The Appalachian region of Ohio is widely recognized as having a history of poverty. According to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, 17% of individuals in Southeast Ohio were living below the federal poverty line in 2023, higher than the state average of 13%.
Athens County is not an exception to this issue, with 25% of individuals living below the poverty line in 2023, the highest rate in the state.
President of the Athens City Council Sam Crowl attributed the long, deep-rooted history of coal mining as a prominent cause of the issue in Appalachia. The region's economy was once dominated by coal mining, providing jobs for many Southeastern Ohioans.
After increased government regulations, many coal mining industries left the region, leaving individuals without jobs.
“When the coal mining industry pulled out, it left us not only with a population that was heavily impacted on a health standard from having had families and generations who worked in the mines, but you also had a lot of people who depended on that mining industry and that extraction industry for wages,” Crowl said. “So the populations and the towns that have grown all throughout our region over time have had less and less source of wages.”
The issue of poverty has a substantial impact on children in the Southeast Ohio area. According to Data USA, 22.7% of children in Athens County were living in poverty in 2024.
Christine DeLamatre, director of child development programs at Hocking Athens Perry Community Action, commented on how child poverty impacts the Southeast Ohio area.
“Child poverty looks like families living in substandard housing, or families having no housing,” DeLamatre said. “It's children that don't have access to reliable or high-quality childcare, children that don't have access to food on a regular basis, there are children that are hungry on the weekends or in the evening, families that are unemployed or underemployed due to a lack of transportation.”
HAPCAP operates several programs that assist individuals living in poverty in the Southeast Ohio region. A common issue for impoverished individuals in the Southeast Ohio area is food insecurity. Rates of food insecurity in the region continue to be higher than the state average, according to a study from the National Library of Medicine.
The NLM’s study found in in Southeast Ohio one in seven individuals, including one in five children, struggled with food insecurity in 2020, higher than the state average of one in nine individuals, including one in six children, suffering from food insecurity.
To help mitigate the issue, HAPCAP owns and operates the Southeast Ohio Foodbank, which is aimed at providing meals to individuals in 10 counties who cannot access or afford them.
Over the summer, HAPCAP introduced a new project with the food bank called Summer Meals. The program provided an opportunity for children to obtain two reliable meals a day while school was not in session.
Public Relations Coordinator for HAPCAP, Valerie Stillson, talked about the importance of the project.
“This is a program specifically designed to help children access meals when they're out of school, when they don't have that reliable access to breakfast and lunch every day, which might be the only food that some children have access to,” Stillson said.
DeLamatre commented on why Southeastern Ohio faces specific issues with poverty.
“One of the things that makes it unique in Southeastern Ohio is the very rural nature of our communities and the lack of public transportation and other support services,” DeLamatre said. “There aren't jobs in these little communities that can support a family.”
HAPCAP also runs projects like Bringing Healthy Home, which helps support pregnant women by providing resources, education and health assistance. The non-profit also offers Head Start, a program to provide children from ages 3-5 who come from low-income families with free preschool.
Director of Community Services at HAPCAP Jessica Stroh said over 100 children in Athens were considered homeless in 2024. Stroh cited the data from the local school districts.
“Those kids don't have choices … and so we're trying to design programs that help to serve the whole family, the children and the parents,” Stroh said. “Because it takes working with the whole family to really make a difference for everybody.”
According to DeLamatre, local governments in Southeast Ohio do not have the funding or resources to provide money for these programs, often putting the burden on local organizations such as HAPCAP or the Athens County Foundation.
“Most of our funding is through the state, federal government, or private foundation or grants,” DeLamatre said. “But part of it is because we are rural, and these local governments don't have much money. They're not throwing money at a food program or Head Start.”
Stillson commented on what can be done moving forward to best support individuals living in poverty.
“Although we cannot make up the difference through private support, any amount that folks are able to give to help for these programs does make a very significant difference … but also just becoming an advocate for anti-poverty programs is really important,” Stillson said.
