
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990                   TAG: 9003081973
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POVERTY PROGRAM WOULD HELP RURAL FOLK

Poor people who live and work in rural areas would benefit more than city dwellers from several proposed anti-poverty programs, according to a report released today.

The study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that a disproportionate share of working poor live in rural areas. Although only 23 percent of the nation is rural, 33 percent of the working poor live in rural areas, it said.

Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla., whose state's poverty rate increased from 13.4 percent in the early 1980s to 15.5 percent by the middle of the decade, said some of the center's recommendations would cost more than the country can afford now.

"However, there are smaller steps we can take, and have taken, to begin to meet the needs of the rural working poor," said Synar, who released the study along with Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt.

by CNB