Fast Facts:
- A pound of food can be purchased for 16 cents.
- The average age of a homeless person in the Lehigh Valley is 9.
- Children accounted for 36.6% of the total homeless population in the LV in 2006.
- A total of 42.1 % of the parents residing in shelters with their children did not graduate from high school or receive their GED.
- Lehigh County has the third highest drop out rate in Pennsylvania.
- A major contributor to youths seeking gang membership is their failure to obtain a high school education.
- 1000 kids per year in the Lehigh Valley do not graduate from high school
- Nationally, in 2005, the HS drop out rate was 9.4%
- White - 6%, Black - 10.4%, Hispanic - 22.4%
- In the LV, over 44.000 people participated in the food stamp program in May of 2006. Food stamps provide $1 per meal per day. The number of people participating increased 82% between January 2001 and 2005.
- One of the characteristics National Merit Scholars have in common is the fact that they eat dinner with their families........
- A family would have to work 118 hours per week at minimum wage to be able to afford the fair market rent in the LV for a 2 bedroom apartment.
- Education underfunded........
- According to "Costing out the Resources Needed to Meet PA's Public Education Goals"
Allentown is underfunded by $5,625 per student
Bethlehem .............................$3,656................
Easton....................................$3,353................
- In 2005, PA ranked 42 among 50 states in the Education Week Quality Counts evaluation of school finance equity.
- Every $1 invested in high quality early childhood education saves $7 later by reducing the need for remedial and special education, welfare, and criminal justice services.
- The Lehigh Valley does not have its own Health Department.
- Pennsylvania has the second oldest population in the country.
- Twenty eight percent of all medical dollars are spent in the last 6 months of life.
- Every $1 spent on primary care of children saves $3 in medical care expense.
- The number of obese children in the Lehigh Valley has doubled in the last 20 years to 15%.
