What is the Foothill Unity Center?
Foothill Unity Center is a multi-service agency that is the primary provider of food, temporary shelter, transportation, referrals, and a variety of health services to low-income children, individuals and families living at or below 150% of the national poverty line. The Center’s service area spans the Foothill communities of Pasadena, Altadena, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Monrovia, Bradbury and Duarte. More recently, however, the Center expanded its programs to include Azusa, Baldwin Park and Irwindale due to the poor economy and a lack of services in those areas.
Currently, the percentage of people living below the Federal poverty rate in Foothill Unity Center’s service area is 16.3% for adults and 22.8% for children; slightly higher than Los Angeles County as a whole. The results from the Center’s Community Action Plan for 2012-2013 revealed that food assistance was the number one need of low-income individuals and families in the communities it serves. These findings are supported further by U.S. Census and SPA 3 poverty data that show the San Gabriel Valley has:
- More than 10,800 unemployed adults;
- Nearly 7,200 households receiving SSI and/or Public Assistance;
- At least 55,700 people eligible for food stamps; and
- More than 115,000 people with a family income below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.
Consequently, at least 16,000 people can be classified as “food insecure” within the Center’s service area. Indeed,
during the last five years, as a result of the current economic downturn, the Center has seen its client-base more than triple, from 1,371 unduplicated families in 2007 to 4,699 unduplicated families in 2012.
