European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                In lot Angeles father of six plays with three of Hla children in the cramped hotel room where they All live. Poverty rates growth of Buck poverty seen Asp a to 40% 39 3d 25 re 15 id i 19? a Mason to he by tvs eur Troty re a a n Man to met if. $ / 9l by it11 of i -i"1 a s�1 � 77 79 b1 83 85 got Truk Wojt a a Fiu Ruu it Tow Cwa by John herbets new York times Hen the Rev. A v. Savage established his Kitchen Lor 1ho poor in 1969. He envisioned the ire food Center in the heart of the Black District in Toledo Ohio As a temporary measure until economic Gams took Root from civil rights Laws and government an i Pover y programs almost two decades later. Savage. Sun founded the other Day by Mounds of unpeeled potatoes Volunteer workers and Street people waiting Lor a noon meat acknowledged that Many Toledo Blacks had indeed moved up the economic ladder and out of poor neighbourhoods. But he said that Black poverty had nevertheless spread both a numbers and in the area in which it is concentrated ii is worse not Teller he said an opinion echoed by  while and Black Lead its and r,ub5lanlialed by census figures in Hal Indus nil City which like Many of hrs. Is struggling to adjust to n service Economy. A new study based on census figures Lor 1970 and 19bg and Lalor surveys. Ids thai America s largest cities have a growing concentration of Blacks living m poverty while the our ill rate of poverty in the United states increased slightly in those years to about 13 percent m 980. The number of people in poverty in the 50 cities jumped 1 i.7 percent at a time when the cities were losing population All in All. The picture is grim said Richard p. Nathan professor of Public and International affairs at Princeton University. Urban problems Are gelling worse at precisely Tho Lime the nation is doing toss about them said Nathan to was a lop official in the office of management and budget and the department of health. Education and welfare in the Nixon administration and Lanct headed studies by the Brookings institution on the fiscal crises of cities and the effects of the Reagan administration s Bud gel cuts. Nathan said that Large Coneen ration of poverty in the cities is Iho real Urban crisis " concentrated Black poverty in Largo cities has became a Central concern o Many political scientists who see the increasing isolation of the poor As perpetuating the Cycle of unemployment broken families teen age pregnancy crime and drug use they also see it As a prime cause Tor Deleno Ramg race relations in some commune lies such As Howard Beach in Queens by where Young White men beat three Blacks seeking help for idea disabled automobile one of the Blacks was killed when to was struck by an Aulo White trying to escape. Whiles Many of them living in All White enclaves fear that Black poverty May spread info their areas and they react in irrational ways he experts say. As a result Black Milliance has increased uni. In some communities it is said 1o be at its highest since the Urban riots of the 1960s and Early 1970s Nathan began his study by comparing 1970 and 980 census figures from the nation s 50 largest cities which usually have the largest concentrations of poverty. The census Bureau lists As poverty areas those in which 20 percent or More of the population is below Tho poverty line As defined by the Federal government extreme poverty areas Are those where 40 percent or More of the people Are below Iho poverty line. In 1980. The government s official poverty level for a family of four was $8,414. In 1980. The total population of the 50 cities was 37,815,907, a decline of 5 percent Over the 10-year period. But the Overall population for the 50 cities with income below 1he poverty level increased in the decade despite the Overall population loss it Rose 11.7 percent to 6,708.464. The number of poor Whites however declined 18 percent to 2,629,498, while the number of poor Blacks Rose 1b percent to3,140.292, Over the same to years. The cities became both Blacker and poorer with the Blacks failing deeper Mlo poverty while Whites Rose from poverty at the same rate the study showed. That however does not Tell the extent of the concentration of poverty. Poor whiles living in poverty areas declined 5 percent Over the decade to 1,106.166, but the number of poor Blacks living in poverty areas Rose 23 percent. In i960, 34 percent of poor Blacks lived in poverty areas As against 47 percent of poor Whites. A larger contrast was shown in areas of extreme poverty. There the census Bureau counted 1.124,344 Blacks and 260.884 whiles. In 1980, census Bureau figures show thai the Overall poverty Rale for the country was at about 11 percent while it was 32 percent Lor Blacks 25 percent for hispanic people and 10 percent Lor whiles. Many changes have taken place in american cities since i960. Most cities have experienced downtown revival with the construction of office buildings hotels convention centers and considerable residential . There is no current census information to draw a direct comparison Wilh the 1970 and 1930 figures but Nathan and of hrs said census estimates and surveys since 1980 indicated that the trend to larger concentrations of Black poverty was continuing. Census Bureau surveys show thai the number of poor Blacks living in poverty areas of �43 cities continued to increase through 1983, even As those continued to Losa population to the suburbs. And information obtained from census surveys of 1985 Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday february 15, 1987