Nicholas Otte
English 210
May 18th 2023
Poverty, a pervasive problem that affects millions of people around the world. This traps them in a cycle of despair that is difficult to escape from but when it comes to poverty it’s not always bad news. An article published by Frontline and written by Priyanka Boghani shows that in 2021 a year into the pandemic, the poverty rates had declined from 16.1% to 9.3%. That was the lowest rate that we had seen in a very long time. This was thanks to all the government funding, stimulus checks, and the help of other organizations that could contribute to the people in need. With this government provided money, 12.4 million families were helped from being dropped into poverty. Another way the government assisted families in need during the pre covid and pandemic era, was through SNAP, otherwise known as, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This program received emergency allotments which then led to an EBT program to open which meant that families of kids that usually get free or reduced price lunches, would be rewarded with temporary benefits to purchase their food. This was all in the very peak of the pandemic leading until September 2021. Recently, inflation rates have skyrocketed the most since 1982 so unless the benefits were to be adjusted for inflation that the poverty rate would increase once again. Families couldn’t rely on their benefits or stimulus checks either because they were either finite, have expired or they were not guaranteed to be restocked or supplies again
The second form of expression that I am using is an article written by the American Psychological Association on the mental and physical health decline in children and teens living in poverty. Minorities are currently the leading population in poverty. “Compared to the 8.2% of White Americans living in poverty, 26.8% of American Indian and Alaska Natives, 19.5% of African Americans, and 17% of hispanics” are living below the poverty line under the age of 18 years old. These children are at greater risk of cognitive and health related problems than high-income families/children. This can also be detrimental to the child because it can lead to poor academic achievements, poor social skills, development delays, behavioral issues, etc. These families and their children won’t be able to get physicals for checkups because they simply can’t cover medical and dental care. The APA curated this article to spread awareness on the effects of poverty and how detrimental it can be to the people of our society so they use a stern and persuasive tone as well as descriptive language to really make their point on the causes and effects of poverty. In this article they also give possible ways to help those who are in need. For example, “ Donating food, money, and clothing, working/volunteering in organizations and charities that have goals of assisting the less fortunate, donating school supplies, and so much more.They continue to show that there are ways to help with the increasing rate of poverty in the U.S. That is the audience that they are trying to reach. People who want to see and make a change in their society.
“The Poverty of Incarceration” by Bruce Western and Katherine Beckett is the last article I’m using. The article’s tone is critical and urgent. The authors contend that mass incarceration has exacerbated poverty, particularly among African American communities. To portray the gravity of the situation, they choose harsh words such as “devastating consequences” and “systemic injustice.” The goal of this essay is to draw attention to the link between poverty and incarceration and to advocate for legislative reforms that would reduce the number of people in jail. According to the writers, the existing system disproportionately impacts people of color and promotes poverty and criminal cycles. The item was published as an opinion piece in The New York Times.This medium allows the authors to reach a large audience and call attention to an important subject that might otherwise go unnoticed. The article’s intended readership is the general public, particularly those interested in social justice problems. To make their argument more approachable to a wider audience, the authors use simple language and concrete examples.
I believe that as a society, we know what is going on but we don’t do enough to stop or help the situation. We just give our condolences or our prayers and think that it’s enough. We have a responsibility to take care of each other and ensure that everyone has access to basic needs like food, shelter, and healthcare. Unfortunately, our society often prioritizes profit and individual success over the well-being of the community as a whole. This leads to a system that perpetuates poverty and inequality, making it difficult for people to break out of the cycle of poverty. We need to do more to address the root causes of poverty, such as lack of access to education and job opportunities, and provide more support to those who are struggling. It’s not enough to just provide temporary assistance; we need to work towards systemic change to create a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. As a result of not doing enough, the poverty rates will continue to rise from here and eventually there will be no more help we can give those in need because we will also be struggling to survive. Acting now can change the lives of so many people.
I chose this topic because of the personal connections that I had to it. My family and I went through a state of poverty and we used to live paycheck to paycheck. The only things that my mom could afford were necessities like food, water, and clothing. We had moved around alot in our childhood. Back and forth from New York to Massachusetts because the jobs my mom would get would never be enough to hold us down for a good amount of time. My mom would constantly apply for unemployment or she’d have to ask her mother, our grandmother, to lend her some money so that she could supply us food for the night. One thing about my mom is that she did everything in her power to make sure that me and my brother were always good. There were times where my mom needed to send us to our grandmother while she would stick it out at a shelter for a little while. It was a very emotionally overwhelming time in our lives but because of this I think I have learned to appreciate what I have a lot more. Living in poverty has taught me lessons that other people or other things wouldn’t have been able to. I’m even more appreciative of my mother and the people surrounding me because at the time, we didn’t have anybody. No friends, no family, nobody to call on when it felt like the world was collapsing at our feet. It was just us 4 alone. Overtime, we learned to build ourselves up and depend on ourselves and eventually it worked and now i am nothing but grateful for everything that has happened to me.
