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Named for the Catholic patron saint of soldiers, the city of San Elizario lies on the banks of the Rio Grande in far western Texas, directly on the Mexican border. It’s an old town — first visited in 1598 by Spanish explorers, and permanently settled since 1789. The town changed hands often throughout its history — first belonging to colonial Spain, then Mexico, and finally an American town in 1848.

Its border town status shows in the town’s demographics. Roughly 35% of residents are foreign born, and over 98% identify as Latino. San Elizario experiences poverty at a startling rate: 

  • 35% of all residents live below the federal poverty line
  • the average household earns $36,203 before taxes 
  • only 11% of residents over the age of 25 have a college degree

Our community partner organization in San Elizario is Familias Triunfadoras, Inc. a women-led nonprofit founded in 2006 by a group of local community activists aiming to improve quality of life along the US/Texas border. Their mission is to empower women and families in this underserved region through programs emphasizing family strengthening, community unity, asset building, community development and economic self-sufficiency. 

Community Contact
Maria Ortiz
Familias Triunfadoras
PO Box 1352
San Elizario, TX 79849

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Data Sources:

https://cityofsanelizario.com/about/
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/sanelizariocitytexas
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/san-elizario-tx#about

Located on the shores of the Long Island Sound in New York’s Westchester County is the picturesque town of Mamaroneck. Typified by historic buildings and grassy lawns (the town’s Winged Foot Golf Course hosted the U.S. Open in 2020), it’s not a place one would expect to find poverty or food insecurity. Mamaroneck’s median household income is close to $100,000. 

But in spite of the prosperity experienced by most in the village, a significant number of families struggle against high costs of living — the median apartment rent is over $2,700 per month — and low wages. These issues pose tremendous challenges for the 8.1% of residents living below the poverty line, many of whom are recent immigrants from Latin America.

Our community partner on the ground is the Washingtonville Housing Alliance, a nonprofit that works to provide affordable housing to low income families and individuals within Mamaroneck and the surrounding area. To date, they have constructed or rehabilitated 115 apartments for those in need. Mamaroneck families sponsored through our program receive monthly grocery store gift cards, distributed by Bertha Gallo at Washington Housing Alliance.

Community Partner:
Bertha Gallo
Washingtonville Housing Alliance
136 Library Lane
Mamaroneck, N.Y. 10543  

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Best known for its wealthiest pockets (there are more than 5,200 people with over $30 million in assets in L.A.), sprawling Los Angeles County also suffers from severe poverty and economic inequality. Concentrated wealth and gentrification have led to exorbitant rent prices and a lack of affordable housing, adding to an acute homelessness problem. On an average night 55,000 people in L.A. County experience homelessness, many living in encampments. 

According to the Census Bureau’s 2013-2017 data on L.A. County:

  • 17.0 % of the population, or 1,688,505 individuals, lives below the federal poverty level
  • 19.6% of families with children live below the poverty level

Family-to-Family works with two community partners in L.A. — one supporting our Sponsor A Refugee program and one supporting our flagship Sponsor A Family program.

Families in need for Sponsor a Family are recommended by the non-profit organization FEAST in L.A. (Food, Education, Access, Support, Together), whose mission is to help families live healthier lives. FEAST offers wellness programs to low income families that focus on food and nutrition information, and offer access to fresh, healthy foods. Providing these families with monthly grocery gift cards through our sponsorship program enables them to purchase the kinds of healthy foods FEAST encourages for lifestyle changes.

Many L.A. families struggling in poverty are also part of the county’s large and diverse immigrant population, a group that makes up 36% of its total population.  

The city has voiced a strong commitment to supporting refugees — in 2019 the city council passed a resolution naming L.A. a sanctuary city and additionally declared L.A. a “welcoming city” for refugees. To provide support for impoverished refugees in the LA. area, Family-to-Family works with Human Rights First, a non-profit, international human rights organization that identifies families in need to our organization and acts as a liaison to the families we sponsor. 

Community Contacts:

Diana Diaz Madera
Human Rights First
3680 Wilshire Blvd. Ste PO4-414
Los Angeles, CA  90010

Amy Vu
FEAST
3655 South Grand Ave. #210
Los Angeles, CA 90007  

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a refugee family!

