To survive and thrive, everyone needs enough to eat, a safe place to live, and the ability to visit the doctor when they’re sick. Yet one out of every nine Mainers—more than 150,000 of our family, friends, and neighbors—live below the poverty level, unable to consistently meet these basic needs.
Approximately 70,000 (spreadsheet) Mainers (5.3 percent) live in “deep” or “extreme” poverty – or with an income below 50 percent of the poverty level. Despite Maine’s low rates of unemployment, an unacceptably high number of Maine children live in poverty– an estimated 35,000 children (14 percent) –and these children are growing up in households with an average household income of less than $12,000 a year, according to the most recent data available.
Some people are more likely to face poverty based on who they are or where they live.
Economic security programs (the safety net of government assistance, including programs such as TANF, SNAP, and SSI) have cut poverty nearly in half. Today’s economic security programs don’t just help Mainers stay housed, healthy, and fed. These programs also make it possible for people to work, care for themselves and their families, and reach for education and training opportunities. Meeting basic needs is a prerequisite for getting and keeping a job.
Federal and state supports increase incomes for millions of Americans, lifting households above the poverty level and reducing the burdens of poverty for millions more. In Maine, economic security programs such as food assistance (SNAP), school lunch subsidies, and tax credits, have helped decrease child poverty by over 50%.
Maine Equal Justice represents the interests of people with low income in all three branches of government to ensure access to economic security programs and to advance policies so people can access the food, shelter and health care they need.
While public assistance programs play a critical role, they do not take the place of a secure, well-paying job. Many people struggle to get and keep a job and policies and laws should help poor families to earn a living through work. Policy decisions can dramatically affect whether families in poverty can successfully participate in the workforce.
Maine Equal Justice focuses its work on many of the issues that affect people’s daily lives – access to adequate health care, housing, transportation and childcare; food and income security; and higher education and training. Maine Equal Justice is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization. Our EIN is 04-3346273.
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126 Sewall Street, Augusta ME 04330 (Map) • Toll-free: 1-866-626-7059 • FAX: 207-621-8148