According to Gonzalez (2014), despite economic growth for households Nationally and in Colorado, Latino/a households in Colorado are still making approximately $17,542 less than the average median household income (pg. 5). Disparate economic differences for Latino/a Coloradans includes West Colfax, where the Latino/a community accounts for approximately 55% of the population, roughly 5109 persons, with 42% of Latino/a’s in West Colfax living in poverty (West Colfax, 2013).
Income-based statistics are provided by the Piton foundation as well as the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy and Research Organization (CLLARO) who seek to provide accurate information which can be used to help improve the lives of low-income and Latino/a population. Inspection reveals that the Piton foundation Board of Directors consists of predominantly White, male men which raises the concern that their data is biased due to their privilege and that “for-profit and philanthropic solutions” masks benefitting privileged populations inside of helping low-income populations (Who we are, n.d., para. 2). The CLLARO’s board is representative of the client they seek to serve and thus bias does not extend to their work (Our Staff, n.d.).
Meyer, Castro-Schilo, and Aguilar-Gaxiola (2014) found that lower socioeconomic status resulted in higher fears about safety due to the necessity of living in neighborhoods with higher crime rates. Fear about the safety led to lower levels of activity and subsequently
An overall consensus based on this survey was that Latinos would have greater opportunity when educational and job-related obstacles were overcome thereby enabling this significant and increasing segment of the population to be supported and welcomed to be a full-fledged actor in every facet of life in the United States. The survey indicated that barriers to such opportunities frequently were conditioned on available social and economic resources, whether one is male or female, and the length of residency in this country. This survey constituted the second one conducted by the foundation to gain greater insights into the effects a slow economy, public policy decisions, and illegal offenses were imposing on the lives of minority families in various communities around the
Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.
America is most known for its diversity, with immigrants from almost everywhere on Earth. The American Dream has lured many minorities to the land of the free and home of the brave, in search of opportunity. Though the U.S. is known for its “American Dream,” America does not have equal opportunity for all of its people. Women and Latinos, specifically, have been denied social and legal equality, with both movements starting in the 1960`s. Latinos had the Chicano movement while women had the second wave of a feminist movement, with similarities and differences in their goals, means, and results. Although Latinos focused on reforming education and work conditions and women wanted to reform their image in society, both educated the public through organizations and used protests to gain limited success of better job opportunity though are still viewed as inferior to white men.
“In the case of East Harlem, rising crime fears are accompanied by an obvious statistical explanation: Countering trends in most of the city, crime there has increased drastically. Over the past year, it has gone up by 17 percent, according to Police Department figures, with increases in rape, robbery and felony assault, among other transgressions.” (Bellafante)
Despite their better standing, the research has surprisingly found that they are “only slightly more likely than those whose parents were first-generation immigrants to have had some education beyond high school or to report household or personal incomes above $25,000” (28). These differences in educational and occupational attainment may be attributed to the overcrowded, underfunded inner-city schools second and third generation Latinos attend or to the fact that young Latinos feel economic pressure to drop out of school to get a job and financially assist their families; thus, keeping them in lower occupational ranks since the well-paid professional positions require a higher educational standard. These results are a bit disheartening, but nonetheless, the educational attainment of Latinos is still in a positive trend since we are seeing a slow, yet gradual increase of educational attainment.
Poverty among the Latino community has converted into an endemic predicament in the development of children living in the United States. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) indicated that poverty is uppermost with children making up 21.6% living below the poverty line in comparison to young adults (19.0%) and elders (18.1%). The California Poverty Measure (CPM) by PPIC analysis concluded that 7.5 millions of Californians lacked resources and made an income of about $30,000 a year. That is just above the poverty line which is to earn $24,000 a year. Although Latinos are constantly operational in the work field, they have a higher scarcity rate than any other ethnic group due to their association with lower education and deficiency of income (PPIC, 2017). In addition, according to The Pew Research Center, many Latino families are experiencing economic hardship as a result of moribund financial wealth, increased mortality rates, and higher birth rates among the Latino immigrant population (Lopez, Velasco, 2011). Poverty has produced several obstacles to Latino children in regards to their shifting family dynamics, learning, and development, but there are wide-ranging solutions that aid children of limited income households to prosper. This essay will scrutinize and discuss the assorted effects of poverty for Latino children living in the United States in the context of family dynamics, education, and development, as well as propose a solution to
(Torres, S. 1998) Research indicates that fear of crime, whether self-imposed or realistic, can immobilize individuals, harm the local economy and negatively impact social interactions as well as the quality of life (Albanese, 1990 Skogan (1987) argues that crime victims believe that more crime exists, are worried about victimization and attempt to protect themselves. Parker and Ray (1990) as well as Krannich et al. (1989) revealed victimization to be a predictor related to fear of crime. Additional support for these findings was provided by Smith and Hill (1991), who showed that actual victimization appears to increase fear of crime by increasing the perception of vulnerability. (Torres, S. 1998) Research also shows that fear of crime among minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status is related to their vulnerability in the urban environment (Liska et al., 1982). The elderly who are physically vulnerable and less agile are more fearful of crime even though they are less likely to be victims. (Torres, S. 1998) The proliferation and presence of gangs in the United States is also linked to the concept of social incivilities and increased fear of crime. This problem of fear does not go away. The people not only have a constant fear, it continues to the next generation of people in
In Linda Chavez’s, “Hispanics and the American Dream” she starts by showing the growth of Hispanics in America and how they are depicted. She sees them as a valuable part of society that is steadily climbing to new heights on the socioeconomic ladder, yet the population perceives them to be the lower end and will likely remain that way. She goes on to prove this assumption by the way Hispanics are shown in the media, which states that poor and Hispanic goes hand in hand when thought of. What is failed to be seen is that most Hispanics are steadily in the middle class, but this varies within the group just as it does with all races. The analysts take into consideration the immigrants who have just entered America, legal or illegal, which in turn causes the balance to shift towards the poor side of the spectrum. Our overall perception of Hispanics plays a role in their place in society.
