Urban Poverty In The United States

Many individuals all over the world are affected by poverty. In order to completely understand the cause, the effect, and the solution to ending poverty, we must first understand the meaning of poverty. Poverty is the condition where an individual’s basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met (business dictionary). According to the World Bank Organization, poverty is also the lack of healthcare, education, information, and jobs. There are two general types of poverty: Absolute and Relative. Absolute poverty occurs when individuals cannot obtain adequate resources to support a minimum level of physical health. Relative poverty occurs when individuals do not

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.

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 has been an ongoing issue since the birth of this Nation. When one thinks of poverty the last people we think of are the ones closest to home. As children some are told “finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa”, but what about the starving children whom are in neighborhoods close to us? Poverty is everywhere, even the places that are thought of as wealthy. Poverty in America; a continuing issue.There are many different definitions of poverty. The United States Census Bureau states that

Poverty is an epidemic that has swept the American nation many times over. Whether it be quietly lingering under the surface, or blatantly staring us in the face as it is in this current recession, it affects people across America on individual, community and national levels alike. While there are many causes and effects of poverty, it is important to view the issue of poverty and its causes from all angles when one seeks to tackle the problem. These factors include socio-economic status, mental illness, family values and work ethics, to name a few. In this essay, I will be examining these factors as they are discussed in the book, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (referred to as Glass Castle throughout essay), as well as in the article

American life was transformed in the 1960s from the start of the decade. The 1960s consisted of new rights and new understandings of freedom. The sixties consisted of rights for racial minorities to be involved in the mainstream of the American lifestyle. However, unsolved issues of urban poverty still existed. Women in the 1960s established a conversion in women’s status, for instance, women entered the paid workforce. America experienced a growth of conservative movements, consequently, the 1960s would confront judgment for social ill, crime and drug abuse and drug abuse as well as decline respect towards authority. In despite of crisis, America became a tolerant nation. The sixties are known as a decade of drastic change, rebellion, and backlash. Also, for the American individuals that came of age during the sixties, the generation known as the “Baby Boomers,” wanted to change the culture of their parents. Terry Anderson and Peter Clecak both present different judgment of the social activism of the 1960s. Terry H. Anderson, from the The Sea Change, implied that the sixties achieved a positive transformation within politics, society culture, and foreign power. Anderson believed that America became more democratic as well as comprehensive. (361) On the contrary, Peter Clecak, from The New Left, argued that radicals failed to revolutionize in the sixties and additionally became powerless against the dominant social order. (361) Although certain Americans opposed and judged

Poverty leads to insufficient opportunities, especially in college education. For instance, according to U.S. Department of Education, students who do not enter college or drop out of their classes are “predominantly persons from low-income families.” In support of this argument, the article states that “only 21 percent of those with family income of less than $25,000 were highly qualified for admission at a four-year institution” compared to the 56 percent of students with family income above $75,000. Therefore, students with bad economic conditions struggle with attending university even after entering it. The problem is that the African Americans race gets the harshest disadvantage from their poor economic conditions. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services publishes that almost 40 percent of African Americans under 18 are below the national poverty line, which is three-times higher than their white counterparts. This explicitly proves that unequal economic conditions are the main reason for inequality in education; African Americans are the most disadvantaged. Furthermore, the correlation between poor economic conditions and a lack of education among African Americans creates a chain of inequality. The poor economic backgrounds of African Americans obstruct their children from attending colleges and subsequently, the lack of higher education makes

As Nelson Mandela once proclaimed, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Unfortunately, some students do not have the chance to take part in a college education. Not receiving a post-secondary education is a rising issue among those below the poverty line in the United States. In 2010, eighty-two percent of high income students continued their education into college; while in contrast, only fifty-two percent of students living in poverty had the opportunity to receive their college education. Poverty can be defined as having little to no money, goods, or means of support. Living below the line of poverty is an ongoing struggle for at least fifteen million young adults nation-wide, according to the

Within not only our own country, but throughout the entire world, there is poverty. It is pretty much a fact of life, and the current way the U.S. government is attempting to resolve the problem is not the correct way. We are trying to fix a long-term problem with a short-term solution. Instead of welfare, there are much better ways to solve the problem of poverty.

Whatever happened to the idea of “women and children first”? This concept has been slowly diminishing throughout the years. In today’s society, poverty can be seen in the faces of women and children across the globe. The overwhelming majority of the poor consists of women and children. As of 2013, one in seven women live in poverty (Robbins and Morrison 2014: 1). The poverty of women and children is a global problem, but it is also a problem that hits home. Poverty exists in our hometowns and neighborhoods across the United States. This problem is not just in low-income countries like much of Africa or the third world countries we see on commercials. It is also prevalent in high-income countries like our own. Poverty may have a women’s face,

Since America was founded, immigrants have developed and shaped each state, making the country so unique and to some, the most desirable place to live. “The streets were paved of gold” was the slogan used to attract so many people from around the world, but, how many people truly “struck gold” after moving here? Only 28% of the population (according to a 2005 census) live in the middle to upper class. To put this statistic into perspective; one in every 4 families are living knowing that they are financially stable. The question presented to teens today is whether you’re born into wealth or work for it. Day to day people swear by the phrase; “It’s not what you know it's who you know”, and this does hold a substantial amount of truth but it

In the United States, there are about more than forty-six million people living in impoverished conditions today. Poverty is a major conflict issue in this country amongst people who are part of the lower class because American families always had a hard time making ends meet, even before the Great Recession began. Living in poverty puts them at a disadvantage because they have to choose between necessitates like health care, child care, and food in order to help themselves and their family members. Though many reforms had been made to help cope with those who are living in poverty, it has been keeping many from being able to climb the social class ladder because the “War on Poverty” has not been

The ninth President of the United States, William Henry Harrison once said, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” President Harrison addressed this quote in a speech in 1840, nearly two hundred years later nothing has seemed to change since than. In fact the gap between the rich and the poor only seems to have increased since than. The richest 10% of the people in the world currently make up for 85% of the global wealth. One of the biggest problems with poverty is the affect it has on a child’s development and educational outcomes. Economically speaking poverty is based on a person’s annual income. For a family of four if you make anything less than $24,000 collectively in a year than you are considered to be poor. A person who receives

One of the most successful efforts to reduce and more effectively measure poverty is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) in New York City. This paper will explain how the Center for Economic Opportunity was and still is so successful in combatting poverty and argue that its tactics should be implemented in cities across the nation. Poverty is one of the most important issues that the modern world has attempted to confront. For the most part it has been a huge success. Extreme global poverty has been cut in half in the past 20 years. This statistic is staggering, and not enough people realize how successful industrialization and the globalized world have been at eradicating extreme poverty. While this should be

The growing rates of unemployment correlate with the higher rates of poverty seen in rural America compared to urban areas. The graph below demonstrates the gap between rural and urban poverty rates. In addition, many of the manufacturing jobs that still exist provide low wages. With residents earning less money than their urban counterparts, housing is in some cases less obtainable than in metropolitan areas.