Taking Steps Towards Self-Sufficiency in Erie

By MB -
We were very proud to read this morning that the United Way of Erie County will be announcing a goal of
"significantly reducing the number of Erie County households living below a self-sufficiency benchmark calculated by PathWays PA, a state nonprofit organization.

The self-sufficiency standard takes into account categories such as food, housing and utilities, transportation, child care, health-care costs, and miscellaneous items like clothing, medications and other basic needs.

According to PathWays PA, the self-sufficiency mark in Erie County for a family of four is $53,077, more than two times the federal poverty rate of $22,050."
When we last calculated how many families lived below the Self-Sufficiency Standard (in 2009), we learned that 30,000 families in Erie County alone were below the Standard.

To see the Standard in your county, please visit http://pathwayspa.org/10-11_SS_Standard.pdf.  To see how many people live above and below the Standard, please visit http://pathwayspa.org/PW_Over_Under_lo_res.pdf.

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