Poverty growing in Green County
MONROE - Poverty is not a distant problem in Green County. It's among us. Even if you aren't at the federal poverty line yourself, chances are high you know many people who are.
About one in 10 people lives in poverty in Green County, according U.S. Census statistics. That's below the state average of 12 percent, but Green County does have a growing percentage of children living in poverty. From 2008 to 2013, food stamp eligibility in Green County more than doubled from 1,803 people to 4,459 people.
Eligibility for free and reduced-price lunches in area schools also leaped during the same time period.
Even though we're better off than the rest of the state, poverty is growing here faster. The number of children living in poverty in Green County rose from 9.9 percent in 2007 to 14.5 percent in 2011. Statewide the child poverty rate went from 14.5 percent to 16.4 percent in the same period.
For a family of three, the federal poverty line is $19,530 annually. For a family of four, it's $23,550.
The stigma attached to claiming subsidies is waning, said Bridget Mouchon, family living educator at Green County University of Wisconsin-Extension.
But poverty growth doesn't seem to be going away. One factor contributing to poverty locally and nationwide is the shift from full-time jobs to temporary, "piecemeal" jobs, she said.
- Katjusa Cisar
I learned this quickly Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 13, as I took part in a poverty simulation organized by the Green County University of Wisconsin-Extension. Several dozen of us participated in the annual event, including members of the Green County Leaders and 13 seventh-graders from Monroe Middle School.
Seated with my role-playing family of four, we scrutinized our packets for details about our lives. I was "Ann Aber."
Ann, 42, is a stay-at-home mom to two teens and wife to Albert, a 43-year-old steel worker who lost his job a few months ago and has run out of unemployment. The Abers have no savings, no income, $125 in the bank and more than $1,100 in basic expenses due in the next four weeks.
The Abers don't appear on the surface to be living at the poverty line. We have a car and a mortgage and live in a three-bedroom home in a middle-class suburb. Our 17-year-old daughter Alice is an honor student and wants to go to college.
But everything's quickly falling apart. Despite picking up low-wage jobs, we're getting evicted, we forgot to get groceries this week and a thief just robbed us of $95, or what remained of the paltry $110 my husband negotiated with a pawn broker for $300 of our valuables. Shuffling four people between school and jobs with one car has become a challenge, and half the time I don't know if my teens are in school or where I'm supposed to be.
As we're processing this, a police officer - Green County Deputy Pam Tourdot in real life - walks up and warns my 15-year-old son Al Jr. to stay away from a kid at school who's a bad influence.
Life is coming at us fast. Amid the stress, we make bad decisions. Our teenagers, played by seventh-graders Issy Zweifel and Linnea Tabaka, are struggling. The older teen asks for help with her homework and we barely notice. When I'm not around, Al Jr. shoplifts from the food pantry for fun and concocts some crazy plan to earn money by splitting a third-shift job with his bad-influence friend.
My husband Albert - played by Brian Slattery, a Green County Leader and market analyst at Monroe Clinic - scrambles to get a paycheck cashed so he can go buy groceries, but arrives to the store just as it's closing.
We spend a lot of time waiting in lines. People take advantage of our desperation. Service workers are often distracted and overworked.
The woman who runs the grocery store doesn't speak English to us - a brilliant turn-of-the-tables designed to simulate what it's like to navigate an everyday situation without English skills. It's disorienting and confusing. During one visit, I get shorted $5 because I can't get across to her what I want.
Later we find out the grocery store owner - played by Victoria Solomon, community resource development educator for Green County UW-Extension - was speaking Hindi.
After the hour-long simulation, we sat in a big circle and debriefed.
What we simulated is "the experience my clients have every day," said Guy Taylor, assistant state public defender in Green County. "Just remember that feeling of 'This is a no-win situation.' Be aware of the stress they are under. I think this is a very valuable exercise."
During the simulation, Taylor strolled among us wearing sunglasses and thieved from us, dealt drugs and tried to entice us into criminal activity. The more desperate we got, the more reasonable crime seemed.
It turns out dumb decisions are closely tied to stress. Stress lowers IQ by frying neural connections in the brain, said Bridget Mouchon, family living educator at Green County UW-Extension.
The cycle of unpaid bills and desperate poverty is so hard to break it can get passed down for generations. "There's no silver bullet," said Bryce Riemer, network director of the homelessness prevention organization Family Promise of Green County. Helping a family lift themselves out of poverty takes time and relationship-building, he said.
Issy, the 13-year-old who played my teen daughter in the simulation, reflected afterward how poverty took its toll on her character. Focusing on school was difficult when there wasn't food in the house and her family was consumed by money worries.
"It opened my eyes to how hard it could be," she said.