...Is Childhood Poverty Increasing Inequality In America? Is childhood poverty increasing inequality in America? The test of our progress," said Franklin Roosevelt, "is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." It is by that great test that we must measure our progress in the years ahead. John F. Kennedy, 1960' (Lindsey, pg 34, 2009) Children born in America are promised equality and opportunity. How well is America keeping its promise to 1 in 4 children living in poverty? The Bible teaches we are created in God's image (Genesis 1:27). Each child is born with God's DNA but not all children grow up in a world conducive to developing their God-given potential and dreams. Not all children are given equal opportunity. "Their economic and social development will be primarily influenced by the opportunities their parents, community, and society provide" (Lindsey, 2009, p. 3). What defines childhood poverty? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines child poverty as "a child is deemed to be living in relative poverty if he or she is growing up in a household where disposable income, when adjusted for family size and composition, is less than 50% of the median disposable household income for the country concerned" (Garofalo, 2012, p. 1). The United States Census Bureau for 2011 qualified the poverty threshold for a family of four as $22,281 annual income...
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...Child Hunger in America Hook Katherine Foronda has taught herself not to feel hungry until the school day has ended. It’s wasn’t that she didn’t like eating in public, or that she couldn't eat food, it was the fact that she didn’t have any food to eat or any money to buy food with. In high school she failed an English class and rather than having to retake this class she opted for an after school skills course that came with a meal and sent them home on the weekends with food. Katherine also obtained knowledge that there was a way that she could go to college, even though she couldn’t pay for it. Now that she was filled with hope and a full stomach she soon went on and founded a program that offered food support to the students in her high...
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...Children & Poverty in the United States Children & Poverty in the United States Kylon D. Shipp SOC120 University of Phoenix In the United States, there are millions of families with children who live at or below the poverty guidelines set by the federal government. The federal poverty income level is around $22,050 a year for a family of four, and it takes about twice that amount to cover the basic needs and expenses of a family of this size (National Center for Children in Poverty, August, 2010). Although most parents are employed, the low pay wages these days tend to leave these families in a constant struggle to provide for their children. Most states have programs that help families that have a lower income take care of their children’s basic needs such as food, shelter, and medical expenses. However, children who grow up in poverty may still be affected by poor health and mental health issues. Poverty has also been known to affect a child’s ability to learn and leaves them at a greater risk for emotional, social, or behavioral problems. Research shows that poverty is the highest threat to a child’s well-being (National Center for Children in Poverty, August, 2010). Since 1964 when the war on domestic poverty was declared, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars helping large and small towns across the country. They have repaired old homes, helped people find jobs, and also provided free food for those who are living in poverty. Despite the...
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...Poverty…. which is defined as the state of being extremely poor. There are two types of poverty that are known, absolute and relative poverty. Absolute poverty is lacking the need of food and shelter, which is necessary for a person to survive throughout life. And relative poverty is those who are stable, but lacking the needs of most Americans because of their financial status. There are many reasons that cause poverty. For example, loss of job and not being able to find work. But many Americas believe that poverty is caused by the poor, because of the belief that you can do anything in America. Poverty can cause health problems for children growing up also. Things such as chronic stress, and experiencing difficult things throughout childhood...
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...studying poverty is the number of children who are suffering under circumstances they have no control over. As far as developed nations go, America has not been doing well at keeping their youth from struggling under the poverty line. Nearly one out of five (17%) children in America live in poverty, and that must be taken with a grain of salt as the actual numbers could be even worse. Jeff Madrick writes in his article Handouts Are Often Better Than a Hand Up on the issue and what needs to be done to fix this ongoing problem. There are a plethora of serious matters that revolve around children being raised in poverty including unhealthy diets, overwhelming amounts of stress, decrease in self-worth, and consistently lower IQs than children living above the poverty line. Madrick mentions two welfare programs that were created in the 90’s to help pull children out of poverty. The first was the Aid for Families With...
