Poverty In Chester County

Although Chester County may be the highest income county in Pennsylvania and ranked the 21st highest in the nation; we still suffer greatly from food insecure families and insufficient means to live by.1 In just this county alone we are seeing an assortment in our annual income from 63% of Coatesville residents earning less than $50,000 a year, to Charlestown, where over 90% of their residents are earning over $50,000 a year. With a population of nearly five-hundred-thousand individuals, nearly 6% are food insecure. That is approximately three-thousand people living in poverty.4 This means that the remaining counties in Pennsylvania have on average more than 2.3% of their population living below poverty level. With only 4.3% unemployed, compared to 6.2% for the entirety of America, it just goes to show how many more are suffering in our country.3 It’s hard to think that one in eight people living in Chester …show more content…
Thankfully Chester County just so happens to be the home of the Chester County Food Bank, which sole mission is to “grow, purchase, process, store and distribute food, with a focus on nutrition and freshness, to a network of 30 cupboards and 61 meal sites.” (FB) Currently in Chester County, there are 13.7% of our households receiving Food Stamps.4 Due to Chester County’s diverse environment the Chester County Food Bank has had the opportunity to expand, out of its origin, in a garage, to a 36,000-square-foot facility with access to the counties rich 720 square miles of resources including farms, organizations and volunteers. (FB) The Food Bank has developed numerous programs to help supply fresh food to those that cannot access it, and