Ensuring Opportunity:Addressing Poverty in Contra Costa County

May 16, 2014

Measuring Poverty in Contra Costa County

The 2014 Federal Poverty Level for a family of four is $23,850

131,800 people (12.5% of pop.) live below the federal poverty level; 38,000 of them are children

The California Poverty Measure (CPM) for Contra Costa is 18.6% which takes into account local costs and Safety Net programs

Many families are in crisis and more are struggling to make ends meet than the poverty rates alone suggest

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Average CPM Threshold

Total Population

CPM Population in

Poverty

Alameda 12.4%18.4%

$31,701 1,490,031 274,166

Contra Costa 12.5%18.6%

31,743 1,054,441 196,126

Marin 9.3%19.0%

35,785 245,183 46,585

Napa 12.4%25.5%

31,335 132,710 33,881

San Francisco 12.8%23.4%

36,349 788,653 184,387

San Mateo 6.7%18.4%

36,504 715,815 131,638

Santa Clara 10.2%18.7%

34,377 1,771,786 330,970

Sonoma 11.7%17.2%

30,898 477,237 82,323

Statewide 16.2%22.0%

28,652 36,582,274 8,048,100

Source: Public Policy Institute of California

A New Estimate of Poverty in California 3

Official U.S. government estimateCalifornia Poverty Measure (CPM)

2012 Status of MeasuringPoverty in Contra Costa

242,744 (23%) people live below 185% FPL($36,611 for a family of 3)

Nearly 50,000 CCC residents live in deep poverty(less than 50% of FPL)

In East Contra Costa, the number of people living in poverty has grown 70% in the past decade

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2012 Contra Costa Poverty by Race & Ethnicity 5

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000

50,000

White African American Asian Hispanic or Latino

Number Below Poverty Percent Below Poverty

Poverty Distribution by City

More than half of Contra Costa’s population in poverty live in four cities: Antioch, Concord, Pittsburg and Richmond

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2012 CCC Poverty by City

number in poverty % in poverty

150% of poverty

% of children in

poverty

% working at least part time and living in

poverty

Richmond 18,454 18% 29% 18% 31%

Concord 15,181 12% 21% 19% 27%

Antioch 14,963 15% 23% 20% 28%

Pittsburg 12,428 19% 28% 29% 35%

Safety Net Task Force Issue Areas 7

Homelessness

Food Security

HealthSafety

Economic Security

Homeless in Contra Costa

8,252 people used homeless services in 2012-2013

27% were families with dependent children

30% were identified as newly homeless

61% were chronically homeless

Nearly 1/3 of the homeless are children under age 18

On any given night, nearly 4,000 people are homeless

There is a severe shortage of shelter and permanent housing beds. Currently there are only 382 shelter beds for families and single adults in the county.

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Demand Exceeds Supply Family shelter sets up extra cribs and beds temporarily in dining room during cold winter months 9

Hunger in Contra Costa

The Food Bank serves 149,000 people each month -- service increased by 50% in 2008 and has not declined since

More than 65,000 low-income people receive CalFresh --

50% are children

48,000 people are eligible for CalFresh but not enrolled

If these 48,000 people were enrolled, hunger would be reduced, and $96 million would be put into the local economy over the course of the year

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Church of the Nazarene (May 7, 2014) 11

Health in Contra Costa 12

Uninsured and Eligible for Health Insurancein Contra Costa County (Preliminary Estimates)

Pre Open Enrollment

Preliminary Post Open Enrollment

Expanded Medi-Cal 56,700 In Process

Private Plan with subsidy 37,300 21,000

Private Plan no subsidy 9,000 6,000

Health in Contra Costa

Outreach to ACA-eligible uninsured residents continues

Partnering with Access to Care Collaborative to reach uninsured residents who are not ACA eligible

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Safety in Contra Costa

Every 10 minutes another child sees or hears domestic violence

The possibility of negative outcomes for children (social, educational, economic) are heightened if exposed to trauma early in life

In 2012, there were 3,286 total domestic violence calls to police; 26% involved a weapon

In 2013 there were 1,300 substantiated cases of child abuse; 44% were for children under age 5

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Economic Security in Contra Costa

Contra Costa unemployment rate is 7.4% - national is 6.7%. Some cities are in the high teens.

The East Bay job market was hit harder by the Great Recession and has recovered more slowly than other parts of the Bay Area or California as a whole

The self sufficiency standard for one adult and two young children (preschool and school age) in CCC is $63,945, (4 full time minimum wage jobs)

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Majority of Job Openings in Contra Costa are Low-Wage 16

0 5,000 10,000 15,000

High school diploma or equivalent

Less than high school

Bachelor's degree

Associate's degree

Postsecondary non-degree award

Doctoral or professional degree

Master's degree

Some college, no degree

Average Annual Job Openings by Entry Level Education

Income Pie Grew, But Most Californians Got Tiny Slices

71% of income gains between 1987 and 2009 went to the wealthiest 10 percent of Californians

2.5% of the total income increase went to middle income Californians

Had minimum wage kept pace with productivity after 1968, it would have reached $21.72 per hour in 2012

Low-wage workers had the steepest drop in earnings in 2013 relative to their value in 2006

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Poverty is not a natural catastrophe or a tragedy but a predictable consequence of what we chose to do or not do. Poverty is an unnecessary reality and a scandal.”

Sasha Abramsky, AuthorThe American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives