Breaking The Cycle Of Poverty

Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.

College. School. A Good Education. We all probably take all of these things for granted. But there are some people in this country who don’t have these. You may not witness it, but students everywhere are qualifying for financial aid and help. And their parents more likely than not had the same childhood. These kids don’t see any way out of the cycle of poverty, they only know the way of getting financial aid and using government welfare. So then why are we so concerned with aiding children in other countries when we have many children in our own country that need our aid.

Everyday billions of people suffer from this.They try to escape but they’re are trapped in it. Over a million people die from it every year. Can you guess what I’m talking about? I’m talking about poverty, a worldwide plague impacting over 3 billion people, almost half the world’s population. Today I will speak about how many people live under the line of poverty, why people live in poverty and how to help people escape the cycle of poverty.

President Johnson is well known for making major policy reform in order to combat poverty. Welfare, a social program designed to combat poverty, has been a controversial issue for many years and has been reformed under the Clinton and Bush administrations. In 1996 President Bill Clinton brought welfare reform to congress with help from the Republican Party. Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole led the reform action. President Clinton vetoed the first two bills presented, but later proposed a third version that was enacted. Food stamps, child care, and Medicaid were all revamped. Food stamps were issued and controlled at the state level. Within the bill childcare was strengthen for the poor and Medicaid was maintained. There were strict

Words provoke preconceived ideas and images in the mind, when it comes to a situation like poverty these preconceived notions can have undesirable and unintended consequences. Diana George examines the semantics and the imagery of the word poverty in her article titled “Changing the Face of Poverty; Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation. While also addressing the issue of the perception poverty and what someone in poverty truly looks like (676). Prof. George is arguing that organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which are created to help people in poverty actually perpetuate the wrong image of what someone in poverty looks like (678). Most organizations created to help those in need, especially those in the US tend to portray poverty as what is seen and thought of as living conditions in Third World countries (683). In reality, poverty is all around each and every one of us in this country on a daily basis, and people might not always recognize it for what it is (681,682). Furthermore, the majority of people living in poverty in the United States do not live like or look like someone living in a Third World country. But in reality they are still living in poverty nonetheless (682,683). Organizations that portray people living in poverty here in the US as totally devastated and completely impoverished are doing a disservice to the people they are attempting to help. Consequently, by doing this they are giving a limiting idea of what someone living in poverty

Throughout years poverty has been an ongoing situation that has only been increasing throughout the years. Many efforts have been issued by the government over the situation; but yet many of those efforts have failed to succeed. Increased dependency is the only long term impact that government efforts have had on poverty. By solving poverty the government could make the economy grow more for everyone , because many people would be going back into the workforce. The government has a responsibility to end poverty through providing education, better programs, and jobs.

More than 800 million people in the world are malnourished, 777 million of them are from the developing world (Raphel, S., 2014). Poverty is an issue that must be addressed to the population loud and clear or everyone will end up suffering. There are many families trying to survive and live from paycheck to paycheck. Unfortunately, there are some families that are unable to support himself or herself or any family member. One important key issue of poverty in the United States is inequality. Many Americans blame the poor people for their own fate but you should never judge a book by its cover. There can be many reasons why an individual or families end up in poverty. For example, low wage jobs, discrimination and social inequality, vulnerability to natural disasters, war and political instability. Another big issue we face today is child poverty. This is a very critical issue because these young children are our future. If we let these children live in poverty, there is a higher chance they will drop out of school, look for work in order to support their family, or give up in life.

