In Springfield, we have many legislators committed to ending poverty, and each year many bills are introduced to tackle it. Everyone has their heart in the right place. This year we finally got our heads in the right place when we created a commission to target the reduction of poverty.
Our failure to move this issue forward was due in part to the lack of a unified effort. That is why I sponsored House Bill 4369, to create the Commission on the Elimination of Poverty -- the first step towards the primary goal of a 50 percent reduction of poverty in Illinois by 2015. The commission will provide recommendations on how the state legislature can address access to safe and affordable housing, food and nutrition, affordable health care, quality education and training, and dependable transportation. The recently signed bill is the result of several statewide forums on poverty organized by the Mid-America Institute on Poverty at the Heartland Alliance.
In Illinois, it is estimated that 1.4 million people fall below the poverty line and 700,000 live in extreme poverty. While anyone can find themselves in such dire circumstances, some are at greater risk than others. For instance, senior women are 61 percent more likely to live in extreme poverty than senior men, and individuals without a high school diploma are three times more likely than those with a college degree. These are just a few of the findings contained in the Heartland Alliance's recent report "Realizing Human Rights in Illinois."
In a changing economy, it is difficult to define poverty in dollar amounts. Indeed, it is easier to do so by pointing out what an individual lacks.
