§ 95-102 — Definitions

As used in this Act: "Antipoverty program" means a program with the primary goal of lifting individuals out of poverty and improving economic opportunities for individuals that operates, in whole or in part, utilizing federal or State money. "Asset poverty" means the inability of an individual to access wealth resources sufficient to provide for basic needs for a period of 3 months. "Child" means an individual who is under 18 years of age. "Commission" means the Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security established under subsection (a) of Section 95-501. "State poverty measure" means a uniform method for measuring poverty in this State that considers indicators and measures, other than traditional income-based measures of poverty, that provide a detailed picture of low-income and poverty populations and meaningfully account for other factors contributing to poverty and may include: (1) access to health care, housing, proper nutrition, and quality education; (2) the number of individuals kept out of poverty by government supports; (3) the number of individuals who are impoverished due to medical expenses, child care expenses, or work expenses; (4) the rates of food insecurity; (5) the number of individuals in asset poverty; (6) the number of disconnected youth; (7) the teen birth rate; (8) the participation rate in federal and State antipoverty programs for all eligible populations; (9) the number of individuals who do not use a bank or similar financial institution; (10) regional differences in costs of living; (11) income necessary to achieve economic security and a livable standard of living in different regions of this State; (12) the impact of rising income inequality; (13) the impact of the digital divide; and (14) the impact of trauma on intergenerational poverty. "Cycle of poverty" means the set of factors or events by which the long-term poverty of an individual is likely to continue and be experienced by each child of the individual when the child becomes an adult unless there is outside intervention. "Deep poverty" means an economic condition where an individual or family has a total annual income that is less than 50% of the federal poverty level for the individual or family as provided in the annual report of the United States Census Bureau on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States. "Department" means the Department of Human Services. "Deprivation" means a lack of adequate nutrition, health care, housing, or other resources to provide for basic needs. "Digital divide" means the gap between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels related to access to information and communication technologies, including the imbalance in physical access to technology and the resources, education, and skills needed to effectively use computer technology and the Internet for a wide variety of activities. "Disconnected youth" means individuals who are 16 years of age to 25 years of age who are unemployed and not enrolled in school. "Disparate impact" means the historic and ongoing impacts of the pattern and practice of discrimination in employment, education, housing, banking, and other aspects of life in the economy, society, or culture that have an adverse impact on minorities, women, or other protected groups, regardless of whether those practices are motivated by discriminatory intent. "Economic insecurity" means the inability to cope with routine adverse or costly life events and recover from the costly consequences of those events and the lack of economic means to maintain an adequate standard of living. "Economic security" means having access to the economic means and support necessary to effectively cope with adverse or costly life events and recover from the consequences of such events while maintaining an adequate standard of living. "Intergenerational poverty" means poverty in which 2 or more successive generations of a family continue in the cycle of poverty and government dependence. The term does not include situational poverty. "Outcome" means a change in the economic status, economic instability, or economic security of an individual, household, or other population that is attributable to a planned intervention, benefit, service, or series of interventions, benefits, and services, regardless of whether the intervention, benefit, or service was intended to change the economic status, economic stability, or economic security. "Poverty" means an economic condition in which an individual or family has a total annual income that is less than the federal poverty level for the individual or family, as provided in the report of the United States Census Bureau on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States. "Regional cost of living" means a measure of the costs of maintaining an adequate standard of living in differing regional, geographic, urban, or rural regions of this State. "Situational poverty" means temporary poverty that meets all of the following: (1) Is generally traceable to a specific incident or time period within the lifetime of an individual. (2) Is not continued to the next generation. "Strategic plan" means the plan provided for under Section 95-502. "System" means the Intergenerational Poverty Tracking System established under subsection (a) of Section 95-301. "Two-generation approach" means an approach to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty by improving family economic security through programs that create opportunities for and address the needs of parents and children together. "Workgroup" means the Interagency Workgroup on Poverty and Economic Insecurity established under Section 95-302.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 101-636, eff. 6-10-20; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21.)