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STATESVILLE – A report released Feb. 12 highlights the ways poverty could be addressed in North Carolina, including suggestions from people who are living on the edge every day.

More than 15 percent of North Carolinians are in poverty, a rate higher than the national average. The report by the North Carolina Community Action Association focuses on solutions to reduce the state's poverty rate.

Bryan Duncan, executive director of I-CARE Inc. in Statesville, a community action agency, sais some solutions are related to health care.

“Some of the possible solutions: access to dental care could be provided by North Carolina's dental schools," he said. "We could start to look into more telemedicine opportunities."

Programs that offer access to transportation, child care and job training are helpful to support people trying to get out of poverty, according to the report. It was compiled after a series of "Face to Face With Poverty" meetings across the state, which pulled together community and government leaders with people who face poverty.

Malikah Henderson found herself in need of help after the company for which she was working shut down in New Jersey. When she moved to North Carolina, she said, she was turned down for food assistance for herself and her daughter.

“They told me that my income was too high,” she said, “so I'm thinking, ‘How in the world do you make too much for unemployment and you still have other bills that you have to pay and everything else?’”

Programs sponsored by I-CARE have been helpful, Henderson said, adding that she just found a full-time job. She said programs that offer help with job training and education were a big part of her success.

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