Charlottesville tourists often are impressed by the bustling Route 29 retail district and the University's fine architecture, but upon closer inspection, the city of Charlottesville is not all "red bricks and white columns," said Ryan Harvey, director of the Madison House Boosters program, a program that sends volunteers to help at Charlottesville public schools.
While Charlottesville boasts a booming economy, spurred by an influx of small technology firms and a small 1.4 percent unemployment rate compared to the already-low national average of 4 percent, many Charlottesville residents still are underemployed and living in poverty.
"The [economic] growth has escaped these pockets. They've been left behind," Harvey said, referring to the areas in which Boosters involved with the Head Start program work.
"One of our jobs was to go out to the playground and clean it up before the kids went out to play," he said, adding that volunteers were surprised and disheartened to find broken glass, beer bottles and even used hypodermic needles on the school playground.
Head Start is a federally funded preschool program for low-income and at-risk children. Charlottesville has five -- an unusually large number -- of Head Start classrooms.
In her February State of the City address, Charlottesville Mayor Virginia Daugherty said 20 percent of Charlottesville residents now are living below the poverty line. Though this number seems large, it still understates the actual number of low-income Charlottesville residents.
According to the United States Census Bureau, a single parent with two children must earn less than $13,423 per year to be considered living in poverty.
The recent economic growth has meant that many Charlottesville residents have been able to find jobs, but these jobs are often low-paying. Salvation Army Commanding Officer Mark Woodcock said employers call him occasionally to see if he can provide employees for them. But the pay for these jobs ranges from minimum wage to $6 or $7 per hour.
The Albemarle County Department of Social Services recently studied whether a family living just above the poverty line would be able to survive. It factored in the county's cost of living, which is even lower than the cost of living in the city, and found that a family at the $13,423 income level would not be able to pay all their rent and basic expenses.
Although the burgeoning technology sector has created many new jobs, Charlottesville's poor are not necessarily able to take advantage of opportunities that arise.
"Many people do not have higher education, and they may not be able to get transportation to work," Daugherty said.
She said Charlottesville's job base has changed over the years. Charlottesville's once-significant manufacturing sector, for example, has all but disappeared.
"The people who were doing manufacturing jobs have been cut out of the picture," she added.
As many Charlottesville residents are forced into low-paying jobs, they also are forced into deteriorating housing.
"Our housing stock is getting older," Daugherty said.
Charlottesville's older homes may not have the amenities of newer housing, like multiple bathrooms, and may require a lot of upkeep.
"The housing market in Charlottesville is tough," Woodcock said. "University students drive up the cost of housing."
University students can afford to pay more for rent than low-income families, who are forced to move to more affordable locations.
In the county, residents can buy a bigger house for the same price as a smaller house in the city, Daugherty said.
These inequities in pricing are forcing many middle-income families out of the city. Very low-income families remain because public housing is available in the city.
This middle-income flight causes many problems for the city, particularly in city schools.
"It's a new form of segregation," Daugherty said. "Our schools really need middle-income parents."
As a result, more at-risk students now demand resources from Charlottesville city schools.The Boosters program at Madison House works with the five classrooms, each in a different area of the city. While there are no Head Start centers in the western part of the city, there are two off Ridge Street alone.
The Ridge Street area is also home to the Charlottesville Salvation Army headquarters. Woodcock said he believes that while the people with whom he works come from all over Charlottesville and Albemarle county, a significant percentage come from the Ridge Street area.
Despite pockets of poverty within Charlottesville boundaries, city officials claim things are getting better.
Daugherty said the city of Charlottesville hopes to help its citizens in a variety of ways. "We're working closely with the Chamber of Commerce to try to help people advance in jobs," she said.
She added that while some city officials did not support building the proposed Marriott Hotel on West Main Street because it most likely would offer low-paying jobs, it will be good for the city.
"Marriott has a national track record of helping employees advance," Daugherty said.
According to the Piedmont Housing Alliance, economic growth has benefited even Charlottesville's lower-income residents. The alliance buys property from the city, tears down the existing housing on the property and builds new housing, which it then sells to low-to-moderate-income families at reduced prices.
Other city improvement programs include the Computers for Kids program and technology training programs at Piedmont Community College and a West Main Street training center.
The city also is working to improve its public transportation system to make it easier for residents to commute to work.
While the city is making an effort to improve the situation for many of its poorer residents, the programs will take time to impact the community fully.
The programs "aren't magic," Daugherty said.
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