Today’s Inquirer features a story on one of the 300,000 estimated working poor who live in Philadelphia.

There are perhaps 300,000 such people (including children) in Philadelphia and about 686,000 in the 10-county region, according to Bill Clark, executive director of Philabundance, which he described as the largest hunger-relief agency in the area.

Nationally, there are roughly 52 million working poor people, says David Elesh, a sociology professor at Temple University. "And," he adds, "it's getting worse each day because of this recession."

Federal guidelines set the poverty level for a family of four at $21,200. To be considered working poor, such a family could make as much as $42,400 annually.

When Asian Americans United joined the numerous supporters of David Cohen’s Working Tax Credit, we had to overcome the stereotype of people asking why the “model minority” would care. But in many Asian and immigrant communities, a huge population would easily be considered working poor. In a Chinatown Needs Assessment Survey conducted by AAU, 70 percent of respondents said they worked 10 to 12 hours per day, six to seven day a week and earned less than $2,000 a month.

While homelessness is often made visible by people living on the street, numerous immigrant families may also qualify as “homeless” if you consider the overcrowded households because people can’t afford their own homes and double or triple up with relatives.

One Philadelphia, Community Legal Services, Philadelphia Unemployment Project, and many others have made a push on the issue. But it could use a lot more help. You can help revive the importance of the Cohen Working Tax Credit by also writing a letter to the editor to the Inquirer on the issue: letters.inquirer@phillynews.com.