Living Solutions and Services Inc/Anthony's House

Description

El Cajon is the poorest city in San Diego County with a poverty rate of 30%. Sixteen percent of residents over 25 are unemployed and an incredible 25% of El Cajon residents are disabled. Pedestrians in electric wheelchairs are commonplace on the streets of El Cajon. El Cajon has the third highest mentally ill population in the country.

The poorest residents of El Cajon reside in a food desert. Burritos and fast food dollar menu items, canned food, soda pop and ramen noodles are more convenient and less expensive than fruits and vegetables. The disabled live on a budget of less than $900 a month, food stamps are included in their SSI check, and housing expenses consume most of their entitlement. Cheap food and the cheapest medication Medicaid will buy have cheapened both the quality of life and the life expectancy of most of the city's disabled.

Employment is not an option for most individuals with disabilities who live a "pretty solitary life of poverty." That is something that Living Solutions will like to change. Those who have a disability should also have an "equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves."