The Dispatch wrote Poverty extends to outskirts

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

BY SHERRI WILLIAMS

Delaware County is Ohio’s fastest-growing, but pockets of poverty exist there and are increasing, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week.

There were 1,428 more people in the county living below the poverty line last year than the year before, reflecting an increase from 3.7 percent of the population in 2006 to 4.5 percent in 2007, according to U.S. Census estimates.

It’s not the 16.3 percent in Franklin County, or the 11.8 percent in Licking or the 9.6 percent in Fairfield.

Although the rest of central Ohio might consider Delaware County — population 161,000, with its booming growth and large-tract homes — an affluent place, not all of its residents are prosperous, said Jim Cesa, executive director of the Community Action Organization of Delaware, Madison & Union Counties Inc.

Higher gasoline prices are a barrier for needy families to get the help they need in Delaware County, he said. “We’re getting calls from folks calling for food but (who) don’t have the gas to come pick it up.”

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