The North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, a project of the NC Justice Center, released a new report Wednesday detailing how 10 counties were “persistently poor” in 2000, meaning that they had high poverty rates every year for three decades.
Persistent poverty is defined by both the percentage of people living in poverty and the period of time that the poverty rate has remained high in a geographic region. Between 1970 and 2000, the brief finds, 20 percent or more of 10 North Carolina county populations lived in poverty. Persistent poverty was concentrated in the eastern region of the state, where counties had little diversification of employment, fewer teachers with advanced degrees, and a lack of affordable, adequate housing and health care.
As of 2000, there were 10 counties in North Carolina that could be defined as “persistently poor”:
- Bertie County
- Bladen County
- Columbus County
- Halifax County
- Martin County
- Northampton County
- Pitt County
- Robeson County
- Tyrrell County
- Washington County
“Living in a community of persistent poverty limits the opportunities of residents, and represents a challenge to not only regional economic development but the state’s overall economic growth,” said Alexandra Forter Sirota, director of the NC Budget & Tax Center and author of the report. “The lack of wealth, few employment opportunities and a crumbling opportunity structure in these communities makes it difficult for local governments to overcome the legacy of persistent hardship and provide pathways to mobility.”
You can read the full report at this link.
