"&more than a third of North Carolina families struggle to pay for their most basic needs. This is not about how nice a car they can buy. It is about how to afford child care& It is about how to find, much less afford, a two-bedroom apartment for a family of four. It is about choosing between shoes and food, a visit to the doctor and paying the rent. In short, these families do not earn a living income. To add a final measure of insult to injury, they are working more than ever before and their real average wages are lower than they were twenty years ago."
Working Hard is Not Enough

Poverty is defined as a standard of living that falls below the basic, minimum requirements to sustain an adequate diet, adequate housing and adequate health. It is the struggle to meet these basic requirements. Poverty implies not only the lack of an adequate income to meet these minimum requirements, but also the lack of assets that create wealth. Deprivation of resources can be life threatening.