Fighting Poverty in Addison County

Author: Jason F. Siegel and James Dolan

In 2003, Addison County, home to one of the richest liberal arts institutions in the nation, was also home to nearly 3200 poor people. Despite this great inequity, the College has taken steps to alleviate the problem.

Living below the poverty line means that one does not have enough income to pay for every day needs. In other words, they do not have any disposable income.

Different social factors can contribute to increased poverty among a group of people. Areas with higher percentages of high school dropouts, teenage mothers or unemployment are likely to see more people living below the poverty line.

The poverty line is subject to change from year to year and is set by the United States Office of Management and Budget. The poverty threshold can also vary from person to person depending on someone's age or the number of people living in their household. The percentage of 8.7 in Addison County is very similar to the average percentage of people living below the poverty line in Vermont, which is about nine percent. It is also lower than the 2003 national average of 13 percent.



Local Anti-Poverty Measures



Poverty in Addison County is an issue that several organizations have been attempting to solve in recent months. Three main groups which have headed this effort are the People of Addison County Together (PACT), United Way of Addison County (UWAC) and the Middlebury College Alliance for Civic Engagement (ACE). Last fall, the groups sponsored study circles that were designed to get the community involved with the problem and foster dialogue on how they can improve economic security for all residents.

According to the "Summary on Poverty Study Circles," provided by AmeriCorp volunteer and ACE affiliate Meredith Billings, 26 members representing all different areas of the community met to discuss issues such as livable compensation, affordable and quality healthcare, access to healthcare and affordable housing.

A variety of suggestions were made to tackle these problems. Most of the suggestions focused on educational programs. For example, in issues of healthcare, many believed in universal healthcare for everyone, but they also wanted to provide nutritional and fitness education in order to alleviate preventable health issues. Also, community members discussed the possibility of educating tenants and landlords concerning their responsibilities and rights. This, they hope, will improve the quality of living in affordable housing.

These circles were designed to aid the recently formed Addison County Poverty Task Force in tackling short- and long-term goals. The task force came at the request of members of the community who attended a Community Summit on Poverty in Addison County in March of 2005. According to the summary, PACT, UWAC and ACE were given a grant from the Middlebury-based Vermont Campus Compact to form this task force, as well as the study circles, in hopes they could suggest tangible solutions to the problem.



The College's Role



According to College Treasurer Robert Huth, although the College does not officially commit parts of its endowment to local businesses, it provides many resources to alleviate poverty in Addison County.

In consideration of the economic hardship that paying for high-quality child-care can cause a low-income family, the College pays around $300,000 to a local child-care consortium through the United Way, much of which goes to support local families who are not affiliated with the school.

In addition, the College provides some money to Addison County Transit Resources (ACTR)-of which Huth is a board member-which contributes to funding for services such as free transportation to many of the county's busiest spots and special rides to work or medical care if a low-income person has exceptional difficulties in getting to a bus route.

Middlebury is also conscious of its effects on poverty when making business deals. On the statewide level, the College is the largest investor in FreshTracks Capital, a Middlebury-based venture fund that invests in Vermont businesses. The College's holdings in the firm are around $2.5 million. When Middlebury sold its Maplefield lands in the fall, part of the land was set aside to go to affordable housing.

As the largest employer in Addison County, Middlebury's internal policies control to a slight degree the level of poverty in the county. The College increases its staff's earning potential by participating in Vermont adult education programs, augmenting such skills as literacy levels among employees.

The College has also had the challenge of determining a livable wage for all its employees when marital/civil union status varies widely from person to person. Nonetheless, the College has several progressive policies in place to keep its employees out of poverty. Employees who do not make much money have a smaller contribution to their medical bills than those who earn more, and the administration has implemented a "safety net" to prevent employees from spending much more than five percent of their income on medical bills.

Huth summed up Middlebury's position, saying that with its role as the area's largest employer and its progressive policies, the College raises the bottom line for local employers.



On-Campus Resources



ACE is one way that students can get involved and help alleviate poverty in both the community and country. ACE provides summer opportunities to work with both the Homelessness Prevention Shelter and the John Graham Shelter. The office also offers paid summer internships that are available to students.