Many workers work in jobs that pay them under the table or in horrible conditions. “Latino households can expect to earn 70 cents to a dollar less than the average white person makes. Hispanic households make 12 cents to a dollar less than white non-Hispanic people” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With Latinos and Hispanics working under the table, they are not making as much as they would make if they were earning a paycheck legally. Since they are also sending money home to their families they have very little left of what they do earn for themselves. “Out of the last quarter century, the proportion of Latinos in poverty has been two or three times that of white non-Hispanics” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With the average American battling to stay above the poverty line, more of the Latino and Hispanic communities are below it because of the financial obstacles in the way. Latino and Hispanic populations have been rapidly growing in the United States. “In 1975 congress addressed citizens with multilingual backgrounds” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 226). Many Latino and Hispanic Americans want to become legal so they can participate in the political position of being a United States citizen. Latino and Hispanic Americans want to be able to vote in upcoming elections. Since the increase in their population and the decision of congress in 1975; more ballots are being made to be English and Spanish depending on the particular country, city or state (Schaefer, 2012, P.
Hispanics experience a number of diseases that causes this population to constantly seek health care help. In 2004, the leading causes of death among Hispanics was : diseases of the heart, malignant neoplasm and unintentional injuries. For the purpose of this assignment, I would like to discuss HIV, as nowadays, remains a leading cause of death among Hispanic population. Accordingly with Kaiser Family Foundation , the rate of HIV among this population is four times higher than within the white population.
Every 1 in 5 Hispanic American lives below the poverty line and the average income for most households in $10,000 below those in non-ethnic households. Many lack wealth or a type of savings because of the downturn of the economy. Hispanic Americans relied on the fact they owned their homes for income when it came time to care for the elderly,
So far, both theories are able to explain the crime inequality observed insides neighbourhoods; however, when it comes to explaining the difference in crime rates between neighbourhoods with similarly low levels of poverty, social disorganization theory is not able to fully explain why such difference may occur, as it places a greater focus on the internal dynamics of the neighbourhoods than on the external contingencies (Peterson & Krivo, 2010, p. 92). Based on Table 4.5 of Divergent Social Worlds: Neighborhood Crime and the Racial-Spatial DivideI, minority low-poverty areas have roughly two and a half times more violence than their white counterparts (Peterson & Krivo, 2010, p. 88). Social disorganization theory insists that residential instability (percent of those who owns and percent of those who rent) , population heterogeneity (internal differences, including ethno-racial differences), poverty (percent of those who live in poverty), income, deteriorating neighbourhood, and population loss (percent of those who leave due to deterioration) are mechanisms that leads to the absence of informal social control and increases social disorganization, causing the loss of control over youths who then hang out at spontaneous playgrounds and form gangs with delinquent traditions that get passed down through cultural transmission. If such was the case, then one would expect neighbourhoods with similar and comparable local conditions to have similar average rates of crimes. However,
Measuring racial and ethnic equality is not a simple or straightforward task. As Gary M. Klass points out in the “Measuring Racial and Ethnic Inequality” chapter of his book Just Plain Data Analysis:Finding, Presenting, and Interpreting Social Science Data, “Numbers never speak for themselves.” Klass’s purpose for this chapter is to demonstrate the range of data that is derived from social indicators that can be used to analyze racial and ethnic disparities in different spheres such as income and wealth, health, education, and criminal justice. After summarizing the chapter, Klass’s methodology and findings can be discussed and evaluated.
Xu et al. (2005) explain that the fear of crime was more prevalent than crime because it reflect not only direct and indirect victimization, but border conditions or disorders in the community as well” (p.152). Wilson and Kelling (1982) explains a different kind of fear citizens living in dilapidated neighborhoods have. The idea is resident's fear crime that comes from disorderliness more so than the actual crime itself. Wilson and Kelling’s (1982) explained people living in Boston's Public Housing Projects express the greatest fear was disorderliness and incivility" (p.40). The fear of residents about the quality of life in the neighborhoods can come in many different forms. For example, in the city of Detroit, many of the residents are concerned with living in neighborhoods where the streetlights are not working. The fear is not that the street lights are not working, but without a properly lit street, many residents fear of being victims of criminals lurking in the
The relationship between Crime and less fortunate people cannot underestimated; it may just be the way the media has conditioned us to characterize what a criminal looks like and how they live their lives. There are many low income cities and crime rates widespread across America. One may say that people with low income have nothing to lose when they commit crime or depressed or desperate to the point that they will commit crimes for the profit of money. Even though crime is committed at all walks of life, one can still pose a question to know if crime is more likely to be committed by people with low income that those with high income.