Dane County Poverty Project Introduction

From Lila:

Project Description:

Tell the story of income and poverty in Dane County, particularly as it relates to children and families.  Income and poverty is the “backdrop” to so much of the work that the Department of Human Services does.  The presentation can include both longitudinal data (what has changed over time, etc.) and more current data.

Data on the Earned Income Tax Credit could also be useful. In addition, are there other, more robust, measures of whether or not households are meeting a set of basic needs?  You are encouraged to find additional measures!

Finally, a particular point of interest is the concept of “doubling up” in terms of housing.  A person doubling-up is living with family, friends or other non-relatives and this is often due to economic need. The Wisconsin Department of Education includes the status of “doubling up” as type of homelessness, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does not.  For this and a variety of other reasons (including that doubling up may be putting people at risk in losing certain benefits; it can also be in violation of the lease agreement), the data is somewhat elusive.  It would be interesting if you were able to present some data on this (even general national data), as it is a prevalent concept when it comes to families and homelessness.