Nebraska may promise residents “the good life,” but a recent survey of Lincoln’s very poor families finds that there’s little good, and nothing easy, about living in Nebraska if you don’t have a job that pays well.

If you’re poor, medical, dental and crisis services are extremely difficult to access or pay for, as are housing, utilities and community programs, said Beatty Brasch, executive director of the Center for People in Need in Lincoln.

Many Lincoln families living in dire poverty have parents who are working or enrolled in job training programs.

The problem, according to Brasch, is a lack of jobs that pay well enough to survive on.

“These are families who are working hard, but their income simply does not meet the very basic costs of living,” Brasch said.

Basic costs of living mean the things needed for survival — food, shelter, medicine, clothes, electricity and running water.

The survey, conducted in December among 1,293 of Lincoln’s very low-income families, sought to discover the issues faced by Lincoln parents and families in poverty.

The survey was designed to document the needs, challenges and resources from the perspective of low-income families. Survey participants were asked to rate the level of difficulty in meeting needs in three main areas:

1. Basic needs — Finding a job that pays enough to cover utilities, housing and clothing

2.Medical/dental/crisis — Access to doctors, dentists, affordability of prescriptions, and receiving help during crisis.

3. Programs/recreation — Access to community programs, tutoring for children, affordable family recreation.

Forty-three percent of families said it was “extremely difficult” for them to afford basic needs. Most difficult was the ability to pay for utilities, and finding a job that paid enough to cover the costs of food, shelter, health care and other basic amenities, Brasch.

“A significant number of people routinely find it difficult, if not impossible, to meet their families’ basic needs,” Brasch said.

“This study is another example of the need for our community, our state and our nation to give serious and concerted attention to poverty. There remains an attitude that all of those unable to make ends meet have some character flaw,” she said. “We need to examine the roots of poverty and the systems and policies that fail to provide the avenues for disadvantaged families to get ahead.”

In June, the Center for People in Need will move into a larger facility and expand its programs for low-income families. Among the programs to be expanded is Truckloads of Help, a program in which companies donate various products and the Center for People in Need distributes those items to low-income families through Nebraska human services agencies.

Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.