Groups unite for plan to end homelessness Post-Tibune, January 31, 2012

• The plan, compiled by Chicago-based Social IMPACT Research Center, was the outgrowth of discussion between the churches, social service agencies and other organizations that are part of the Porter County Coalition for Affordable Housing, said Barb Young, president of the Porter County Community Foundation.
  
  Ending homelessness is not something a social service agency can do or a church can do or a stakeholder can do,” said Amy Rynell, director of the research center. “It really needs to be a collaborative effort.”

Plan aims to end homelessness in Porter County. Northwest Indiana Times, January 30, 2012

• No Place Like Home, a 10-year plan to end homelessness, found 154 adults homeless in January 2011, up from 91 in 2010.
  
  Additionally, 10,673 individuals in the county have incomes below the poverty level and are at risk of becoming homeless, said Amy Rynell, with the Social IMPACT Research Center. The goal is for all residents to have access to a safe, affordable home, as well as resources and support services, Rynell said. The success of the plan depends on everyone in the community, she said.

Illinois poverty reaches highest point in decades, study reveals. Gazette Chicago, January 6, 2012

• For families at the bottom of the income spectrum, having limited resources results in having to balance budgets through short term trade-offs that have long term consequences such as deferring needed medical care or dipping into retirement savings.

Poverty Report 2011: Ranks of area's struggling continue to swell. Galesburg Register-Mail, December 30, 2011

• "In 2010, it was estimated 8,149 people in Knox County lived in poverty. That’s 15.4 percent of the county’s population of 52,919, up 2.2 percent over the previous year, according to Heartland Alliance. That rate was 11.1 percent a decade ago. Of those 8,149 people in 2010, 25.1 percent are children, according to the Heartland Alliance’s 2011 Report on Illinois Poverty."

Report: Ill. poverty remains worse after recession. Chicago Tribune, December 8, 2011

• "Personal, social and economic costs of low family incomes are far too great, compromising Illinois' economic strength, human capital, and future well-being," said Sid Mohn, the president of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights. "State policies and investments need to support an economy that works for everyone, promote work that pays a living wage, ensure that all have access to a quality education, and that families are able to access adequate income supports to help make ends meet."

Lack of jobs leaves more suburban, middle class sliding into poverty. Chicago Sun-Times, October 23, 2011

• The rise in poverty in Illinois and nationally can’t simply be attributed to the recent recession, said Amy Terpstra, associate director of the Social Impact Research Center at Heartland Alliance said. She noted poverty rates have risen significantly since 1999 as median household incomes have dropped and added the poverty numbers include people who work full-time, year-round, but are still poor. The drop in income is affecting the poor, and middle-income families.

Census data shows correlation between living wage, four-year degree. Peoria Journal Star, October 10, 2011

• In crunching the data, Jennifer Clary of the Chicago-based Social IMPACT Research Center at Heartland Alliance found that 25 percent of Peorians have incomes below 150 percent of the poverty limit, which officially is considered low income by the government. Many experts, she said, agree that a household’s income needs to be near 200 percent of the poverty limit to make ends meet.

Census finds more people than ever living in poverty. Chicago Tribune, September 14, 2011

• Amy Terpstra, director of social impact research at the nonprofit Heartland Alliance in Chicago, said government assistance is in many cases all that keeps people out of poverty.

  "Without unemployment insurance, an additional 3.2 million people would have been poor in 2010," Terpstra said. She said many millions more people would slip below the poverty line if they were denied government assistance like food stamps and earned income tax credits.