Central Virginia Times

The Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) Network2Work program and The Equity Center at the University of Virginia have released the latest Orange Dot Report, providing a detailed look at economic indicators that directly impact families across the greater Charlottesville region. The Orange Dot Report 5.0 shows that 9,413 families, or 14 percent of families in our area, do not make enough money to afford the essentials of life—food, shelter, clothing and utilities—and the added costs associated with working—childcare and transportation.

The report identifies that:

• About one out of every seven families in the region (14%) make below $35,000, the threshold needed to provide the very basics of survival. 
• Thirty-two percent of black families make less than $35,000/year, compared to 11 percent of white families, a persistent gap resulting from past and ongoing policies that suppress investment, opportunity, and wealth creation in Black communities.
• Due largely to the cost of housing, a single parent with a toddler in childcare needs to earn over $45,000 a year to achieve self-sufficiency.

According to Ridge Schuyler, Dean of Community Self-Sufficiency Programs at PVCC and an author of the report, “Our community is making progress—the number of families struggling to meet their most basic needs has been reduced by 25 percent since the first Orange Dot Report was published in 2011. There are still too many families—9,413—who don’t yet feel that progress, and we need to remain focused on them, but it’s heartening to see that there has been significant improvement since that first Orange Dot Report in 2011. At that time, we found there were 12,552 struggling families, 21 percent of families.”

PVCC President Jean Runyon emphasized, “Our goal is for individuals and families to live a completely different life through the power of education and a targeted career path. Through the collective efforts of community partners in support of our neighbors striving for self-sufficiency, we can help them achieve their goal."

The Orange Dot Report 5.0 marks the continuation of our community’s progress toward a more fully and equitable thriving region. It also marks a new collaboration between Network2Work@PVCC and The Equity Center at the University of Virginia to co-produce annual updates of the Orange Dot Report as a resource for our community. 

Michele Claibourn, the Director of Equitable Analysis in the UVA Equity Center and an author of the report, notes they plan to provide an update of the report in early spring. “We’ll be  incorporating the updated information from the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey that will be released in December along with more assessment of community efforts and progress in creating realistic pathways to self-sufficiency.”

“I’m delighted that UVA’s Equity Center has begun to collaborate with PVCC on the ongoing updates of the Orange Dot Report, working with terrific community partners like Ridge Schuyler and PVCC’s Network2Work program,” said UVA President Jim Ryan. “This report is immensely valuable as a measurement of the progress we are achieving to make our region more equitable for everyone—though, as the latest report shows, we still have a lot of work to do.”

Original source can be found here.