Home to the once infamous maximum security prison known as Sing Sing, the town of Ossining sits alongside New York’s Hudson River just 17 miles north of Family-to-Family’s headquarters.

With a population of over 38,000, Ossining is an ethnically diverse community where 35% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino; 30% percent are recent immigrants to the U.S. and 41% of households speak a language other than English in the home. Many families also struggle with low literacy levels.

  • 54% of children in Ossining are eligible for and receive free or reduced lunch at school, with enrollment rising.
  • 42% of children live in households that are either low-income or below the federal poverty line
  • Over 15% of all families have an annual income under $35,000, money that doesn’t go far enough in a town where the cost of living is 30% higher than the national average (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

In response to the needs of the community, the Ossining School District has sought to redefine the role of the schools in order to bridge gaps in community services and meet the needs of students and families who are increasingly relying on the schools for support. The district has been innovative in its efforts to raise awareness of poverty in the community, including through the introduction of a “simulated poverty experience” designed to raise awareness of and empathy towards issues of food scarcity and poverty among the student body and parents.

To help combat hunger there, Family-to-Family works with the Ossining School District, which identifies families in need for our family sponsorship program. Ossining sponsored families receive a monthly grocery gift card to the local Stop & Shop supermarket where they can shop for what they most need.

Data Sources:
US Census Bureau, Community Survey 2016-2017
Ossining Educators Participate in Poverty Simulation Experience 
Ossining Community Snapshot 

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Located in far western Missouri, the tiny town of Rich Hill is 70 miles due south of Kansas City and a stone’s throw from the Kansas border.

Once a thriving coal mining town, Rich Hill’s downtown today is dilapidated and littered with vacant storefronts. The shrinking population is 1,393, as of the 2010 U.S. Census, and 37% of children under 18 live below the federal poverty line.  30% of wage earners earn less than $10,000 a year.

Rich Hill caught Family-to-Family’s eye when Executive Director Pam Koner watched the 2014 documentary “Rich Hill,” a Sundance Film Festival prize winning film about the lives and struggles of three impoverished Rich Hill teenage boys.

With mainly low wage job opportunities and a higher than average unemployment rate, Rich Hill is the perfect recipient of our Sponsor A Family program.

Family-to-Family’s partners in Rich Hill are the Rich Hill Elementary School and The Rich Hill Ministerial Alliance.  Families in need are recommended to us by the school principal, and once sponsored, pick up their monthly groceries (purchased from the local Food Fair store) at the Ministerial Alliance.

Community Partners:
Jani Drake, Principal
Rich Hill Elementary School
320 East Poplar Street
Rich Hill, MO 64779

Mark Kailbourn
The Rich Hill Ministerial Alliance
215 East Park Ave.
Rich Hill, MO 64779

Learn more about the hardships facing Rich Hill.

The Poverty of Relentless Disappointment: Rich Hill and a Vanishing American Dream

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Just 20 minutes north of Birmingham, the town of Brookside (population 1,363) is a small pocket of nature and beauty next to the big city. The town sits on six square miles along the bank of Five Mile Creek, hence the name Brookside. A former mining town, it grew up around the Brookside Coal Mine, which opened in 1886. Original settlers were eastern European immigrants who flocked there in order to work in the mines. When the mines closed in the 1920s, Brookside saw economic troubles that have persisted ever since.

According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2013-2017 data:

  • 41% of Brookside children live below the federal poverty line
  • 45% of adults 25 or older do not have a high school diploma
  • 33% of families have an annual income of less than $15,000 a year

Family-to-Family’s contact in Brookside is Kara Miller of the Boys and Girls Club of Brookside.  The club provides extensive after-school programs, including homework help and tutoring.  When the school year is over, the club runs summer programs to keep area kids busy, healthy, fit, and happy.

A large number of the children served by the Brookside Boys and Girls Club live in poverty, with an estimated 80% qualifying for free lunch at school.  Many are being raised by single mothers or grandparents, and live in public housing.

In Brookside, we work with the local Publix Super Market to provide monthly groceries for our sponsored families.

Community Liaison:
Kara Miller
Brookside Boys & Girls Club
4199 Municipal Drive
Brookside, AL 35036

Data Source: Poverty & Education statistics – U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 American Community Survey

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!