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Report: The Neighbors in Need Fund
This report chronicles the history and impact of the Fund since its inception in late 2008. Required reading for anyone interested in philanthropy's response to the recession!
Download the report HERE.
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Key Trends
Get the facts about how the economic crisis is affecting people across the Washington, DC region -- they are the human face of the recession.
The Community Foundation is tracking the downturn impact on hunger, home foreclosure, and unemployment. The numbers show how urgent the need is.
Hunger
It's hard to believe that here in the Nation's Capital hundreds of thousands of people don't have enough to eat. But this is the reality. Approximately 1/3 of Neighbors In Need grants have been directed to combat growing rates of hunger.
Some of the facts:
- Approximately 633,000 people in the Washington, DC area are experiencing or are at risk of hunger; of those, 200,000 are children
- In Montgomery and Prince George's counties, 1 in 5 children is at risk of hunger (1 in 2 in DC)
- Statewide in Virginia, applications for food stamps have risen 18% since the recession began; in Montgomery County, MD, requests for requests for food stamps has risen 34.1% over 2008 levels See graph below.
- Working, but in need of assistance: nearly 60% of Capital Area Food Bank clients reported that they are currently employed
- Approximately 1/3 of Capital Area Food Bank clients reported having to choose between buying food and paying utilities; between buying food and paying rent/mortgage; between buying food and paying for medicine/medical care
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Foreclosure
As with many parts of the country, foreclosure rates have escalated in the Washington, DC region.
Some of the facts:
- In the DC area, Maryland suffered the biggest increase in mortgage defaults, with foreclosures jumping 66% from June 2009 to July 2009
- In Virginia, foreclosures rose 11% in the same period; in DC, they increased 25% in that period
- First wave of foreclosures regionally have disproportionately affected people of color, particularly African-Americans
- Prince George's County (MD) continues to have the highest foreclosure rate in the state of Maryland
Unemployment
Unemploymenmt rates in the Washington region have hit double-digits.
Some of the facts:
- As of January 2010, the unemployment rate in the District of Columbia was 10.2%; in some city quadrants, the figure is over 20%
- In July 2009, Maryland's unemployment rate was 7.3%, up from 7.2% in the previous month
- In that same time period, some 35,000 DC residents were unemployed
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