Preventing and reducing poverty in our communities means knocking down barriers to wealth. First, let’s look at poverty in Philadelphia, where we serve the most people.
The good news? Philadelphia’s poverty rate dropped by one percentage point between 2022 and 2023, marking the most significant year-over-year decrease in a decade, per The Philadelphia Inquirer via the U.S. Census Bureau. Still, Philadelphia remains the poorest of the nation’s 10 largest cities.
Let’s look at the numbers:
- Philadelphia’s poverty rate fell more than 1%. Philadelphia’s poverty rate in 2023 was 20.3%, a notable decrease from 21.7% in 2022. That still makes Philadelphia the poorest big city, with one in five residents living in poverty.
- Philly’s poverty rate decline was most significant among children. The city’s child poverty rate dropped by 4% between 2022 and 2023. Still, one in four children in Philadelphia live in poverty.
- Poverty declined for Black and Latino Philadelphians but increased among Asian residents. The rate of Asian Philadelphians living in poverty faced a significant increase of 1%. On the flip side, poverty rates fell half a percentage point for Black Philadelphians and 1.5% for Latino residents.
Those numbers don’t include the thousands more residents who technically live above the poverty level but make below the area median income and struggle to pay their bills. In order to lift more families out of wealth inequality, we must create and expand access to three essentials. Here’s what we’re doing at Clarifi:
- Financial Capability: Financial education is severely lacking in underserved and lower-income communities, as well as among young people and Black and Latino residents. By providing free, one-to-one financial counseling, we’re helping more people build strong financial habits that lead to healthier decisions and wealth-building. This uplifts entire communities and generations to follow too, as our clients pass down what they learned at Clarifi to neighbors, friends, and family.
- Homeownership: Homeownership is key to building wealth for most Americans. That’s why we prepare people for homeownership through pre- and post-purchase counseling. We also need to eliminate the long-term negative impacts of foreclosure and eviction. As the area’s largest housing agency that helped staff the first mediation court in the U.S., we advocate for homeowners and renters facing a housing crisis. Because the most affordable home is the one you’re currently in.
- Capital: People need access to cash, and they deserve the dignity and autonomy to use it on their terms. With that in mind, we did two things. 1. We helped create a low-barrier home repair loan so more homeowners can preserve their most important asset. We can’t build our way out of the affordable housing crisis, but we can maintain the homes we have now, and for much cheaper. 2. We started giving out cash grants during the pandemic, and have disbursed more than $1.3 million directly to clients. They’ve used the money to secure a stable home, save for a home purchase, invest in repairs, build emergency savings and more.
These solutions don’t come out of a vacuum: They’re a direct response to what our clients need – both for right now and for financially healthy futures.