The answer: 12 percent.

Byline: Sharla Bardin

Aug. 7--Kathleen Horan knows she alone can't reduce the poverty level in the community. No one individual or group can.

Together, though, it's a different story.

"We are our brother's keepers," said Horan, of Erie. "I feel that we're all responsible for each other."

Horan learned more about poverty in the region after she read a report from a panel established by the Erie Community Foundation to study the issue.

The report indicates that Erie County has a poverty rate of 12 percent, which is higher than the state rate and a little less than the national figure.

"All segments of the Erie community …