...208 The Truth about Homelessness There is a man standing on the side of the road. He holds a sign that reads; lost job, have family, anything will help. His eyes stare at the ground as he shamefully holds the piece of cardboard. His family stands behind him with nothing but fear in their eyes. We see people like this almost every day, either on our commute to work or school, to the local grocery store, or even just on our way home. So many times we convince ourselves that somebody else will help them. We make our selves believe that the next person to drive by them will help them out; that we don’t have the time, but somebody else will. This is the problem. Why is Homelessness an issue? Despite Washington's recovering economy, homelessness is on the rise. An estimated 25,000 residents are without shelter on any given night. There are many circumstances that may cause one to be homeless. Living a homeless lifestyle does not occur to one “type” of person but more so, I believe, is the outcome to a series of decisions and outcomes. Some of the outcomes that may have led these individuals to their current situation could be: Loss of income, inflation, misdiagnosed mentally ill patients, practicing poor health, as well as the uneducated and untreated drug and alcohol dependent individuals. Homelessness destroys families and communities, undermines morale, contributes to crime, creates drag on the economy, and also prevents people who used to live normal lives from doing normal...
Words: 1453 - Pages: 6
...HOMELESS IS NOT HOPELESS A Study of the Homeless Population of Santa Clarita BY RICHARD SJOLIN EG 371 RESEARCH METHODS It is unacceptable that in our society we cannot provide basic needs for the homeless community within our population. My study of the homeless population provides information on the demographics of the homeless population, specifically in the Santa Clarita Valley. I wanted to look at this question; if semi-permanent housing services were free, would the population take advantage of those services? As a secondary question, can a homeless person make sufficient income to sustain permanent housing without assistance? Both of these areas are critical to a successful transition back into a productive lifestyle for the homeless family. In the future I would like to survey the guests of the Santa Clarita Emergency Winter Shelter, when it is open. I also believe it would be beneficial to repeat this survey, as conducted, at four different times, during different seasons throughout the year. I think that while the overall results would be similar, we could reach a greater number of the homeless and therefore provide even more powerful support for the needed assistance. In announcing a grant to assist the education needs of homeless children, the William Hart School District stated that in the 2008 – 2009 school year there were over 850 homeless children in grades seven through twelve. (Board, 2009). These children are...
Words: 802 - Pages: 4
...Helping, Giving, and Volunteerism: Raising The World Up Jacob W Meyer Virginia College Helping, Giving, Volunteerism: Raising the World Up Contrary to news media's depressing forecast of homelessness, joblessness, and people out of work, as a global community we have improved. Charitable acts such as helping, giving, and volunteerism have been on the rise; through technology, globalization, and more people getting involved we have brought the standard of living in the world up over the last 30 years. In 1981 more than 50% of the world lived in absolute poverty – this is now down to about 14% (Rosner 2015). With all of the technology and globalization we do have to be more aware than ever when we give money to organizations that we are not familiar with, there are fake charities out there. Technology has been the greatest way that we have brought people out of absolute poverty. Websites like causecast.com and e-volunteerism.com allow people to network and find others interested in helping. Casuecast.com allows companies to be more philanthropic. It allows companies to pick a charity and the employees can volunteer and give through there paychecks. It also allows companies and charities to connect on a wider scale. The fact that most soup kitchens and shelters now have an e-presence to enable people to more easily connect to the shelter or kitchen and volunteer time or donate money. We have churches that when missionaries do mission trips they can now email friends...
Words: 1006 - Pages: 5
...Introduction Thus, far, I have learned that “Social problems” are the central issues and conflicts that are not “personal problems”. These problems can never be resolved by a single human. It takes many people of the given society to work together in order to reach a solution. Social problems are very much complex that it threatens the values of society. The cause and the solutions are responsibilities of the society Affected Population The meaning of being homeless in the United States helps define who is able to receive shelter and assistance from health and social service providers. In order to live a normal life requires having a home to live in. Yet people with no home and unable to afford anything can be found in all countries. The main reason is the individual cannot get the housing loans or welfare accessible to others. The causes of homelessness can be caused by family altercations or tragedy (or prison), or even a natural disaster. The larger proportions of homeless parents who are separated from their children in the US and the larger number of families in the homeless population are both likely because of the US social policy. Higher levels of inequality and lower levels of social benefits are associated with higher rates of homelessness. The Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 describes a homeless person as any place not meant for regular sleeping accommodation by humans. In 2005, an estimated 744,313 men, women, and children were homeless...
Words: 1398 - Pages: 6
...Special Education For Children With Disabilities Millions of children in our nation are identified as being "children with disabilities". Prior to the 1960s, millions of children with disabilities received inadequate or inappropriate special education services from the public schools and another 1 million children were excluded from school altogether. Disabilities such as autism, poverty, and racism are just a few of the “disabilities” that have blocked the pathways of over a million people thought out the US. My goal for this paper is to thoroughly examine the three main factors that I personally believe have the most traumatic and continuous effect on society that will ultimately repeat itself and create a pattern of issues that society will be forced to resolve in the future. It is my desire and personal goal to acknowledge each issue that many children face, label and prove it to be a awful disability, an find a realistic resolution to each issue addressed as a disability. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, in the United States, 21 percent of children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty line. Although many of these families have working parents, low wages and unstable employment make it difficult to provide the necessary resources for proper childhood development. Not only does research indicate that poverty is a threat to a child's well-being, but it also affects his ability to learn. Regular attendance at school is important...
Words: 1890 - Pages: 8