National Runaway Switchboard

The National Runaway Switchboard came into our class and the lady was very informative with the things she discussed. This organization or program is open to teenagers who want or have thoughts about exiting their homes. The people that work there do not tell them what to do but inform them that there are other options than running away. Many of them also call them for advice or to vent. It is a Chicago based program that provides counseling and so much more to youth. It is government funded and only a small staff is given and the rest are volunteers.



I am really happy to hear that there is such an organization out there for young kids. There are many individuals that may need to hear someone else's advice besides their family and loved ones. This program I'm sure has help hundreds of thousands of kids not getting into trouble.

Food insecurity in Cook County

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pi?id=36940

Article: Hunger Study Shows Jump in Demand at Cook County Food Pantries
by: Monee Fields-White Feb 2, 2010

"A study showed 678,000 cook county residents visited food banks, soup kitchens and shelters in 2009." (White) Almost half of the people had to decide either if they were going to get fed or if their electric bill would be paid. Recession had hit really hard with working families. And many believe that this is not the worst. The need is still growing. There is a food pantry in cook county that says that there has been an 85% increase with their visitors this year. The county does a study every four years on emergency food assistance and found 1 in 8 families receive this help. This is a 46% increase over those four years.


The article is just as important as everything that we have covered in class and on our own. Whether it is food people are in need of or shelter, the point is that the jobs that people have are just not enough to do justice and maintain. And for the people that need jobs, there needs to be a way to help the people in more ways than what we have now so they can make it. Streetwise are kids that struggle and leave their homes at an early age and get themselves into more trouble because that's all they know is to get by on the streets. This movie correlates to this article because again like I said, they are both struggling to get by; some to eat, sleep, pay their bills, maintain a house over their head, and try to keep a job if they have one. Seccombe writes about the women on welfare and how they continue to not being able to make it and Ehrenreich writes a book on almost the same thing. "On not getting by" is a perfect quote to both these books since real people are portrayed in there and how they struggle. Like I mentioned earlier everything that we have covered is about being hungry and why society allows families to do so. I see more homeless people on the streets than ever before and in every neighborhood. This class showed the facts of life and really enhanced my view on hunger and homelessness.

Streetwise

I think Streetwise is a great video to see and understand the facts on street life. One of the concerns continuously showing throughout the movie was the kids family life. Every child on the street had some issue at home with their mom or dad or both. They were all very young, as young as 14 and have been using drugs and having unprotected sex. This one boy looked as though he was 10 and already knew how to get by on the streets and do it well. Some of the issues that the kids went through were their parents getting a divorce, their mothers boyfriend being abusive, their mother being an alcoholic, some were molested, and one had a mother that would cry to him and he could not deal with it. One of the boys father said that if he ever got caught with drugs for him to never come home and so he didn't. At 14 you really no nothing; not even discipline. And learning about safe sex does not even exist at that age. The documentary really emphasizes I think on how parenting your child determines how they are going to turn out. Maybe I am wrong and do not know until I have children but when there is a serious issue at home like fighting in front of your kid or molesting a child, kids act out in negative ways because they do not know how to cope with bad things happening to them. Some of them thin its their fault and are ashamed of themselves.

There was a girl that was constantly be screwed over by men that now she is a lesbian. Another girl said that her mother never loved her and she was adopted so no one really loves her. Thats why she became a prostitute. She wanted to make lots of money quick but also had men wanting her and made her feel special. Every story in this movie points out a major issue happening in ones life. As we all know when we become teenagers we start getting hormones and start acting out it different ways for attention. Some people do it in good ways and some do it like the people in this movie. I had a sister that acted out in the same way as the people in Streetwise but it was because we never had our father in our life and it really effected her in a way so she started using drugs, staying out late, drinking and doing other things that did not make my mother happy. But it was because she felt alone and needed the nurturing from someone but she felt as though she could only get that with her party friends because my mother was always working to make ends meet. These issues in the movie are the reality of many peoples lives and are very common. You almost have to keep both eyes on someone you know that is having issues like the people in the movie because they can act out in that way but if you see it coming, you can stop it.