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...Poverty in America America is considered the wealthiest nation, yet as of 2013, 14.5% (about 45.3 million) of Americans are in poverty. The government provides distinctive programs to help people living in poverty with welfare and link cards, but unemployment, foreclosures and unexpected emergencies do arise. Seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families all struggle to get by day-to-day. In this essay, it will be discussed who are in serious poverty, how they are affected and ways to end poverty in America. As stated before, nearly 50 million Americans are in poverty all which have to face the difficulty of possibly losing their home, deal with poor health and ensure there is food on the table every night or having to go without certain items like new or name brand clothes and shoes. Even though there is no specific type of person or people that reach the poverty line, it can be concluded that there are particular groups of people that are more likely to be faced with a higher risk of being in poverty. Families with children, single parent households, people with disabilities, certain minorities, and households where there is one or more person that does not work. (Who lives in poverty?, n.d.) These variety of people reveal who poverty can affect....
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...Child poverty is an extremely saddening issue, and I found the statistics given in our textbook as well as the websites to be utterly horrifying. I found it shocking how much childhood poverty is evident in the United States as compared to other countries. As one of the most powerful and wealthiest countries on earth, it would only make sense that we have some of the lowest poverty rates in the world; however, that is sadly not the case. Out of 35 countries surveyed by UNICEF, "The United States ranks 34th of the 35 countries surveyed, above only Romania and below virtually all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan" (Fisher, 2013). The fact that the United States has such a high percentage of child poverty is abhorrent, to...
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...Sydnei Young Mrs. Bass Humanities- 3rd Blue 6 Nov. 2014 Clarity on Blood Diamonds Diamonds are mined for a number of reasons. Some reasons may be for paying off certain debts, glamorous jewelry, or for trade. Blood diamonds, also classified as conflict diamonds, are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold for the funding of a rebellion or uprising. Conflict diamonds are also sold to fund civil wars or for the rise of a warlord. Conditions in diamond mining are not always honorable and they are completely horrific. Almost all of the diamond miner in Africa live in poverty, earning and average pay of less than a dollar a day. Also, child labor is overly common and their working conditions are very frequently hazardous. The connection of violence...
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...Poverty in America: An Overview Stephanie Tran Pol S 310 Professor Strohman Iowa State University Some people may argue that the American dream is no longer achievable. Perhaps it was, but as time lapses and history takes its course, the pursuit itself may appear meeker. Today, most people would agree that the economy “is bad,” but what does that truly mean? A “bad economy” may impact some families on a more personal level than it appears. There are 20.6 million people in the United States who live in deep poverty, 6 million of whom have no income (Edelman). A family that lives in poverty is not always obvious to the eye. When a person thinks of “poverty,” he or she may think of developing countries with people who live with little to no food, shelter, or clothing. They may think of the too-thin African children in black and white commercials with the sad music trying to guilt viewers to send money. However, in America, poverty is a little more complex than that, and standards for poverty here are different than that of Africa, Asia, or Mexico. While poverty in the United States may still include an income, free education for children, and a place to live, it still may entail food insecurity, debt, lack of basic necessities, and the weight of stress and pressure from society that can take a huge emotional toll on a family. Poverty in the United States is a very real problem, and many people are unaware of the impacts of it. In the United States, the poverty rate...
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...Poverty: Who are the poor in the United States? When most people think of the United States they think, the land of the free and the place were dreams come true. Living in the US, there is no limit for advancement and opportunity. No man, woman or child should ever go hungry or want for anything. Here in the US we have more cars on the road and more skyscrapers in large cities than anywhere. In small towns, there are wheat fields and cornfields for miles and miles. As an American living in the US, when we think of poverty we think of countries like India where women wash their clothes in ditches alongside main roads in Mumbai. In countries like Africa Ethiopian men, women and children may go days without a meal, sometime weeks. Examining third world countries and their poverty level, does it cross our minds that poverty really exist here in the United States? Poverty levels in the US do not compare to the poverty level in third world countries. Poverty in a third world country is measured in the terms of absolute poverty, where a person lives in conditions he/she does not have the means to meet the basic needs in life. Their living conditions could be life threaten. Here in the US, poverty level is measured in the terms of relative poverty. According to the article reviewed by Thomas J. Corbett entitled “Poverty” (2008), “Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages....
