A High School Diploma Program

Poverty, the state of being extremely poor, exists all over America! There are several different types of poverty, and the causes of poverty. Most people think of poverty as just somebody who is homeless and has no job, somebody who has no money to support the basic needs of life, and wears ragged clothing and lives under a bridge. What people don’t know is there are people living in poverty that have jobs and make money but live so poorly that they are categorized with people that live in absolute poverty.

Poverty affects over 767 million people in the entire world. In the United States alone, poverty affects more than 42 million people. According to feedingamerica.org, of that 42 million affected, 13 million children and over 5 million seniors live in poverty. Poverty is grouped into two different categories; absolute and relative. Wikipedia.org defines absolute poverty as the absence of enough resources to secure basic life necessities. This includes not having safe drinking water, not having clean bathroom facilities, not being able to get proper healthcare, not having access to education and not having proper shelter. Absolute poverty is also referred to as living in extreme poverty. Relative poverty, according to wikipedia.org, is the condition in which people lack the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in the society in which they live. The meaning of poverty varies from country to country and person to person. For example, while some people in the United States would be considered as living below the poverty line, a person from another country may consider that person rich. However, poverty is simply when an individual is unable to meet their basic needs. This includes not being able to clothed, house or feed oneself or one’s family. Poverty is a problem that will not be easily solved. There have been many attempts to try and end poverty, but yet it continues to grow. In a country such as the United States that’s

The current poverty rate in America is 13.5 percent (US Census Bureau). That measures out to roughly 43.1 million Americans. What exactly is poverty? Poverty means not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is so much more than just not having enough money. Poverty is not having access to a doctor or medications you may need, poverty is not having access to a good education. Poverty can be the people who are barely able to pay for food and shelter and simply can’t afford other expenses such as car repairs, field trips with their children and any other extracurricular activity.

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

“Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter” (“What is Poverty,” 2016). In the United States, there are 45 million Americans are living in poverty (“45 Million Americans,” 2014). In order to determine if one is living in poverty, the United States Census Bureau has established a poverty line that they then measure, according to the individual’s income and their family size (“Poverty Thresholds,” 2016; “Poorest Cities in America,” 2016). Since the recession in 2008, many states have seen a rise of families living in poverty. Poverty is a vicious cycle and has devastating effects on young children.

Poverty is a hard concept for people to put into words. Ruby Payne states a working definition of poverty in her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty in which she says, “The extent to which an individual does without resources” (7). For a better look, the dictionary defines poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”

There are many myths behind the word and status called “Poverty”, this is a highly controversial issue that has affected millions of people worldwide. In society, there is a hierarchy in society and people’s perception of poverty ranges in thought processes such as in our social imagination. There are various reasons people are living in poverty and how it should be addressed. There is a large divide in between socioeconomic classes and this class system has changed people in many different aspects of their life. Some American people living in poverty lack of opportunities and resources to excel in society. People living in poverty can cause no sense of aspiration and not feeling included in society so usually do not become greater than their present circumstances. In this western society we live in, there is a consistent divide in a western society, the upper class will always regulate

Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support: condition of being poor (Poverty, n.d.). There are numerous reasons that contribute to the overwhelming poverty rates in America, some of which cause sever hunger and death. The economy, cultural beliefs, minimum wage, and lack of jobs are a just a few reasons more than 45 million people are in poverty. The American government has set the limits to what is considered to be poverty under a set guideline of 48 possible thresholds. The thresholds vary according to the size of the family and the ages of the family members. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, poverty

Introduction One in every seven children will be born into poverty in the United States. That may be shocking since America is considered a “rich” nation with different programs to help those who are struggling financially. What classifies someone who lives in poverty? According to Investopedia, “Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials to enjoy a minimum standard of life and well-being that's considered acceptable in society.

Child poverty is children that fail to meet the minimum acceptable standard of living this applies to children that come from poor families or orphans being raised with limited, or in some cases no income at all. “For many families, it is very difficult to get out of poverty. There is not enough money to feed the children, clothe them properly, or even enough money to pay for the bus fare or to look for a job” says Grant Wilson, President of Canadian Children’s Rights Council. It is even harder for new Canadian children and aboriginal families as they are at a greater risk of living in poverty.

Poverty by definition means: “State of being poor. The state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing.” (Encarta dictionary) That is a word that many of us ignore, yet poverty among children in the United States is problem that is not going to solve itself. People today are not concerned with the troubles of others like they were in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Communities back then looked out for each other. When one family was lacking the community pulled together to ensure the family had what they needed. Today communities are not that way. People only look out for their own well being. With modernization there comes social change and

Poverty is a complex societal issue, which includes social, economic and political elements. It is a lack of necessary means to fulfil basic human needs including food, shelter, clothing etc. The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty as living in a household with a total cash income below 50 percent of its poverty threshold. Official poverty rates in the US as estimated by the Bureau is 12.7 percent for 2016. Official measures concluded that 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty that year, nearly 1 in every 6 people. The measure is based on information provided from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement. The survey is sent to U.S. households, so the poverty estimates do not include those who are homeless. (Semega,

Poverty is one of the greatest problems in the United States today. Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; a condition of being poor.Many people, especially African Americans and children, live in poverty. People in poverty are left to face different social, cultural, physical and mental challenges.The American Dream is to have a well paying job and to be comfortable, but most Americans are forced to live a life of poverty. Although the United States is one of the richest countries in the world, the rate of poverty and income inequality is still relatively high. Economic Inequality is the reason why poverty is increasing, and equal opportunity is reducing. 1

There are many ways that people define the term poverty. Cuthrell et al. (2010) defined extreme poverty as, “living with an annual income of less than $7,870 for a family

Poverty is a situation whereby people’s basic needs like food, clothes, shelter and medical care, are not met. Poverty can be relative or absolute. Relative poverty is when people are not satisfied with the minimum standard level of living which can be determined by the government. Absolute poverty is when people are completely or in destitution of things like food to keep them healthy, clothes to cover their bodies and shelter over their heads. United States (U.S) faces both types of poverty and therefore, I shall be looking at some of the causes and possible prevention. Family composition, government expenditure, decreases in taxes for low income earners, massive incarceration, and affordable medical care, are some of the main issues to be