Thirty-four percent of Mississippi children are living in poverty, according to the 2015 KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the number is higher in Lincoln County. When the U.S. economy plummeted in 2008, that number was 30 percent statewide.

In Lincoln County, 34.8 percent live in poverty, a 7.5 percent increase since 2009, with 4.3 percent of the climb just since last year’s report. In contrast, 22 percent of children across the country live in poverty.

“Although we are several years past the end of the recession, millions of families still have not benefited from the economic recovery,” said Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation. “While we’ve seen an increase in employment in recent years, many of these jobs are low-wage and cannot support even basic family expenses.”

This might explain the numbers in Lincoln County. The percentage of children under 6 living in a household without a parent in the labor force in the county decreased in the most recent report to 11.7 percent. In last year’s report, that number was 15.7 percent. Joblessness is decreasing, yet the median household income is in decline.

In Lincoln County, the median household income has decreased by $4,000 over five years from $38,000 to to $34,000. Conversely, the state’s number have been rising, and Mississippi’s median income is at $38,000.

District 1 Supervisor Rev. Jerry Wilson said poverty is a real issue in Lincoln County that needs to be addressed, and that there are people throughout the county who are truly suffering. Wilson, along with other members of the board of supervisors, have expressed dedication to local organizations such as the Brookhaven Outreach Ministry with funding and other support in recent meetings.

“Far too many families are still struggling to provide for the day-to-day needs of their children, notably for the16 million kids who are living in poverty,” McCarthy said. “We can and must do better; we can make policy choices to lift more families into economic stability.”

The report shows the number of children living in single parent families and grandchildren living with their grandparents increasing.

This year’s reports show 45.2 percent of children in Lincoln County are living in single parent families, up from 44.8 percent in last year’s report. Last year’s report shows 603 grandchildren in the care of grandparents, 103 more children than the previous year. The trend for these indicators has been rising for four of the recorded five years. In Lincoln County, there are also 103 children in foster care, according to the report.