Community Bonds Help Overcome Poverty (photo)

Brittany Brewer (C) fixes her gown as she prepares for the Owsley County High School prom next to a woodstove in the home where she lives with her grandmother in Booneville, Ky. Daniel Boone once camped in the Appalachian mountain hamlet of Owsley County, which to this day remains mostly populated by descendants of settlers. The 2010 U.S. Census listed Owsley County as having the lowest median household income in the country outside of Puerto Rico, with 41.5 percent of residents living below the poverty line. Familial and community bonds run deep, with a populace that shares a collective historical and cultural legacy uncommon in most parts of the country. However, the community of around 5,000 struggles with a lack of jobs due to the decline in coal, tobacco, and lumber industries, along with health issues. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)