ACE is interested in raising campus awareness of poverty as well. One event that ACE hopes to see integrated into the Middlebury calendar is a Hunger Awareness Week in November, which multiple New England schools already recognize. Another event that began at the University of Massachusetts is the Hunger and Homelessness Conference, which provides workshops for students regarding these issues.

The College curriculum also provides students with possibilities to understand poverty problems and develop strategies to solve them. Hepburn Professor of Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies, Peggy Nelson, is teaching "Poverty and Public Policy," which focuses on understanding poverty. More specifically, the class analyzes problems involving childcare, healthcare, food, housing and education. The purpose of the class is for students to "understand the sociological causes and consequences of poverty and the policy that is inspired by those consequences" said Nelson. The class brings up questions as to what kind of policy is needed to help the problem. For example, many teen parents are subject to impoverished conditions It is hard to know when policy should focus on decreasing the number of teen parents, and when programs should be implemented to aid teen parents and make it easier for them to rise above the poverty threshold?

Even though the class focuses on poverty in general, students are encouraged to use local sources for their "analytical papers in which they try to understand the problem," said Nelson. Students' papers often include pamphlets in order to guide or inform people of services they can use to help them.

Similarly, students in Associate Professor of Economics Peter Matthews' class "Inequality, Poverty and Distributive Justice" are taking what they have learned about measures of poverty and inequality as well as the role of outside factors such as education, health and discrimination in affecting poverty. The class' final project involves applying the students' knowledge to the economic situation in Vermont.

Rachel Sommer '06.5 spoke highly of the course. "This class has been both extremely informative and inspiring. While poverty and inequality ar
e issues I have been previously committed to on a personal level, this is the first time I've had the opportunity to thoroughly explore these issues from an academic perspective," she said.

In addition to teaching her class, Nelson is also hoping for the creation of a series of courses that focus on poverty. Students would take introductory level courses in which they would learn about these issues. Then, after their sophomore or junior year they would have a paid internship where they could apply their knowledge to areas such as legal studies, health clinics, poverty agencies, and NGOs.

Finally, the curriculum would offer a senior seminar where "students would be able to make sense of these issues," said Nelson. The program is currently in its preliminary stages, as it looks for the necessary funding. It will most likely not begin for another two years.

Student and faculty involvement



Many students and faculty take their interests beyond the classroom. Two students who have recently begun to work with homeless shelters are Andrew Haile '07 and Jono Newton '06.5. The two studied abroad in Paris last fall and were immediately struck by the number of homeless people they saw on the streets. "You just don't see homeless people around here."

Upon their return, the two went to Burlington with several other students to look for volunteer opportunities with the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), a well-funded shelter where they served lunch but had little contact with the residents themselves. They soon found the John W. Graham Shelter in Vergennes, a smaller operation with a budget only five percent that of COTS and in need of volunteers. Haile said that although it is too late in the year to build any momentum for a formal relationship between the College and the students, he hopes that in the fall there might be funding available to get the efforts going.

Haile also noted the efforts of Steve and Katie Smith Abbott, faculty heads of Ross Commons, for spearheading an effort to pack leftovers from commons dinners to go to homeless shelters. Logistical and legal obstacles impede Dining Services from sending all leftovers to the shelters.

As explained in the April 13 edition of The Middlebury Campus, there is a significant population of undocumented migrant workers in the area. These men and women's cheap labor on dairy farms often allows the farm to stay open in the face of increasing competition from agribusiness. Assistant Professor of Spanish Gloria González Zenteno has recently received grants to study such undocumented Mexican workers in the area.

Other students choose to go a bit farther away to gain knowledge of the ramifications of poverty and to perhaps use it in the future. First-years Caitlyn Olson was among several students who traveled to UMass-Amherst for a conference sponsored by National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness over Winter Carnival weekend. Said Olson, "I had worked with the low-income/homeless population back at home in Seattle and had received an introduction to the same out here on the East Coast during the MAlt trip to Boston in February but still wanted to learn more."

The problem of poverty in Middlebury's backyard provides ample opportunity to learn more.



-Jason F. Siegel and James Dolan

Focus Editors