Posted under New Line
As I walk door-to-door in my district, the economic diversity of the area is striking. One minute you find yourself surrounded by multi-million dollar mansions. You turn the corner and you find extremely modest homes.
The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County recently released a fascinating report documenting the deep pockets of poverty in a largely affluent and bucolic community. Although 39% of families earn in excess of $100,000 a year, many others struggle. The report’s findings include:
Poverty. Over 22,000 Anne Arundel County residents lived in poverty as of the middle of this decade according to recent U.S. Census data, and over 7,000 of these are children.
Health. In addition to difficulties accessing housing, the share of Anne Arundel residents lacking health insurance swelled to 57,000 people in 2007, or more than 11 percent of the population.
Public Transportation. Limited public transportation imposes significant barriers on access to both work and public services for many Anne Arundel citizens. Only 3 percent of Anne Arundel residents utilize public transit to get to work.
A bright spot was in education. The report found that graduation rates have increased substantially over the last several years and the gap between White and minority graduation rates has narrowed considerably.
You can read Pamela Wood’s article on the report here.
You can check out the entire report for yourself here.
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