Oregon State University
 OSU HOME | EXTENSION HOME | ONLINE CATALOG | ORDERING INFORMATION
Extension Service

HOME
PART 1 - What it means to be poor
PART 2 - What causes poverty?
PART 3 - Who are the poor?
PART 4 - Who's doing what?
PART 5 - What does the future hold?

Oregon's unseen poor
The light turns red and you stop eye-to-eye with a middle- aged woman holding a handwritten sign that says, "I'm hungry. Please help me." complete story

Remarriage and training help single mom escape poverty
"My husband was a Vietnam vet," says Sharon Thornberry of Philomath, Ore., explaining how she and her two children ended up homeless in Texas 20 years ago. complete story

Homelessness in Oregon, life on the streets
I am a 49-year-old father of three, Vietnam-era U.S. Navy veteran. Raised in a large, old-fashioned extended family in the deep South, I was brought up with a strong work ethic. complete story

Workshop simulates what it's like to be poor
A person can't know what it's like to experience genuine poverty until he or she has. complete story

Official government poverty line shows signs of old age
Poverty is generally defined in terms of income needed to meet basic needs for food, housing, clothing and transportation. complete story

1999 federal poverty guidelines

Chart image showing 1999 federal poverty guidelines 

Disclaimer: The OSU Extension Service published "A Portrait of Poverty in Oregon" in Winter 2000. Some of the information may be outdated. Extension continues to provide this material online because much of its content is timeless or of historical significance.


Produced and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Extension work is a cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials without discrimination based on age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran's status. Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Copyright © 1995- Oregon State University. Disclaimer.