Collins said the study will take about two years because it is being done by volunteers.

Beginning with the census information, the project will take a look at public and private entities and church groups to get information about the poor.

“We ultimately hope to find some way to survey clients of the system,” Collins said.

“The intent of this project is to get the information that is useful to our policy makers and organizations,” she said.

County Poverty Rate Poor Population

Spokane 16% 73,788

Whitman 32.3% 12,848

Stevens 18.5% 7,965

Lincoln 14.3% 1,478

Grant 18.8% 17,003

Pend Orielle 20% 2,572

Ferry 21% 1,601

Okanogan 22% 8,931

Chelan 14.9% 10,810