previous: Tackling multiple poverties

Demographics of poverty: Why rural areas are more vulnerable

One problem that cuts across nearly all ethnic and geographical boundaries is finding affordable housing in Idaho, especially in Kootenai and Teton counties, Boise, the Sun Valley-Ketchum area, and more recently, McCall-Donnelly. Economic expansion has brought an influx of wealthy residents, retirees, and resorts. But the rising cost of rent and real estate has priced many middle class Idahoans out.

In the Northwest, the demographics of poverty—family status, race, age—often intersect with poverty of place—the way communities are affected by the available economic, human, and social capital of their  geographic location.

A big employer downsizing, a mill closing, or commodity prices fluctuating can wreak havoc on a community, and everywhere poverty can feed on itself. As the concentration of poverty intensifies, tax  revenues suffer, then infrastructure deteriorates. That hurts education, training, and other resources, worsening the problem.

Rural areas must capitalize on new urban and amenity-related wealth through home-grown entrepreneurial efforts offering goods or service  that city dwellers want, says Priscilla Salant. Think locally grown produce  or a place to recreate, for example.

“We need to bridge the rural-urban divide,” says Salant, UI coordinator for outreach and engagement, “so that rural areas and residents can offer the high value services and goods that will leverage the urban wealth.”

Importance of a good K-12 school for rural success

The best thing communities can do       to improve rural poverty is strengthen  K-12 education, Salant added, for four reasons:

1) Good schools attract middle class families, and in-migration can improve poor rural areas.
2) Schools provide good wages and secure jobs.
3) Good schools give youth more opportunity to break out of poverty.      
4) Schools create hubs of civic activity for communities to build upon.

At least one elected leader agrees.

State Representative
Tom Trail

MOSCOW, IDAHO —Rep. Tom Trail pulls a folder from a gray metal filing cabinet in his Moscow home office. College Loan Forgiveness Program—for young Idaho teachers who take jobs in high-need rural areas. He pulls another manila file: Idaho Opportunity Program, a scholarship program he helped launch for low-income families.

A recent Northwest Area Foundation survey found that nine in ten Idahoans say it’s important for elected officials to help those struggling. Helping to provide good jobs and reducing health care costs are at the top of the to-do list. Trail is in touch with these constituents, but he is in the minority.

“Unfortunately, we have a number of legislators who are living back in the days of Ozzie and Harriet,” says Trail. “They don’t understand the problems of single parenting or dual incomes.” Trail is unabashedly critical of  fellow political leaders who last year “slashed funding for early education and child-based programs” such as Head Start and Parents As Teachers.

State Representative
Gary J. Schroeder

He and Sen. Gary Schroeder,  Moscow, will introduce legislation to reinstate the funding. Trail supports expanded higher education opportunities and UI Extension’s anti-poverty efforts, which he said “fit perfectly into the school’s land-grant mission.”

top