WS Chronicle

The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem examined the lives of women in Forsyth County in a just-released follow-up study to its 2010 study, “Through a Gender Lens: The Economic Security of Women and Girls in Forsyth County.”

It found that economic insecurity for the women has increased in the last five years.

It also found that graduation rate for girls increased and teen pregnancy rates decreased but poverty rates did not. (See story on page A1.)

Mayor Allen Joines said as he announced his bid for re-election that he will tackle poverty if he regains his post. The Women’s Fund plans to fight it, too, but can’t do it alone. More organizations and community leaders need to join the fight against poverty, which has hunger as a component.

A consortium of groups gathered in September to bring hunger to the forefront. Poverty and its components don’t end in a month. The effort to bring parity to women in Forsyth County should be ongoing. The War on Poverty should not be in the past.