"Child Poverty Over 30% in Chicago, As Recession Cripples Families" from the Huffington Post on February 16, 2010

This article on the Huffington Post discusses the problematic statistics on child poverty. It was said that nearly a third of Chicago’s children live below the poverty line. Knowing that this many children are living in poverty is tragic, as it is obvious these children are not able to live their life as a “typical child.” They may not be able to get the same toys as their friends; they may not be able to wear their choice of clothing; they may not be able to choose what kind of food they want to eat; they may be being raised in a poverty-struck neighborhood surrounded by other’s who are living in the same conditions as themselves, and so on. All of these issues can greatly affect a child’s well-being.

As stated in the article, over 500,000 children in Illinois were living in poverty and almost 250,000 were living in deep poverty. It is said that this adds up to 1 in 5 Illinois children who live in poverty. Rockford, has a 34% child poverty rate compared to 31% in Chicago. All of these poor innocent children are living day-to-day hoping to just get fed. .”

The article discussed a term called ‘asset poverty’ which is when a person or family doesn’t have enough assets to survive for 12 weeks without income. More than half of single mothers with children at home live in asset poverty in Illinois and jobs are still disappearing.

This is all made worse by Illinois’ budget crisis. The article explains that the state’s deficit is equal to more than half its operating budget. Due to this, Governor Pat Quinn proposed an income tax increase of roughly 50%. It was said that if the state does not do this tax increase then they are going to have to cut vital state services and programs which will create even more harsh experiences for those people and children living in poverty in Illinois.