If you think poverty is not an issue for Niagara than you need to think again.

A report out today says that more than 54 hundred children in the region live in poverty.

Brock University associate professor and author of the report Dr. Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker says the community needs to work together to eliminate the problem.  

Ciuffetelli Parker says she grew up in the Niagara region and at the time it was the land of opportunity.

She says this is not the landscape of the region now.

The report titled, “Poverty and Education: A Niagara Perspective”, makes recommendations for policy makers, including stronger links between the school and communities.

The two year study says in the last 20 years there has been a lot of talk about eliminating poverty but the rate has not improved.