The Truth

According to the 2005 US Census, North Carolina has a population of 8.2 million people; our state’s population has more than doubled since 1950. Of these people, 2.9 million qualify for legal services under federal poverty guidelines.

Currently, Legal Aid of North Carolina’s 122 lawyers have the resources to serve only 25,000 of these persons; they have to turn away 8 out of every 10 clients simply because there is not enough staff to handle the work load. Clearly the vast majority of the poor in our state are unable to obtain the legal help they need, something many of us take for granted.

The average income of Legal Aid's clients is only $9,100 annually. Of the people Legal Aid is able to help, 80% are the working poor and 75% are women. So, the general feeling that this group is lazy and unwilling to help themselves is an untruth since 80% of them work.

Between 2000 and 2005, United States Census data reveals significant increases in the percentage of individuals living in poverty in many areas of North Carolina, including:

So what is the cascading effect of these statistics? The poor and their children are in a spiraling abyss of poverty and violence. An inability to break away from this cycle leads to more government spending to treat the effects of poverty with few measurable results and lessens the quality of living for all North Carolinians.

For more statisics about poverty and your particular county, click here.

Last Update: Tuesday, January 15, 2008