January is Poverty Awareness Month

The current official poverty measure was developed in the mid 1960s by Mollie Orshansky, a staff economist at the Social Security Administration. Poverty thresholds were derived from the cost of a minimum food diet multiplied by three to account for other family expenses. – US CensusTo learn more about poverty:

• Read a few of our blog posts
  • Causes and Conditions of Poverty 
  • Children and Poverty
  • Poverty and Poor Health
  • Myths and Facts of Poverty graphics and links
• See Mark Rank’s Confronting Poverty Facts & Myths brief
• View the poverty guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
• Explore the History of the US Poverty Measure
• See local statistics on our Report Webpage
  • Des Moines County – 4/25/2025
  • Henry County – 8/9/2024
  • Lee County – 7/24/2023
• Walk through an online poverty simulation here as if you were in poverty with difficult decisions to make.
• Take a short self paced course by Iowa Community Action Association
  • A Brief History of Poverty in America 
  • How We Measure Poverty