Video
HLN Covers Our 'Moms Matter' Stop in America's Poorest City (VIDEO)
During our Moms Matter Road Trip, we made a stop in Reading, Pennsylvania, which, according to the 2010 census, is the poorest city in America.
Forty-nine percent of Reading's residents are living in poverty, and after talking to some of these residents, we got a real sense of the problems they're facing in that town.
Click through to see our report, which aired last night on HLN's "Evening Express."
There's definitely a sense of hopelessness pervading Reading. Nearly every person we talked to had stories of seeing or personally experiencing violent crime. Moms in particular are extremely concerned about Reading's school system, which laid off more than 200 employees -- most of them teachers and teachers aides -- at the end of the school year because of a lack of funding.
Downtown, there was quite a social scene. After spending some time talking to the many people milling around, we realized that many of them were homeless because of the recession. They come downtown to socialize and exchange information about work and living opportunities.
This is the reality of living in Reading.
In Reading, residents take the presidential election very seriously. They believe the next president has the potential to turn their lives around -- or leave them even worse off than they are now.
Check out our full report on Reading, Pennsylvania on our Moms Matter YouTube channel. You can also watch our shocking report on the state of Reading's school system.
In the meantime, what do you think about the opinions of the people we talked to in Reading?
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JAFE
When things get this desperate, how can you continue the way it's been? Why would anyone vote for the person in office while this went on? Even when it was Bush, they voted for Obama and now that he hasn't done anything, shouldn't we try something else?
It makes me so angry when people "blame" the house or the senate. We need to work TOGETHER. Quit being so stubborn about that. Neither side can always be right and the blame has to stop and a solutions got to be found.
If you blame in one hand and crap in the other, which gets full faster? Isn't it time for a change?
TorranceMom
Some people in this country have on blinders when it comes to Obama. They'll vote for him again in November and no matter how much worse things get, they'll continue to assign blame to everyone else but him.
JAFE
Sad though isn't it Torrance?
Guest
Otherwise, she would stop making a fool of herself in regards to her prattle about the Reading School System.