Informative Post: What is Poverty?

                            What is Poverty?

Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. When a family doesn’t have enough money to Supply their needs. Have you ever wondered which group of people is impacted the most by poverty?  Well children in America are suffering the most from living in poverty. According to National Center for Children in Poverty (“n.d.”) “About 15 million children in the United States live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, a measurement that has been shown to underestimate the needs of families. Most of these children have parents who work, but low wages and unstable employment leave their families struggling to make ends meet.” Parents who work but lack the income are considered the working poor. A child growing up in poverty face several challenges and has a lack of better opportunities. (NCCP,2018)

    According to National Center for Children in Poverty (“n.d.”) “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor health and mental health.” Poor kids are most likely to experience hunger and have a hard time focusing in school. I know growing up my teachers stretched how important it was to eat a healthy meal. In the film The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution they showed the Free Breakfast program which was a community service program run by the Black Panther Party to serve poor children hot free meals to help kids attend school ready to learn.  It’s important for children to eat daily meals to help with healthy growth and development.

    Children growing up in poverty may face other risk factors such as poor health, abuse, crime, and bad behavior. Most children living in poverty have limited to no health and dental insurance and the ones who do have insurance rarely see the doctor/physician. Some children grow up seeing a parent being abuse or suffering from abuse do to anger and frustration. Low income families receive housing in bad areas where children are exposed to violent crime and drugs. Children act out for attention by making bad choices that can cause them to be arrested or engaging in activities such as prostitution. A child’s environment can have a major impact on how that child may turn out.

    Poverty is something that we see all the time or may have faced without knowing. I know several people including myself who have lived in poverty in which our families tried to cover it up to ease our worries. There are so many Americans living in poverty in which they receive limited assistance from the government to help with their basic needs. Poor families didn’t ask to be born but for most families it has become generational. America has to work harder to reduce the number of families living in poverty.