In the United States, one is constantly hearing of the “struggle low-income communities face.” While it is often alluded to on large scale news channels, such as Fox and CNN, and is spoken of on daily talk shows, not very many people often take the time to discuss what the problem with these low income communities actually is.
With minimal observation, it is not difficult to diagnose the issue. There is a cycle of inattention and indifference which quickly adds up to make the perfect equation for poverty. Parents of small children struggle to find and maintain a well paying job, and because of this often resort to working overtime, or even managing two jobs. With such busy parents (now on to be referred to as Generation A), these children (now
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It is common knowledge that the younger a person is, the less likely he is to work towards long term goals. Elementary children cannot be left to their own devices like this to work on their own education; they do not have that level of intrinsic motivation. They need constant support and encouragement from both home and school. But since Generation B is not receiving this, they instead focus on immediate gratification and on “what feels good.” This can lead to abuse of both alcohol and drugs, along with an increased likelihood of involvement in gang activity and violent crimes. With an unreliable background and a minimal high school graduate education, Generation B will begin adulthood in the same way Generation A did; struggling to find and maintain a well-paying job to provide for their families. This all leads to a vicious cycle of poverty that captures generations and generations of families across the nation. It is important for these children to get proper education for many different reasons, including for equal opportunity in the work force. But the most important reason is that these children, my friends and peers, are the future of our nation. We are the future governors and senators; we are the future
He vividly describes the predicaments of the marginalized communities, which paints a picture of their suffering and hardships. In addition to emotional appeals, King employs logos to present a logical argument supporting his assertions. He provides statistical data and historical context to illustrate the extent of poverty and inequality in America. By grounding his arguments in facts and evidence, King strengthens his case and encourages his audience to engage with the issue
As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh realities of poverty affect children’s lives in profound ways. Children lack any power in improving their circumstances and depend on adults to gain access to basic necessities. Access to proper healthcare, education, and basic nutrition continues to be an obstacle for children. Poverty impedes children’s aptitude to learn and contributes to poor overall health and mental health. Perhaps most important, poverty becomes a cyclical nature that is difficult to overcome. Children who experience poverty when they are young tend to experience persistent poverty over the course of their entire lives. According to the Child Welfare League of America, the national poverty rate for children
Poverty is a human services issue that is spread throughout the nation and world. ‘The percentage of children who are poor is more than three times as high in the United States as it is in Norway or the Netherlands.’ (Porter, 2016) The trend since 2000 is that there is an increasing amount of families, and in turn children, living in poverty. Poverty has been defined as the state of being extremely poor. But what does that mean? Poverty is the lack of financial, emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical resources. Children cannot change their situation because they are dependent on adults to provide for them which makes poverty easily passed from generation to generation. “Poverty directly and indirectly affects
In 2000, the poverty rate among children was 16.2% (Reef 253)! Poverty is a relevant issue that isn 't going away. It 's ruining minds and lives at the same time. Poverty changes how people view the American Dream, achieve the American Dream, and even affect how people 's brains work and develop.
Poverty and homelessness are serious issues in the U.S. today, especially because of the current recession, with levels of poverty and unemployment higher than at any time since the 1930s. Blacks and Hispanics are being affected disproportionately by homelessness, as well as poverty and unemployment in American society. This is just another example of the racial caste system and institutional racism that goes far beyond that of social class, and has always been the case in recessions and indeed with every other social and economic problem in American history. Even though the country elected a black president in 2008, wealth and incomes for minority groups, which were already far lower than whites, have been in severe decline for the past few years (Baumann 2001). Compared to the trillions of dollars in federal assistance that has been extended to the large financial institutions from TARP and the Federal Reserve, programs to aid the poor and homeless have been very inadequate, and are even being cut back on the local, state and federal levels.
Finally, take a look at child poverty, which is a sensitive subject for many. National Center for Children in Poverty created a study to discover how much child poverty affected the United States. Once the research was completed, the NCCP revealed that a large percentage (“nearly half”) live their lives in poverty. This is due to the families’ inability to support children, most likely from low-income jobs.
Underserved communities are often unaware of the medical process and stress that follows a diagnosis. The medical terminology and understanding the statistics of each approach to treat the health complication can be difficult to understand, especially after the initial shock of discovering life changing news. Health care providers serving these communities must be sensitive, patient and insightful of the many disparities theses patients’ are and will encounter as the medical team moves forward with treatment. Providing care to underserved communities goes beyond the medical practice, it’s having a raw understanding of the many layers of disparities a patient will undergo on a daily basis while being treated for their illness and meanwhile hoping to receive the best medical care possible.
