by Dianna M. Náñez - Mar. 7, 2009 08:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Carmelita Dorsey is trying to make ends meet.

Lately, that has been a struggle.

She packs her kids' lunches, limits her driving and has started unplugging appliances to save on her family's skyrocketing utility bill.

A year ago, she and her brother moved in to together to help shoulder the bills.

Still, the 39-year-old Tempe school secretary is struggling.

"Honestly, we live paycheck to paycheck," she said. "I feel embarrassed. A little bit ashamed. But I'm not out there spending money. I'm not getting my nails done. Everything's just so expensive."

Experts say problems like Dorsey's are becoming more common as middle-class families realize their paychecks are not sufficient to cover the rising cost of living.

That, combined with increasing numbers of families being blind sided by job losses, is resulting in more formerly self-sufficient people needing financial support from agencies.

The Arizona Community Action Association, a non-profit focusing on poverty prevention, is preparing to launch a campaign they have coined "The Changing Face of Poverty in Arizona."

The effort is aimed at creating awareness of the amount of middle-class families and individuals who have fallen into poverty or near poverty.

With her already strained family budget, Dorsey said she has another worry hanging over her: A possible job layoff.

"It keeps me up at night," she said. "I've been with the district for awhile but with the cuts . . . you never know. I'd take a job anywhere if that happened. But I know we'd still lose the house."

Dorsey has a 16-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter. A year ago, Dorsey's mother passed away. Funeral costs added to her family's financial burden. She and her brother share those bills, but have still fallen three months behind on their $987 monthly mortgage.

This year, Dorsey and her brother, who works as an accountant manager for a local manufacturer, filed their taxes returns as early as possible. They'll use the money to catch up on the mortgage.

The economy has unleashed a tidal wave of job loss, pay cuts, furloughs, cutting of health benefits and a slew of other financial burdens on America's middle-class families and individuals, says Beth Fiorenza, Tempe Community Action Agency's executive director. Fiorenza's agency provides food boxes, rent and utility assistance and a host of resources to help prevent poverty. Earlier this year, as the economy slid into recession, Fiorenza's staff began noticing more working poor and jobless middle-class families needing services.

"A lot more people are being thrown into . . . (a) crisis situation. ," she said. "During this crisis we're not even talking about low-income people. It's low-income and middle-class families. If one member of the house loses a job, that's all it takes."

Dealing with poverty is nothing new to the Tempe non-profit. In 2007, the American Community Survey released data showing Tempe, at 19.8 percent had the highest poverty rate for individuals in Maricopa County.

Fiorenza said Tempe charities have worked to address the problem and target resources to needy residents. But the economy has stressed her agency's resources.

"We're seeing 10 new people a day just for food," she said. "We're seeing increases for assistance to pay basic bills like the mortgage, rent and utility."

Many people are surprised to find that a high-profile city like Tempe has such a high poverty rate. Some brush it off as data skewed by the number of Arizona State University students living in Tempe.

But Kate Hanley, the executive director of Tempe Community Council, Tempe's non-profit arm for human services, said that many ASU students are actually included in census data for their home states rather than in Arizona And, although Tempe has made more of an effort in recent years to ensure its student population is counted in census data, Hanley said it has always been a struggle to track college kids.

But given that Tempe also has one of the county's highest rates of child poverty, Fiorenza said it is obvious Tempe has a needy population.

In some ways Tempe is now benefiting from having had a head start on dealing with poverty, Fiorenza said. Fiorenza's agency has analyzed some of the reasons behind the poverty rate. A lack of affordable housing in the city has 49 percent of Tempe renters and 30 percent of homeowners paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

"That rent (or mortgage) is taking a huge chunk of their hourly wage. It's taking too much," she said.

And many families are waiting too long to get help.

"They're not used to asking. (But) if you're in trouble . . . get help early," she said. "Don't wait until your utilities are shut off. Don't wait until you're being evicted or in foreclosure. Just make some time to make some calls . . . figure out what you're eligible for."

Fiorenza encouraged families to use her or another agency's free food boxes to offset housing and other costs.

That advice is tough for families or individuals who have never relied on social services to follow.

Dorsey balks at the idea of collecting a food box.

"There's a pride factor. And honestly, I always think there are people out there that are worse off than us," she said.

"I would feel bad taking one when there are children whose parents lost a job," she said.

Hanley said people cannot let personal pride or the stigma of asking for help stand in the way of caring for your family.

"What people have to realize is this is . . . (not) about personal failure. This is more about a system under complete stress and strain. We're all feeling the pinch," she said.