Poverty in Illinois

Heart Alliance states that 10 of the top 20 poorest cities are in the Midwest. The total amount of poor people just in Illinois is over 1.5 million with a grand total population of 12.5 million. That is 12.3% living in what we call poor or poverty level. In particular, Illinois is identifying poverty as a huge problem and looking for good leaders for solutions. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a sense of Congress resolution that sets a natural goal of cutting poverty in half over 10 years. Lets hope it is a continued effort during and after those years. I find it great that we have several charities such as the Catholic churches, Hearland Alliance and a place called A center for American Progress as well as many more but these are the bigger ones. With poverty being a high in our state there are many negative effects contributing to being homeless.

15.5% of Illinoisans have no health insurance. Poor people are less likely or able to get access to preventative care, have limited opportunity to be engaged in health-promoting activities. These issues alone are increased each year and the poor ending up having more health care debt and health problems making it harder to get to the top. 2.5 million Illinois workers do not get paid sick days. Like I mentioned earlier we have 12.5 million living here;that is an extreme amount. As for continuing education, public schools have risen 34% from 2002. All Illinois children as well as across the globe should have equal access to quality education. The reality is that many are unable to realize the promise of education due to unequal distribution resulting in performance disparities and continuing higher costs. These two points are two of the major problems Illinois faces on a daily basis. It is often said and done that education and healthcare are overlooked. Education and healthcare should be on our top priority but we often become too wrapped up in politics and finances that we loose our entire philosophy on why we need to make change. Knowing that Illionis is one of the poorest states frightens me because I thought it could not get any worse but there are worse states out there.


Source: heartlandalliance.org