Poverty In America

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.

staggering? Poverty occurs when a person’s need for food, clothing and shelter are not being

Race is commonly associated with poverty. It was found that "black and Hispanic family income has been approximately 60 percent of white median family income. Interestingly it was also discovered that their net worth was approximately one-tenth that of whites"(Squires and Kubrin , 51 ). Race can play a pivotal role in getting home loans and locations of neighborhoods in which you buy a home. Segregation still plays a major role in poverty.

Poverty is about not having enough money to provide basic needs of living such as food, clothing, and shelter. Poverty is not only about money it’s also not having somewhere to sleep at night, being sick and not able to go to the doctor. Poverty is not able to go to school and get a proper education. Poverty is not knowing what the outcome of your future will be. Poverty and inequality are two different things, but inequality can feed widespread poverty by barring groups with lower social status from accessing the tools and resources to support themselves.

In the United States, one is constantly hearing of the “struggle low-income communities face.” While it is often alluded to on large scale news channels, such as Fox and CNN, and is spoken of on daily talk shows, not very many people often take the time to discuss what the problem with these low income communities actually is.

In the 2015 United States Census, statistics showed that more than thirteen percent of the population were living in poverty. Twenty five percent of them are African American’s, the group with the highest poverty percentage in America. The second group with the highest percentage of poverty are those of hispanic descent. Although the rate has decreased slightly, overall, it is still extremely high for a well advanced country like itself.

Being a first generation US citizen and the youngest of eight, poverty and its struggles played an intricate role in my life. Growing up I have witnessed the struggles of the “Ghetto” and its hardships to the people living in it. I have witnessed the product of the “ghetto” and its very low margin of success. I’ve experienced this first hand in my immediate family, being the youngest of a family of eight i have seen the positives and definitely its failures.

In 2014, 26.2 percent of Blacks and 23.6 percent of Hispanics were poor (National Poverty Center). This can be compared to the 10.1 percent of non-hispanic Whites who were poor (National Poverty Center). Also, 30.6 percent of single mother households were poor, whereas 15.7 percent of single father households were poor (National Poverty Center). All of this impacts which kinds of jobs women of color have, how often they can work and how much money they make overall.

In the article from USA Today, reports from the Annie E. Casey foundation state that there are more children living in poverty now than there were during the great recession (Calfas 2015). “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008, the foundation’s 2015 Kids Count Data Book reported.” (Calfas 2015) Reports show that many of the children living in poverty are of Black, Latino, or Native American descent. Although there are programs in place to try and help members of the American society combat poverty, many of these programs tend to mostly benefit white families. These facts have raised concerns about the development of the American society and the children in it. The article reveals

This report also voices that Blacks and Hispanics exceed the nation average. A single mother household is where poverty remains the highest.

Poverty is a big deal in this country. There are millions of people in this country living in poverty.

So in my previous visual report about poverty, I discussed the reasons why Poverty continues to grow and who that effects on our society. To begin off as I had stated in the visual report I live in an area of rural West Virginia where some of our small towns considered at 100% poverty level. We were once an area thriving with the railroad and coal mines, our town was even once known as “The Heart of the Million Dollar Coalfields” is now most doctor’s offices and closed shops. Our town died with the coal mine closings and it will only continue to decline. Unfortunately, poverty is an all too real thing for a lot of people in my area. I wanted to see if poverty is something that is seen in every state now, not just ours and to see as well who poverty really hit the hardest. The results I was able to fine were both surprising and informative. In my first line graph the information shows the number in millions in poverty as well as the poverty rates between 1959 and 2010. We see a large dip in the 1970’s after the great depression and higher numbers of people in poverty with the recession in 2010. The next question I had was who does poverty effect. This particular chart goes more into who and what ages that poverty hits the hardest. The information states that female 's head of households with no husbands, people under the age of 18, native born and whites are the hardest hit by poverty in our country. So, to follow up the previous question I

So in my previous visual report about poverty I discussed the reasons why Poverty continues to grow and who that affects in our society. To begin off as I had stated in the visual report I live in an area of rural West Virginia where some of our small towns considered at 100% poverty levels. We were once an area thriving with the railroad and coalmines, our town was even once known as “The Heart of the Million Dollar Coalfields” is now mostly doctor’s offices and closed shops. Our town died with the coal mine closings and it will only continue to decline. Unfortunately poverty is an all too real thing for a lot of people in my area. I wanted to see if poverty is something that is seen in every state now, not just ours and to see as well who poverty really hit the hardest. The results I was able to fine were both surprising and informative. In my first line graph the information shows the number in millions in poverty as well as the poverty rates between 1959 and 2010. We see a large dip in the 1970’s after the great depression and higher numbers of people in poverty with the recession in 2010. The next question I had was who does poverty effect. This particular chart goes more into who and what ages that poverty hits the hardest. The information states that females head of households with no husbands, people under the age of 18, native born and whites are the hardest hit with poverty for our country. So, to follow up the previous

According to the Census Bureau one in seven people in the United States live in poverty. Today, more than 45 million people in the United States are living in poverty. Those 45 million people in ‘poverty’ are constantly struggling with getting nutritious food, safe shelter, and proper clothing for the weather. Throughout the United States, there is a dilemma that certain ethnic groups are in deeper poverty than another. Here we will look into why one ethnic group is better off than the next. The United States uses the Census Bureau to determine which ethnic groups are in poverty. Using an economic poverty measure calculating the minimum amount of income needed to meet the basic needs. This varies my family size and compensation also. The four groups we will look into are African American, Hispanic, white, and Asian doing this will determine why each group is in more poverty than another.

Poverty rates among all citizens are highest in the extremely urban and truly rural areas of the United States. However, poverty rates, as measured by the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, are higher in non-metro areas as compared to metropolitan centers. The demographics of poverty offer insight to public administrators and policy writers beyond the demographics of simply rural versus metro areas. For example, in 2016 rural White citizens were half as likely to live in poverty as either Black or Native American citizens. In addition, a female head of household in a rural area is nearly eight times as likely to live in poverty as a married couple. Couple these demographics with the fact that only 46 million citizens live in nonmetro areas – roughly 15% of the national population – it is not surprising that rural areas seem to receive less attention by federally elected officials than urban and suburban areas.