St. Petersburg’s Black Poverty Rate Falls Again, Reaches All-Time Low
By Gypsy C. Gallardo, CEO, The 2020 Plan │ September 21, 2017
Last week, on September 14th, the U.S. Census released its newest data on poverty in St. Pete. Again this year, the federal agency registered a rapid decline in African Americans in poverty, pacing well ahead of non-blacks in the city, and blacks elsewhere in Florida.
Last September, the Tampa Bay Times reported a sharp drop in Pinellas County’s black poverty rate in 2015, per a Census release that month. Follow-up analysis showed African Americans in St. Petersburg leading the trend with an 8.5 point reduction in their poverty rate, down from 35% in 2014 to 26% in 2015.