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...More children are living below the poverty line in America today than when the war on poverty began almost fifty years ago. Despite consistent efforts by the government, nonprofit organizations, and the people themselves, poverty rates in 2012 are very similar to the early 1960s. Social security and Medicaid have reduced the number of seniors living in poverty, but the plight of children has worsened. Several factors have contributed to this problem. As measured by inflation adjusted dollars, wages of low-skill jobs have declined. The number of families headed by unmarried mothers has risen, and large numbers of immigrants with little education have entered the U.S. The combination of these factors have resulted in approximately 20% of our country’s children living in poverty, which is 50% higher than 1969. Historically, the foundational basis for lifting the disenfranchised out of poverty is education. One of the first steps of the civil rights movement was a grassroots movement educating the poor and disenfranchised to a level of literacy that would enable them to register to vote. This strategy was led by Stephen Currier and his wife, Audrey Bruce, the granddaughter of Andrew Mellon, during the early 1960s. Their Taconic Foundation brought the leading civil rights groups together with other foundations including the Stern, Rockefeller, and Norman foundations. The funding to civil rights advocacy associations was matched with volunteers throughout the South who tutored...
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...Eaton 1970 Poverty in Rural Vermont America is changing and maybe not for the good. In many states, it isn’t out of the ordinary to see a homeless person on the sidewalk asking for money. Here in Vermont however it was never such an issue. However, in recent years there isn’t a day that a person can drive through a local town like Main Street in Brattleboro without seeing someone asking for food or money. There aren’t enough jobs for these people or they don’t get paid enough to survive. Stories of homeless families are a lot more common than one would like to think. How many people in this weak economy can actually help someone out? Most people would, but they themselves are struggling to survive. So with everyone having such a hard time surviving in Vermont, what is the solution? Most people would answer we need more jobs; others would say that there needs to be an increase in pay rates to keep up with the daily cost of living. With Vermont poverty increasing over the years, jobs and services aren’t enough to keep people from living in poverty or even becoming homeless. Many Americans don’t understand what homeless families struggle with and trying to explain to a child why they live the way they do. The first step in understanding this issue is confronting cultural attitudes towards poverty. Professor of politics, Lawrence Mead III has researched American politics and policy making since 1966. Mead has written many books on welfare, poverty and programs...
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...Child Hunger: Starving the Future Prove it Exists Jahzaire Sutton, a 12-year-old boy from New York who has experienced the effects of hunger first-hand, recently appeared alongside educational reformists and celebrities on Education Nation to tell his story. Poverty hit the Sutton family so harshly, that often Jahzaire was forced to go to school hungry. “I wasn’t able to focus on my schoolwork and that kind of affected my report card grades…it was very frustrating, because it’s all I could think of, food, when I went to school,” recounted Jahzaire (Strauss). Jahzaire is but one of many children who wind up going to school hungry, and it is negatively impacting their chances of success both in the classroom, and in the real world. In schools,...
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...Child Labor International human rights laws are supposed to protect individuals from the acts of governments that violate their civil, political, or human rights. The International Labor Organization objectives are to bring together government, industry, and labor groups, with a focus on developing countries, to help promote the rights of workers, create decent and beneficial employment opportunities, eliminate child labor, and help foster ideas and the means for the economic and social protection of the poor, the elderly, the unemployable, women, and children. More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are growing. The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. Child labor is not an easy issue to resolve; while it seems like it would be an easy thing to just withdraw from the firms and factories that employ child labor, but it may do more harm than good. Many of these children are from very poor families and they work to help their families with food and their own educations. The desperate need for income some children seek and find very low paying jobs and in some cases even prostitution. Child labor affects over 250 million children, 30 percent or in Latin America. Poverty is the most...
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...Gurinder K. Fnu Soc&101 The Culture Of Poverty and the theory of Functionalism Background: In 1959 a sociologist, Oscar Lewis investigated poverty and its trends amongst society. Lewis came up with a theory commonly known as the ‘Cycle of Poverty’. The cycle of poverty is the term used to refer to the phenomenon in which poor families become trapped in poverty for generations. This is because they have no access to long-term education and no long-term financial guarantees. The cycle of poverty suggests young children who are born into poverty will remain in poverty because they lack the ability to go to school and receive no education, their families are not financially stable (no clean clothing, a poor diet, lack of hygiene, etc.). The ability for them to break out of this cycle is limited, and in some cases simply not possible. The structural-functionalist approach to stratification asks the question: what function or purpose does stratification serve? The theory's answer is that all parts of society, even poverty, contribute in some way or another to the larger system's stability. Structural-functionalists maintain that stratification and inequality are inevitable and beneficial to society: the layering is useful because it ensures that the best people are at the top of the hierarchy and those who are less worthy are at the bottom. Those at the top are given power and rewards because of high abilities, and the high rewards exist to provide incentive for qualified...
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