The Poverty Puzzle
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THE POVERTY PUZZLE TIMESFREEPRESS.COM / POVERTYPUZZLE PUBLISHED MARCH 6, 2016 EDITOR’S NOTE n 2015, the Chatta- hood that has seen better times. And we see nooga Times Free panhandlers with cardboard signs standing Press poured an un- at intersections seeking a handout. But we precedented amount quickly forget, lost in our own lives. of time and energy Truth is, poverty usually doesn’t directly I into researching affect most of us unless someone we know the roots of and (maybe us) is laid off and finds it hard to solutions to Chat- land another job. Or perhaps someone in tanooga’s economic our family is hard hit by medical expenses reality; we made this investment as other re- and faces not having enough money, too gional news outlets were pulling back from many bills and a genuine fear of losing our long-term reporting projects. home. Suddenly, poverty becomes very real. Initially, the idea behind The Poverty In our reporting, we discovered that our Puzzle series was fairly cliché: the tale of region, state and city are being crippled by two cities. Chattanooga had been getting powerful forces that aren’t being discussed a significant amount of positive attention publicly. Chattanooga can certainly boast nationally, but on the ground, our reporters about its good numbers: lower unemploy- saw another story unfolding. ment, job growth in high-paying fields, low After the Great Recession, poverty in- taxes and relatively low cost of living. But creased among all ethnic groups in the city, its there are other numbers and cutting-edge outlying suburbs, the rural pockets of Hamil- research being ignored that will matter greatly ton County and the greater metro area. What to the area’s residents in the years to come. our reporters learned after more than a year City boosters sell the tale of a downtrod- of reporting was that poverty had become a den city that reclaimed its prominence, and symptom of huge societal shifts, happening the city’s story is certainly impressive. But unnoticed by most, including us. we found a new challenge barrelling toward And that got us thinking. How many of us us and those paying attention knew what actually pay a lot of attention to the poverty was coming. So The Poverty Puzzle expand- in our city? Sure, we see it when we drive ed as we realized how complex the issue is. by someone sleeping on the sidewalk, a A typical series on poverty focuses on not-uncommon sight in Chattanooga. Or we the struggle of the poor, and you will find notice it when we drive through a neighbor- those diverse voices in the series. What 2 you also will find in this newspaper and those who believe finding a solution to poverty online is a focus on the people and ap- is a societal obligation and those who think proaches focused on change. We worked it’s an individual’s responsibility. We hope with the Solutions Journalism Network, a you will see balance and fairness in this New York-based nonprofit organization, series in the coming weeks. to craft ways to tell stories that don’t just You may think this series is not for present a societal problem but also offer a you because, as we wrote, poverty may solution. Our reporters studied programs not affect you now. But there is a high that actually work to help people climb likelihood that, in the coming decades, it out of poverty. Some of those programs will affect your community or neighbors. are underway in our community. If nothing is done on a local level, even We sought to not only offer human stories those who remain economically secure of hardship and triumph but also a collection in this region will feel the effects of pov- of the most well-respected and nonpartisan erty — maybe they won’t be able to find thinking on the economic, social and cultural qualified employees for their business or issues surrounding poverty. We talked with they’ll find their family zoned for a school some of the brightest minds in academia and with high poverty numbers and low test traveled out of state to talk with those facing scores. So please read the series, but don’t similar challenges, hoping to bring home stop there. This is a problem that requires insights and share what we learned. neighbor-to-neighbor conversations and We understand that poverty is a politically neighbor-to-neighbor change. sensitive topic and that who we interviewed As a newspaper, we can educate, moder- for the series mattered. So we reached out and ate and hold people accountable. But the built relationships with people on all sides of ideas, passion and execution must come the issues — rich, poor, conservative, liberal, from the community. Alison Gerber is editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Reach her at [email protected] or 423-757-6408 and @aligerb. 