SENCA Planning Town Hall Meetings Regarding 2019 Community Assessments

PLATTSMOUTH – Southeast Nebraska Community Action is scheduling town hall meetings in six counties served for February and March.

Town hall meetings will cover topics in the SENCA’s 2019 community assessment, as well as open discussion on community strengths and weaknesses.

Median Household income

• Cass, $68,284
• Nemaha, $55,536
• Otoe, $54,605
• Johnson, $49,564
• Richardson, $46,839
• Pawnee, $42,176

School K-12 enrollment

• Plattsmouth, 1,669
• Nebraska City, 1,458
• Auburn, 937
• Falls City, 896
• Syracuse, 756
• Conestoga, 718
• Louisville, 687
• Palmyra, 591
• Elmwood, 471
• JCC, 526

Child and youth issues

• Finding the right kind of child care 24%
• Help paying for child care, 21%
• Help finding quality child care, 16%
• Opportunity to be matched with adult mentor, 10%

Financial and Legal Issues

• Bad debt or reducing debt 61 percent
• Help with budgeting 59 percent
• Help starting a saving plan 42 percent
• Making out a will or health directive, 37 percent

Housing costs

Nebraskans would need to work 70 hours per week at minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom unit.

Annual income to afford 2BR at fair market rate

• Cass, $37,080
• Otoe, $26,280
• Johnson, Nemaha, Pawnee and Richardson, $26,120

Housing needs

• Help making homes energy efficient, 55%
• Help obtain a loan to buy a home, 42%
• Help paying heating expense, 39%
• Hands on training for home maintenance, 32%

Homelessness

Children under 5 in poverty

• Otoe, 230
• Richardson, 192
• Nemaha, 97
• Pawnee, 69

Children with food insecurity

• Otoe, 1,044
• Richardson, 611
• Nemaha , 413
• Pawnee 133

Transportation needs

• Transportation to work, 49%
• Transportation to medical appointments, 49%
• Affordable repairs for car, 46%
• Help with transportation costs, 38%

Driving costs

• Operating costs medium sedan are 17.76 cents per mile
• Ownership costs of insurance, license etc.. $16.99 per day.
• Average cost of 15,000 mile year, $8,400

Health

Teen births

• Richardson, 28
• Otoe, 24
• Johnson, 21
• Pawnee, 19
• Cass, 17

Excessive drinking

• Cass, 22%
• Otoe, Johnson, 21%
• Richardson, 19%
• Pawnee, 17%
• Nemaha, 15%

Adult obesity

• Cass, Nemaha, Otoe, 38%

Violence

• 4 percent of high schoolers were bullied on school property
• 2 percent were in a physical fight
• 4 percent were hurt by someone they were dating