Sherry Hamilton wrote a magnificently informative article in the May 7 issues of the Gloucester - Mathews Gazette Journal entitled High poverty rate placing demands on Social Services We all should be very grateful to Sherry for this excellent journalism. Mathews County
Mathews County is located on the eastern tip of Virginia's Middle Peninsula, which is formed by the Rappahannock River, the York River and the Chesapeake Bay. The County is 80 miles from the state capital of Richmond, 65 miles from Hampton Roads and 155 miles from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
It is the second smallest county in virginia and if you count the light on the bridge to Gwynn's Island it has one stop light in the entire county.
It is a county rich in history and has the Gwynn's Island Museum to make a lot of that history available to the public. It contains the earliest known man made stone tool found in the Americas: the Cinmar discovery. This shed light on a
Radical theory of first Americans places Stone Age Europeans in Delmarva 20,000 years ago but that is a subject for books not this diary.
The county has remained relatively undeveloped, retaining the slow-paced, friendly charm of a country community. We recognize the need for planning so the beauty and bounty of the county can be enjoyed by future generations to come. The Board of Supervisors has given the highest priority to the orderly and controlled economic development of the county.
Mathews County is governed by a publicly elected five-member Board of Supervisors who serve four year staggered terms. The Board meets in the historic courthouse on the fourth Tuesday of each month staggering times between 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Daily operations of the county are handled by an appointed County Administrator. The county has adopted a comprehensive plan and zoning and subdivision ordinances.
Read on below and we can get more insights from Sherry's article.
It starts with this bombshell:
An estimated 17.7 percent of children in Mathews County are living in poverty, and the high percentage is taking its toll on those providing vital services to families in need.
“There has been a huge increase in services and child abuse complaints,” said Mathews County Social Services Director Jo Ann Harfst.
Harfst presented the latest statistics at the April 22 meeting of the Mathews County Board of Supervisors. While the 17.7 percent rate is lower than the Eastern region rate of 19.5 percent, it is higher than the statewide rate of 15.5 percent.
She also says:
Poverty rates among all ages were up, as well, but not nearly as much as among children alone. In 2012, the latest year for which statistics have been compiled, the total poverty rate in Mathews was 10.4 percent, up from the 10-year low of 8.1 percent, occurring in both 2005 and 2007.
In real numbers, 917 Mathews residents were living in poverty in 2012, and 266 of them were children under the age of 18.
Conversely, the percentage of unemployed Mathews residents is lower than that for both the Eastern region and statewide—4.7 percent, versus 6 percent and 5.5 percent respectively.
These are interesting numbers. The unemployment rate is low but poverty is high. This seems to reflect the way our American oligarchy has made having a job no way out of poverty.
More insights follow:
Harfst offered a “point in time” look at the number of clients receiving government assistance in Mathews, with the target month of June 2013. At that time, 1,069 Mathews residents were receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamp) assistance, with a racial mix of 779 white people, 175 black people, and 115 people of other races. Included in these racial categories were 34 people who identified themselves as ethnically Hispanic.
There were 957 residents on Medicaid—715 white, 168 black, and 37 of other races. Among these, 37 people identified as ethnically Hispanic. Finally, there were 55 cases of temporary aid to needy families (TANF)—34 white, 18 black, and three of other races, with one Hispanic included among them. The TANF numbers represent cases, rather than individuals; each one typically involves multiple family members.
The total number of Mathews residents who received benefits from any government program in 2013 was 1,919. The 2012 estimated population of Mathews County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was 8,899, with 86.6 percent white (not Hispanic or Latino), 9.1 percent black, 1.8 percent Hispanic or Latino, and 2.7 percent listed as “other.” Twenty-two percent of the county’s population received some kind of government help in 2013.
These demographics are very interesting and speak for themselves. Compare them with the myths the Tea Party and others promote about who receives help from the government.
Let us look at how Mathews shapes up politically: It usually votes republican 2:1. It has an active "Peninsula Patriots" Tea Party group which is part of a larger group involving surrounding counties. These folks have a very active propaganda machine and have had a lot of influence in their republican parties.
My wife and I have lived here since 1998. We retired from our jobs in Richmond a few years after that. We have been involved in local politics and the Mathews Democratic Committee.
When we arrived in 1998 we had a hard time seeing any sign of the local democrats but the party was rejuvenated and is now alive and well.
In recent years republican activity has been dominated by Tea Party members and a
has had focused on Agenda 21, "Property Rights" and Global Warming denial (the latest was a rally against "environmental extremism" and its purported effect on property rights.
The letters to the editor column is peppered with regular diatribes which, in my mind, are no more than paranoid delusion. Hand made signs spread propaganda at prominent locations around the county.
The article also discusses the skewing of average income in county ststistics due to the relatively large number of well off people who own property in the county. It is a very attractive place for beach houses, retirement houses and other high income attractions.
It seems clear that significant numbers of people among the voters who make up the 2:1 republican majority are not well off. They are victims of the propaganda machine and vote against their own best interest. In that respect we are a microcosm of the Nation.
Can this be changed? Can the Mathews Democrats reach these voters? This report should be the basis for a movement for change in the county. Just like similar reports all over the country should be changing the political landscape. Yet we know that it is not that easy. Misleading frames like "big government", "welfare queens", "tax relief", etc. still seem as effective as ever.
There has to be an answer. The narrow margins in some of the recent Virginia elections and special elections were in significant part due to voters here in Mathews and other places.
I am old now and a lot slower than I used to be. Yet reading Sherry's article energized me. Something has to be done! The question is what. We need change and we need it badly and we need it quickly.