3 PIECES OF THE PUZZLE 05. / THE BIG PICTURE 72. / BLUE COLLAR BLUES 11. Both Sides Now 75. Roots of the Problem 15. The Growth Machine 78. The Lost Boys 18. The Politics of Poverty 82. The New Man 84. The Wallet 88. A Ray of Hope 23. / THE LONG SHADOW 26. Beginnings Matter 90. / FULL CIRCLE 28. The Mother Lode 31. Drifting 93. The Cliff Effect 35. Boots on the Ground 97. / REWRITING MCDOWELL 38. / WHEN HELPING HEALS 100. The Great Divide 41. Morality vs. Grace 104. Signs of Life 43. ‘When Helping Hurts’ 107. The Governor’s Wife 46. The Rich Man 110. The Mountaineers 48. ‘Light Break Forth’ 112. Change of Heart 52. / A SCHOOL LIKE HOME 115. / ABOUT THE REPORTING 55. No Margin for Error 116. / BUILDING THE PUZZLE 60. The Real Gap 63. In Loco Parentis 68. The Hard Way Visit timesfreepress.com/povertypuzzle 70. Beyond Basics for all citations and references. CREDITS REPORTING PHOTOGRAPHY DESIGN, INFOGRAPHICS EDITING & COPY EDITING Joan Garrett McClane Maura Friedman & PUZZLE ILLUSTRATIONS Mark Kennedy, Lisa Denton, & Joy Lukachick Smith & Doug Strickland Matt McClane Joan Garrett McClane, David Cooper & Alison Gerber VIDEOGRAPHY WEB DEVELOPMENT Maura Friedman Ellis Smith, Ken Barrett, & Mary Helen Maura Friedman, WEB CONSULTANT Montgomery Mary Helen Montgomery Winston Hearn 4 CHAPTER 1 THE BIG PICTURE BY JOAN GARRETT MCCLANE PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOUG STRICKLAND N SOME MORN- Those who don’t make it to the line in time INGS the line are sent home. Try another day, volunteers say. begins forming as Then, like clockwork, Anna Katharine early as 2 a.m. Horne, a recent Covenant College graduate, Some ride wheel- will enter the room and explain the ground O chairs paid for by rules to those who made the cut. Medicare for miles on “We can help with rent from the fi rst of the bumpy city sidewalks, month through the 15th. We can help with past condo construc- power bills from the 15th to the end of the tion and $30-a-plate restaurants. Some beg month. There are food vouchers, but you can’t neighbors for pocket change so they can catch get a voucher if you get cash assistance. You a bus. Some drive their cars on fumes, wonder- can only choose one.” ing if they will have enough gas to get home. “You matter,” she says at one point in her Some walk, sometimes for hours. speech. And when 8 a.m. arrives and the doors unlock “Does anyone want to pray?” she asks, at Metropolitan Ministries on McCallie Avenue, almost always fi nding a volunteer. one of the last vestiges of emergency fi nancial Those gathered bow their heads. help for Chattanoogans teetering on homeless- “Thank you for waking us up in the morning,” ness, 33 people shuffl e in to take a number and someone prays. “Thank you for getting us here.” a seat. “Just 33,” signs around the building read, Horne tries not to draw attention to those reminders of the constant tension between who open their eyes and can’t hide the tears mounting needs and limited resources. running down their cheeks. TIMESFREEPRESS.COM / POVERTYPUZZLE 5 Anna Katharine Horne, who goes by the nickname Anna Kat, greets the day’s clients as they enter Metropolitan Ministries one morning in March 2015. As the stability navigator for MetMin, Horne helps match clients with programs available from other area providers when their needs fall outside the normal scope of MetMin’s mission. HERE IS A reason tank,” they called it. why Chattanooga Others doubted the city could compete is called the renais- for Volkswagen and Amazon or build and sance city of the expand the fastest Internet in the Western South. Hemisphere to stake a claim in America’s T It was the come- emerging technology sector. back kid. The under- But those with ambition and money ig- dog. The American nored the critics, and two decades later that dream. transformational energy has a name: “The No one thought Chattanooga would be a Chattanooga Way.” tourism magnet after Walter Cronkite told Even the president of the United States the entire country on the nightly news that knows the shorthand of Chattanooga’s Chattanooga was the dirtiest city in the nation. narrative. It was just an old railroad town, When Coca-Cola multimillionaire Jack Barack Obama said during a speech in Janu- Lupton promised his freshwater Tennessee ary of last year. “That didn’t stop them.” Aquarium would be the cornerstone of a Yet, in the last few years — as national new downtown people laughed. “Jack’s fish research has shed new light on poverty and 6 POVERTY: A STORM ON THE HORIZON Poverty rates have increased among all segments of society as stagnant wages, rising costs, falling civic engagement, per- sistent economic segregation, consistently unsuccessful educational intervention and the growing decoupling of marriage from childrearing continue to shape the futures of children and families.