There are many different reasons why poverty occurs and as such there are many different avenues to pursue in the eradication of poverty. Poverty is a growing problem throughout the United States and within our own communities. With businesses such as textiles closing down and the relocating of jobs into other countries, more Americans are out of work. (McKernan and Ratcliffe, 2002). With all these people out of work, it is only logical that poverty is on the rise. We have to find the reason this happens and work on a solution for the growing problem.
What does it mean to be poor in America? There is no single description of American poverty. But for many, perhaps most, it means homes with inadequate heating, unstable plumbing, and uncertain electricity. Poverty is a condition in which a person or family does not have the means to satisfy basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Poverty often means a home where some go to bed hungry and malnutrition is very frequent. For almost all poverty stricken families it means that life is a constant struggle to obtain the merest necessities of existence, the things most of us take for granted.
One’s race does not matter every race has people who are in poverty. Poverty is not something that affects only those people who are out of work, there are many people who are working and are still faced with poverty. Poverty does not seem logical and it, does happen more often than we may realize. (C Warner, 2005). So many people are under-paid and over-worked but have no other choice but to keep working. More families are becoming single income families. This means that only one person in the household is employed and still supports the same amount of people in the household. To understand poverty in America, it is important to look behind these numbers and to look at the actual
