Back in 2014, Dwight C. Jones set a goal some believed would be impossible to achieve. The poverty rate in Richmond, Va., was twice the national average. Nearly 27 percent of Richmond residents lived below the poverty line. Jones, then the mayor, set a goal to cut the rate nearly in half, to 15 percent, by 2030.
Five years ahead of that deadline, Richmond is not just on track to hit that mark but ahead of schedule. The most recent American Community Survey put Richmond’s poverty rate at 17.1 percent. Richmond is on a better trendline than nearly every comparable city in the Southeast.
