Poverty is not a personal failure- it’s a community challenge we can solve

What does it mean to work full-time and still fall behind? For thousands of Greensboro households, it means choosing between rent and groceries. It means delaying medical care because the co-pay is too high. It means that when childcare costs rival a mortgage, a parent must choose between staying employed and keeping their child safe.

This isn’t a matter of effort. It’s a matter of math.

Nearly 20 percent of Greensboro residents live in poverty. Many more earn just above the threshold for public assistance yet still can’t afford the basics. In Guilford County, a family of four needs close to $80,000 a year to cover housing, childcare, food, transportation, and healthcare. When wages don’t match costs, families are one flat tire or one sick day away from crisis.

Poverty is often misunderstood as an individual shortcoming. It’s not. It’s the outcome of systems—wage structures, housing markets, childcare access, transportation gaps—that don’t work for everyone. And because these systems are interconnected, solutions must be, too.

We’ve seen what’s possible when community aligns. Jerome, a Greensboro father, once lived the daily trade-offs that push families to the brink. With access to reliable childcare, stable housing, and a job with a future, his trajectory changed—from surviving to saving, from instability to planning for homeownership. Jerome’s story isn’t an outlier; it’s a roadmap.

That roadmap requires shared power—lived-experience voices at the center, employers and educators at the table, health and housing partners aligned, and policymakers focused on what works. It requires us to refuse false choices and commit to holistic, data-informed approaches.

This fall, United Way of Greater Greensboro will convene Beyond Poverty GSO, a two-day experience to move us from insight to action:

• Nov. 5: Poverty Simulation (facilitated by Triad Goodwill) at First Presbyterian Church
• Nov. 7: Summit at the Conference Center at GTCC

Let’s make Greensboro the city that proves what’s possible—where bold ideas become practical pathways, and where families don’t have to choose between food and medicine, work and childcare, stability and dignity.

Poverty isn’t inevitable. It’s a challenge we can solve—together.

Register: unitedwaygso.org/beyondpovertygso

Frank McCain Jr is the president & CEO, United Way of Greater Greensboro.

Editor’s note: This op-ed is part of United Way of Greater Greensboro’s Beyond Poverty GSO community initiative, Nov. 5 and Nov. 7.