County Council to Address Questions About Working Poor

Representatives in Howard County's human services sector are asking the County Council to pay special attention to low-wage earners.

The Association of Community Services of Howard County (ACS) is with County Council members in the wake of the findings of a study the group commissioned.

Entitled “Making Ends Meet," the study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies found that a family with two adults and one infant needs $63,537 to no longer be considered among the working poor in Howard County—more than $45,000 above the federal poverty level.

Further, a single-parent family with two children must earn $72,000 a year in Howard County to escape the label of “the working poor,” according to the study.

The ACS hopes to get responses from the County Council to questions like how low wage earners can continue to receive supports as they begin to exceed federally determined income caps for services.  

The group also wants to know what issues residents in need call their council members about, information ACS said would help nonprofit service providers be more effective.

“We believe creating this dialogue between government officials is a critical part of our mission in the community,” said ACS spokeswoman Karen Lubieniecki.

is set for Feb. 7 from 8-10 a.m. at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center in Columbia.