Work Cited
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/poverty-america-2021-covid-pandemic/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/poverty-america-2021-covid-pandemic/
Nicholas Otte
English 210
May 18th 2023
Poverty, a pervasive problem that affects millions of people around the world. This traps them in a cycle of despair that is difficult to escape from but when it comes to poverty it’s not always bad news. An article published by Frontline and written by Priyanka Boghani shows that in 2021 a year into the pandemic, the poverty rates had declined from 16.1% to 9.3%. That was the lowest rate that we had seen in a very long time. This was thanks to all the government funding, stimulus checks, and the help of other organizations that could contribute to the people in need. With this government provided money, 12.4 million families were helped from being dropped into poverty. Another way the government assisted families in need during the pre covid and pandemic era, was through SNAP, otherwise known as, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This program received emergency allotments which then led to an EBT program to open which meant that families of kids that usually get free or reduced price lunches, would be rewarded with temporary benefits to purchase their food. This was all in the very peak of the pandemic leading until September 2021. Recently, inflation rates have skyrocketed the most since 1982 so unless the benefits were to be adjusted for inflation that the poverty rate would increase once again. Families couldn’t rely on their benefits or stimulus checks either because they were either finite, have expired or they were not guaranteed to be restocked or supplies again
The second form of expression that I am using is an article written by the American Psychological Association on the mental and physical health decline in children and teens living in poverty. Minorities are currently the leading population in poverty. “Compared to the 8.2% of White Americans living in poverty, 26.8% of American Indian and Alaska Natives, 19.5% of African Americans, and 17% of hispanics” are living below the poverty line under the age of 18 years old. These children are at greater risk of cognitive and health related problems than high-income families/children. This can also be detrimental to the child because it can lead to poor academic achievements, poor social skills, development delays, behavioral issues, etc. These families and their children won’t be able to get physicals for checkups because they simply can’t cover medical and dental care. The APA curated this article to spread awareness on the effects of poverty and how detrimental it can be to the people of our society so they use a stern and persuasive tone as well as descriptive language to really make their point on the causes and effects of poverty. In this article they also give possible ways to help those who are in need. For example, “ Donating food, money, and clothing, working/volunteering in organizations and charities that have goals of assisting the less fortunate, donating school supplies, and so much more.They continue to show that there are ways to help with the increasing rate of poverty in the U.S. That is the audience that they are trying to reach. People who want to see and make a change in their society.
“The Poverty of Incarceration” by Bruce Western and Katherine Beckett is the last article I’m using. The article’s tone is critical and urgent. The authors contend that mass incarceration has exacerbated poverty, particularly among African American communities. To portray the gravity of the situation, they choose harsh words such as “devastating consequences” and “systemic injustice.” The goal of this essay is to draw attention to the link between poverty and incarceration and to advocate for legislative reforms that would reduce the number of people in jail. According to the writers, the existing system disproportionately impacts people of color and promotes poverty and criminal cycles. The item was published as an opinion piece in The New York Times.This medium allows the authors to reach a large audience and call attention to an important subject that might otherwise go unnoticed. The article’s intended readership is the general public, particularly those interested in social justice problems. To make their argument more approachable to a wider audience, the authors use simple language and concrete examples.
I believe that as a society, we know what is going on but we don’t do enough to stop or help the situation. We just give our condolences or our prayers and think that it’s enough. We have a responsibility to take care of each other and ensure that everyone has access to basic needs like food, shelter, and healthcare. Unfortunately, our society often prioritizes profit and individual success over the well-being of the community as a whole. This leads to a system that perpetuates poverty and inequality, making it difficult for people to break out of the cycle of poverty. We need to do more to address the root causes of poverty, such as lack of access to education and job opportunities, and provide more support to those who are struggling. It’s not enough to just provide temporary assistance; we need to work towards systemic change to create a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. As a result of not doing enough, the poverty rates will continue to rise from here and eventually there will be no more help we can give those in need because we will also be struggling to survive. Acting now can change the lives of so many people.
I chose this topic because of the personal connections that I had to it. My family and I went through a state of poverty and we used to live paycheck to paycheck. The only things that my mom could afford were necessities like food, water, and clothing. We had moved around alot in our childhood. Back and forth from New York to Massachusetts because the jobs my mom would get would never be enough to hold us down for a good amount of time. My mom would constantly apply for unemployment or she’d have to ask her mother, our grandmother, to lend her some money so that she could supply us food for the night. One thing about my mom is that she did everything in her power to make sure that me and my brother were always good. There were times where my mom needed to send us to our grandmother while she would stick it out at a shelter for a little while. It was a very emotionally overwhelming time in our lives but because of this I think I have learned to appreciate what I have a lot more. Living in poverty has taught me lessons that other people or other things wouldn’t have been able to. I’m even more appreciative of my mother and the people surrounding me because at the time, we didn’t have anybody. No friends, no family, nobody to call on when it felt like the world was collapsing at our feet. It was just us 4 alone. Overtime, we learned to build ourselves up and depend on ourselves and eventually it worked and now i am nothing but grateful for everything that has happened to me.
Work Cited
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/poverty-america-2021-covid-pandemic/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/poverty-america-2021-covid-pandemic/
