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The Poverty Puzzle starts today on Page A1. Stories will run Wednesdays and Sundays through March 27.
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Please visit timesfreepress.com/povertypuzzle for a comprehensive multimedia presentation that includes additional videos, graphics and multimedia elements.
In 2015, the Chattanooga Times Free Press poured an unprecedented amount of time and energy into researching the roots of and solutions to Chattanooga’s economic reality; we made this investment as other regional news outlets were pulling back from long-term reporting projects.
Initially, the idea behind The Poverty Puzzle series was fairly cliché: the tale of two cities. Chattanooga had been getting a significant amount of positive attention nationally, but on the ground, our reporters saw another story unfolding.
After the Great Recession, poverty increased among all ethnic groups in the city, its outlying suburbs, the rural pockets of Hamilton County and the greater metro area. What our reporters learned after more than a year of reporting was that poverty had become a symptom of huge societal shifts, happening unnoticed by most, including us.