Poverty is more prevalent In the U.S than many people know for example 1 in 5 families are thought to be poor. So how can we help? Well instead of giving money to these families in need we should be providing them with necessities for everyday life. If low income families are only given money there is no way to make sure it is going to the benefit the families needs, It could be going to drugs or other unnecessary things. Another way to help is making birth care more accessible so there are less unplanned pregnancies throwing many into poverty. If the government makes these two changes poverty would dramatically decrease

There are several ways that poverty can be prevented. More jobs should be offered, and the income should be able to support their basic needs. Growing up in poverty minimizes a child’s opportunities or success, so opportunities should be displayed for them. The skills of young mothers should be improved, and the poor should be offered education or job training. People who are wealthier can donate money, food, learning tools, and clothes. Obviously one of the more common ways that poverty can be helped is buy people giving up their time for them. You can go to food drives, go to fundraisers, or go to soup kitchens. Everyone should get involved to try to decrease the amount of poverty

In a study conducted by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2013, they found that 610,042 people were homeless on any given night (HUD, 2013). This statistic is one of the many reasons that leads Americans to no longer believe that the “American Dream” is attainable. This information also emphasizes the growing problem of poverty in the United States. Although this issue has been around for centuries, with combined efforts of people throughout the U.S. there is potential to put an end to the suffering of thousands.

There are three main arguments believed to be the explanations for the existence and persistence of poverty. The first account is the Dependency-Based Explanation that puts the blame of poverty to the individual or to their cultural background. The Exclusion-Based Explanation and Structural-Based Explanation are the next two which establishes the society that condemns people to poverty.

Poverty for centuries has been a very severe issue that has troubled many nations while impeding economic developments and progress. Poverty stricken countries are majorly concentrated in the continents of Africa and Asia. Continents like the Americas and Europe have globally been recognized as been wealthier yet still many parts of these ostensible countries face massive cases of poverty. Most at times, countries with high populations owing to high birth rates face the most cases of poverty. The definition of poverty can be boundless in the sense that poverty entails so many subsections as it sometimes gets complicated to group everything under one umbrella. Society tends to focus more on the tangible aspects of poverty because many people associate poverty with lacking money and it makes sense because poverty in terms of lacking money is a major problem affecting almost every country in the world. Even though it is debatable that poverty can be physical, intellectual, spiritual and even emotional, it is best to talk about the lack of money and economic developments in this essay. With reference to the oxford English Dictionary, poverty is state of being extremely poor and the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Reflecting on this definition given, I deduced that malnutrition and hunger can define poverty. In the light of this, I think poverty is lacking a comfortable place of shelter, being ill and not having access to a better

Children in poverty is a typical social issue occurring in society today. “More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level” (“National Center For Children In Poverty,” n.d.). The federal poverty level measures the amount of income a family takes in per year. It varies depending on the number of people in a family. For a nuclear family (two parents and two children) the federal poverty level is around twenty-four thousand dollars in a year (“Health Care.gov,” n.d.). The average American makes around forty-six thousand dollars a year. The parents of the children in poverty make at least twenty-two thousand dollars below the average. Their families are extremely poor. Also, not just one child is facing this hardship, sixteen million children are part of families below the federal poverty line, just in America. “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008” (Calfas, 2015). Unfortunately, the rate of poverty affecting children has gone up through the years. More and more children will face poverty during day to day life. Children can be affected by poverty in many ways. “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor

One way poverty can be eliminated is to educate the population for employment opportunities and with financial knowledge. Numerous teenagers drop out of school every year without obtaining their high school diploma. This diploma is the minimum requirement for the majority of all jobs. Parents, schools and the government need to offer additional incentives to keep children in school in order to seek higher education and additional employment opportunities. Laws could be enacted forcing children to attend school until the age of eighteen or possibly joining the military if they choose to drop out. This will ensure these students a bright future without the possibility of living in poverty. Financial stability is something else each child should learn as many adults aren’t able to financially

Again, just living in poverty areas increases health issues and mortality due to health issues. Children raised in poverty in substandard homes located in high-crime areas have an increased chance of cognitive deficiencies, depression, or some other mental disorder (Anakwenze & Zuberi, 2013, p. 149). The children are the future; with this being said, an ugly cycle of poverty continues to be reinforced with each generation. Breaking the cycle with community outreach programs, increased mental health awareness, increased employment, and increased educational benefits for those in need are a few things that could potential help. As the old saying goes, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime” (Author unknown). Unfortunately, there is no right or easy answer for poverty but, I believe education is the key.