Sponsor a Family

The county seat of East Carroll Parish, Lake Providence is a small, impoverished city of roughly 4,000 people with a declining population. It is home to four prisons that make up a large part of the local economy. Located in the northeast corner of Louisiana, near both Arkansas and Mississippi, the town has natural beauty, featuring a six-mile-long lake lined with cypress trees. Area farms raise corn, soy beans, cotton, catfish and sweet potatoes.

Time Magazine once named Lake Providence “The Poorest Place In America,” reporting: “The town has no public parks or swimming pools, no movie theaters, no shopping malls, not even a McDonald’s or a Walmart…. Restless teenagers mill around narrow streets lined with burned-out houses and dilapidated trailer parks… If there is a poorer place in America, the Census Bureau cannot find it.

According to 2017 data:

• 70% of families with children live below the poverty line.
• 54% of families have an annual income of less than $15,000.
• Just over 78% of the population is African-American and almost 20% is white.

Sister Bernie Barrett, a member of the Leadership Conference of Religious Women, which works as a “change agent for a just world order,” coordinates Family-to-Family’s program in Lake Providence. Jong’s Market provides groceries for our sponsored families.

Community Contact:

Sister Bernie Barrett
106 Ingram St.
Lake Providence, Louisiana 71254

Read more about Lake Providence:

• The most unequal place in America
• Lake Providence Residents Work to End Cycle of Poverty
• Sister Bernie and her work with Lake Providence families here.

Data Sources: 2017 U.S. Census American Community Survey; Epodunk.com.; East Carroll Poverty – FedStats.

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!

Once a booming auto manufacturing center, Flint today is a dying industrial town with high poverty and unemployment. The water crisis that exploded in 2014 has added even more expense and stress for the population, with the burden falling mostly on the poor. Although the state determined the water quality to be safe in 2017, community organizations continue to warn that Flint’s water is undrinkable in many parts of the city.  

In 1970, General Motors employed 80,000 people in Flint; by 2015, that number was 6,000. More recently, with GM focusing on truck manufacturing, Flint has been spared some of the sweeping layoffs announced for facilities in other parts of Michigan. Nonetheless, the city has lost a significant portion of its more affluent population in recent years, even though Flint is home to four institutions of higher learning, including Kettering University, an engineering school that is the fastest growing university in Michigan. Vacant school buildings dot the city, as do acres of concrete surrounded by barbed wire, marking the remains of the factories where tens of thousands of people once worked.

According to 2017 data, in Flint:

• Just over 41% of the population lives below the poverty level
• Close to 25% of all families have an annual income below $15,000

Flint is located in Genesee County, a little over an hour northwest of Detroit. 54.9% of its population is African-American and 39.4% is white.

Family-to-Family’s partner in Flint is the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint, an organization that provides extensive afterschool programs for 1,500 area children ages 7 to 17, 70% of whom live at or below the poverty level. Programs include arts classes, literacy programs, sports, a homework center, computers, a video music production center and a game room. BGCGF serves 20,000 meals a year to area children as well.

Family-to-Family’s contacts at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint identify Flint families in need for F-to-F and distribute the monthly food to the families. Food for sponsored families comes from The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.

Community Partner:
Tauzzari Robinson
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint
3701 North Averill Avenue
Flint, MI 48506

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau: Population Estimates, retrieved 1/24/2011; U.S. Census Bureau: 2005-2009 American Community Survey, FBI Statistics Show Flint fourth most violent city in America, www.mlive.com, U.S. Census Bureau: QuickFacts, retrieved 4/21/2016.

Read more about Flint:

• The Flint Water Crisis: A Loss of Trust, June 17, 2018

Located an hour inland from the coastal resort of Bar Harbor, Washington County is a part of Maine few tourists ever see. In 2008 Washington County had the highest overall poverty rate and the highest child poverty rate among Maine’s counties.

According to the 2015 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census:

• 33.5% of households have an annual income less than $25,000; more than half of which live on less than $15,000 per year
• 24.7% of children live in poverty
• More than one third of homes are vacant

Many county residents rely on seasonal jobs to get by, but those jobs are harder and harder to come by. Automation has cut blueberry picking jobs from 6-8 weeks in the summer down to four. Red tide has closed many clam flats, eliminating clamming jobs, and a weakened fishing industry means lobstermen are hiring fewer workers to help out on their boats.

During winter, many families are forced to make difficult choices between food and a warm house.

Family-to-Family’s partner in Washington County is the Weald Bethel office of the Maine Seacoast Mission, an outreach center and food pantry located in Cherryfield, Maine.

In Washington County, Family-to-Family partners with The Good Shepard Food Bank to provide groceries for our sponsored families.

Community Contact
Gena Norgaard
Weald Bethel – Maine Seacoast Mission
6 Weald Bethel Lane
Cherryfield, Maine 04622

Read more about Washington County:

In Maine, a losing battle for health – The Boston Globe

From gutting sardines to shipping pregnant cows, this Maine port wants your business – PRI

Sources: 2005-2007 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2003 U.S. Census update, “Poverty in Maine, 2010” – Maine Community Action Association.

Yes, I’d like to sponsor a family!