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GREENSBORO — Lisa Frazier  knows the face of poverty well. It belongs to her 7-year-old  daughter.

“She don’t know any other way of life,” said Frazier, 46 . “What she don’t know don’t hurt her.”

Over the past decade, two  recessions have helped push Frazier, her daughter and more than 30,000  others in the Greensboro-High Point  metro area into the grip of poverty.

From 2000  to 2008 , that’s a jump of 3.5 percent , well above the increases in Charlotte  and Raleigh  and tied with Greenville, S.C. , for fourth-highest in the nation.

“It’s a pretty sad story,” said Keith Debbage , a professor of geography at UNCG . “We were frankly turning the corner, then got hit flat  on our back by the national recession.”

What’s more, a recent study by the Brookings Institution  projects the area’s poverty rate will rise from 14.1 percent to 17.4 percent  when the 2009  numbers are released.

That will mean an additional 23,000  people in Guilford , Randolph  and Rockingham  counties are  living in poverty.

That would bring the poverty rate for the  metro area to  more than 150,000  people.

Brookings officials say the area’s high unemployment rate — 12.1 percent — has forced increasing numbers of people into poverty, adding that those poverty rates are likely to stay high for decade.

“You have seen a significant increase in poverty,” said Elizabeth Kneebone , senior research analyst at Brookings, a Washington -based  think tank. “People are hurting economically right now. That could mean a greater strain on local services and the safety net that has already faced increases in poverty over the decade.”

That’s clearly the case.

* A recent study says that Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest N.C.,  which includes Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph, now provides one  out of eight  people in the region with  food assistance.

“More people than ever are relying on our network of emergency food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters,” the report said. “ Many clients report having to choose between food and other necessities.”

* Another analysis shows that food stamp use in the region has jumped dramatically since 2007 .

That study says the use of food stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , increased by 32 percent  in Guilford, 30 percent  in Rockingham and 41 percent  in Randolph. In Guilford, 13 percent  of the population uses the assistance program.

* Emergency service providers have been swamped by requests for help with things like utility bills and rent payments.

“My requests have gone up 200 percent  over a year and a half,” said Craig Thomas , executive director at Mary’s House  on Guilford Avenue  in Greensboro . “We used to get 10  or 15  a week. Now, I get 20  a day.”

Mary’s House also provides shelter and services to homeless women who are seeking treatment for chronic addiction — women like Lisa Frazier.

She hasn’t worked since 2000  when she lost her manufacturing job and slipped into depression and drug use.

“I ain’t been able to find one,” Frazier said of her search for a job . “I have been to 50  places in the past month. It’s just hard to find a job with a ninth -grade education.”

Frazier admits her situation sometimes gets her down.

“I try to look the other way,” she said. “You have to. But I didn’t come this far to lay down.”

Besides, she’s got to keep going for her daughter.

“She loves me,” Frazier said. “And she loves Mary’s House. In fact, she don’t want to leave.”

At Christmas, a little girl who has grown up wearing hand-me-downs  was showered with new outfits, thanks to the church groups and clubs that adopt needy children there.

“'My clothes have tags in them,’” Thomas quoted the girl as saying. “She is so grateful for anything.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com