ROCK ISLAND -- Rock Island County has moved off a statewide poverty warning list according to a new report.

The Heartland Alliance's Mid-America Institute on Poverty shows the county is on a poverty watch list, which means poverty indicators "need to be monitored closely." The group says the 2008 Report on Illinois Poverty is the "only comprehensive analysis" of poverty indicators in the state. The county was put on the warning list two years ago.

The lists for each county in Illinois were based primarily on high-school graduation, unemployment, teen births, and overall poverty rates.

Phil Banaszek, co-chairman of the two-year-old Rock Island County task force on poverty, said Friday that he has not yet seen the report -- which was released last week.

"I know in the past couple years, we've seen improvement in the graduation rate for high schools in the area, which is a plus, and unemployment figures have improved," he said. "Hopefully, we can make some more headway."

The county task force includes representatives from the county board, city officials, area schools, court services, a work force development board, United Way and the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce.

"We've been moving progressively," county board chairman Jim Bohnsack said Friday. "We've been working with schools more, to get closer to where they can help people out."

While the county high-school graduation rate stayed the same from the previous study year, it's a goal to keep students in school to earn a good living, Mr. Bohnsack said.

"Moving from the warning to watch list is something we like, but the poverty group is not satisfied with that," Mr. Bohnsack said.

The report showed a slight improvement in the county's overall ranking, which allowed the switch. However, the total number of people in poverty and the percentage of children in poverty grew in this report by 1,900 people and 3 percent respectively compared to last year.

Rock Island County's unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in August 2007, up 0.6 percent from the previous year, and the 2005 total poverty rate (the most recent year available) was 13.4 percent, 1.4 percent higher than the previous year.

The county's teen birth rate improved. It was 12.4 percent in 2005, or 1.5 percent lower. Heartland also considered how counties compared to the state average in its rankings.

The federal poverty level for single income is $10,400 a year and $21,200 for a family of four.

Monday the poverty task force is meeting at 2 p.m. at the Rock Island County Building, 1504 3rd Ave. The task force is working with Western Illinois University and Black Hawk College to secure funding for a full-time coordinator to head anti-poverty efforts, Mr. Banaszek said.

State and local poverty stats

County People in poverty Child poverty H.S. graduation

Rock Island 19,115 21.4% 85.1%

Henry 5,129 15.2% 91.9%

Mercer 1,342 12.0% 94.0%

Whiteside 6,338 16.6% 87.4%

Illinois 1.48 million 16.5% 85.9%

Source: Heartland Alliance (www.heartlandalliance.org/maip/index.html)