Child abuse is defined as ways of treating a child that are harmful or morally wrong. (Richards 12) Child abuse is caused by so many things and usually starts with something de-menial or small. Like a snowball, the problem gets bigger as time goes on, if you do not stop it. Child abuse happens everywhere, in every neighborhood, ethnicity/racial, and religion. It is worldwide. One of the main factors of child abuse is where they live. Do they live in poverty or not? Poverty is such a broad term; when most people think of poverty, they think of the kids they see on TV. These children are usually from a third world country where there are programs set up to help feed the starving. Poverty is defined by Charles Booth, in 1886, as “very
People living in poverty often feel powerless and isolated, it’s so hard to be poor and tens of millions americans deal with that every day.
Poverty is present in today’s U.S. social system. For example, as Lesser states in the Clearinghouse Review, “Forty-six million Americans live in poverty” (1). Lesser then goes on to say how forty-six million Americans living in poverty correlates to almost one in every three single-parent families is poor (1). This is a daunting fact as it applies to today’s economic context with “rising unemployment rates and mortgage crises driving more individuals and families to seek the support of a cash-strapped social welfare structure” (Grijalva 1). With this in mind, many legislators are discussing the topic of poverty in the political realm. In order to tally the score of representatives the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law conducted its sixth annual Poverty Scorecard. “The 2012 Poverty Scorecard grades the voting record of every U.S. senator and representative on the most important poverty-related votes in 2012” (Lesser 1). The 2012 votes covered a range of topics such as budget and tax, food and nutrition, health care, housing, and many more (1). The results of the 2012 Poverty
It is an undeniable fact there exists a growing poverty epidemic within American society that needs to be addressed. According to a 2012 report by the Cato Institute the United States government spends nearly one-trillion dollars every year to combat severe financial need through a total of 126 separate welfare programs. While this value by itself seems significantly large, perhaps to an even excessive extent, in reality it had little effect on the American poverty level, never al allowing it to drop below 10.5%. Even with these massive government expenditures aimed at elevating quality of life, for many households an escape from their low-income bracket is still vastly unattainable. Current statistics show that more than 40% of individuals born into the bottom quintile will remain there, failing to escape into a life of financial stability. Despite immense funding, in its existing state of organization, the system of aid currently offered by the American government to lower income household fails to effectively alleviate the living conditions of the impoverished due to its negligence towards payday loans and the other intangible costs of poverty, its temporary and ineffective solutions to fight hunger, and most significantly, its insufficient reliance on an unreliable and inconsistent enforcement from state jurisdictions.
Research shows that low income people fighting to move up in society are only trapped in the lower class due to the limitations given from state and federal aid programs. Most of the lower class would like to believe that they will get ahead, but the sad truth is most will stay trapped in the lower class. This is affecting not only the adults, but children as well. “More than one out in [of] eight” (VartaAnian, Houser and Harkness) people in the U.S. are receiving help from some of these types of federal aid program. There are a number of diverse and complex factors that contribute to these issues for the low income people in America. This is not something that has just recently became an issue, it has been around for many of years and also
Another reason kids live in poverty and go hungry is their parents don't have a high education or have no education. The effect is that parents can only get a minimum wage job with their skills and education level. This is not enough money to support a family with kids. “The Southern Education Foundation found that, for the first time in 40 years, the majority of public school students in 13 southern and four western states are living at poverty levels. ("Rising Child Poverty") The wages are decreasing for the less educated for families with kids this is not good.
Many people in the United States are currently or have been a victim of poverty in today’s society. A number of economic poverty lines, poverty gaps and poverty orderings have been proposed. In general poverty it is the terms of income distribution and inequality (Poverty: An International Glossary. 2006, p61-62. 2p). In regards to poverty, there are various aspects in life that affect people in these communities. The largest concentration of poverty is public housing which is also known as “The Projects”. This then leads to many drug trade transactions and a growing epidemic of violence. Many people that are victims of poverty feel that the system is designed for them to fail.
When a city decides to create an expansion of roads, highways, buildings, and homes, by cutting through low-income neighbourhoods, it reshapes the area and causes division and creates disadvantages for low-income neighbourhoods. For instance, Jacksonville, Florida built two highways (Route 95 and the 295 beltway) and it as cut off the black neighbourhoods by using the river and bridges (McKenzie, 2016). This as cause business in the black neighbourhoods to be destroyed, homes to be lost, which as create poverty in the community, with the loss of jobs.