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The Suburbs Are The New Epicenter Of Poverty

You might think of the suburbs as those cozy places where people with more money live to escape the city. But it turns out that the suburbs are now the epicenter of poverty in America.

In the last decade, the rate of poverty in the suburbs has risen 66 percent — double the rise of poverty in the cities during the same time period.

Elizabeth Kneebone, author of “ Confronting Suburban Poverty in America” and a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Maria  Gomez, the  president of Mary’s Center in Washington, D.C., joins  Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson to discuss suburban poverty in America.

[Youtube]

Guests

  • Elizabeth Kneebone, author of “Confronting Suburban Poverty in America” and a fellow at the Brookings Institution. She tweets @ekneebone.
  • Maria Gomez, president and founder of Mary’s Center in Washington, D.C.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

An infographic from Confronting Suburban Poverty in America (confrontingsuburbanpoverty.org)
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An infographic from Confronting Suburban Poverty in America (confrontingsuburbanpoverty.org)

This infographic shows what's driving the rise in suburban poverty. (Brookings Institution)
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This infographic shows what's driving the rise in suburban poverty. (Brookings Institution)