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Poverty In Poverty

Decent Essays

In some cities you see kids being walked or driven to school; a tire swing boxed in a white picket fence. In the local newspaper you see a house listing: “Beautiful 3 story home! Safe neighborhood, great school district, close community!” In other cities, some are not so lucky; kids are struggling to get to school or daycare safely; a suffering school district and gang ridden streets make this town hard to thrive in. Nowadays, people neglect to realize how slums across the country are suffering now more than ever. The number of those living in poverty in America “nearly doubled between 2000 and 2013, to 13.8 million from 7.2 million” and continues to rise today (Semuels 2015). The question is this: How can we help our ghettos get to a safe and healthy state and keep the progress consistent? Through education, community togetherness, assisted help, and law reform, ghettos will begin to heal and living conditions will elevate.
The most important elements to a prospering town is education for the people, especially the youth. Studies show that “child poverty adversely affects student achievements” and “increases in child poverty rates during the last 10 years translated into reductions in average test scores” (Ladd 2012). One way to help kids in ghettos receive proper education would to initiate educational reform policies. For example, “macro-economic policies designed to reduce unemployment, cash assistance programs for poor families, tax credits for low-wage workers” would help create proper educational groundings to let the youth grow up with the knowledge and skills necessary to grow (Ladd 2012). If these young kids gain the right to education, not only will their minds grow, but so will the community. But one thing standing in the way of kids and their education is gang violence.
Thousands of young adults join gangs to fit it, to gain protection, and to make drug money. A first step to ending this youth violence trend would be to heighten law enforcement as mentioned in the paragraph above. Next, South Side Chicago would need to provide special programs to the youth designed to educate them about gang violence and how to get out of a gang or avoid them. The “Youth Promise Act” to be funded. This act would

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