As we begin a new year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated January as “Poverty Awareness Month,” inviting Catholics and all people of good will in our nation to use January as a time to learn more about poverty in our communities and nation, help raise awareness of poverty, and work to end poverty.
Learn more about this poverty awareness campaign by visiting the special USCCB website, available in English and Spanish, at www.povertyusa.org.
It offers resources to: encounter the lives of those who live in poverty, learn about poverty, and act to address poverty.
Also on the website, you will find “The Web of Poverty” video that looks into “the complexity of poverty, how it connects to everything we do and the factors that keep so many people and families entrapped in poverty,” as well as an interactive map of the USA that explores and compares the extent of poverty at the state and county levels (source: www.povertyusa.org/data).
How extensive is poverty in North Carolina? According to July 2021 U.S. Census data, 12.9 percent of North Carolinians live in poverty, higher than the national average of 11.4 percent.
Food insecurity often goes hand-in-hand with poverty. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, 12.1 percent North Carolina’s households face food insecurity.
An opportunity to take time to grow in awareness of the issue of poverty, and learn about the struggles of our neighbors in need, follows upon the desire of Pope Francis that we recognize that “poverty is not an inevitable misfortune: it has causes that must be recognized and removed, in order to honor the dignity of many brothers and sisters, after the example of the saints” (Pope Francis, Angelus of Oct. 15, 2017).
— Joseph Purello, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Joseph Purello is Catholic Charities’ Director of Social Concerns and Advocacy.