Ch 5

I agree with Seccombe that surviving on welfare touches all aspects of a persons life and not just the economic realm. In the beginning of the chapter, Seccombe discusses how she interviews Jana and that sometimes she does not make it on just food stamps. Unfortunately daily living for her is a continuous and depressing battle especially when you have kids. Janas says that its hard relying on food stamps and money but even though it is a small amount she is grateful to have it. She never goes out, never has alone time and the fathers are barely in the picture. Being on welfare is not just free money. It affects her emotionally, physically as well as mentally. It is not just her that feels that way. Millions of women turn to drugs and alcohol to use that as a coping strategy for their depression. If it wasn't for welfare, many people would be on the streets and some even dead. I think welfare can have a negative and positive effect on people. People that use it to their advantage like Stephanie make welfare a temporary thing. While some people even when they get a decent paying job could not live off of it. Stephanie is a great example in the book on how welfare touches her life. She tries to eat and stay healthy but ends up running out of money towards the end of the month. She uses welfare to help her get better health wise, and other ways. Being that she has very low income, she gets financial aid for school to help her get an education. Welfare helps her and strengthens her physically and emotionally.

On a negative look on how welfare touched aspects of persons life is dependency. Many individuals are happy that they do not have to work and can stay home with their children. Welfare can destroy someone without even knowing. The book does not discuss how welfare can ruin someone or make their situation worse. So I wanted to share that I know someone that relies on the system to get food and money even though she is in a middle class income from her boyfriend. She just does not put down on the application that she lives with her baby's father so she can get it. I think Karma will get her for doing what she is doing. It affects her life in a positive way because she is living a great life. She just abuses the system so then welfare becomes misused and is a negative effect on how it is used. The welfare effects people in many ways. I agree with Seccombe that welfare touches different areas of peoples lives but it also depends severely on the person and how much good or bad it helps the person in the long run.

Chapter 2

You wanted me to write on here to let you know that you allowed me to complete chapter 2 with this blog. I accidentally discussed chapter 4 twice that's why I did not receive a grade for this chapter. But here it is. Thanks

In this chapter, Secommbe argues the individual perspective. I would like to go into detail with this topic. Individualism is when people believe that other people create their own problems that can continue to be failure. Seccombe talks about how the welfare reform wants to increase ones motivation to become competitive for jobs. Only those jobs are minimum wage and cannot get one out of poverty. I feel that we do not have an equal opportunity to become who we want rich or poor. Some people may not view the world as it is but even though people that are poor are not surrounded by good, they know that there is good out there but they are three steps back and to join the people succeeding is much more worse. It's a choice. I know it is very difficult for a child that is brought up in a low-income household because they do not have the same chances of success than a child from an upper-income home. Schools in low-income areas do not have the same funding as do upper-middle class schools.

Going back to the underprivileged children; they are not receiving the same resources but some are lucky to find them. I agree that the low-income students are lacking better quality teachers which makes it harder for them to succeed in school. They are given uneven opportunities. Anyone can become poor at any time. Wheter you lose your job, don't complete school, your sick, drug abuse and more. I believe that we are born into a class, and we tend to stay within that class. The rich marry the rich, the poor marry the poor and the educated with the educated. The fact is that we are are brought into life and placed in some sort of class. We do not all have equal opportunities to become successful. Unfortunately, this all comes down to money, money and more money which is so powerful.

Ch 4

As I have stated before there are many ways to look at the welfare system. I think to some people being on the welfare system its the welfare's fault and some disagree. For many people that I know, they abuse the system and some how work but don't share it with the government and almost get double the money that they are used to. I agree that the welfare system has created a monster so to speak because "its the new thing to do". I say it in that manner because people know that they can take advantage of the system. There is a woman I know that has two kids works part-time,goes to school part time, gets child support and only sees her kids 4 days a week, while driving a Lexus but also getting $500 for food a month. She tells me, "why not take advantage of the system? I have two kids and I get a lot of money for food that I do not even use up. Its great." I feel as though too many people I know take advantage and I'm jealous that I have to work so hard to make ends meet and I feel having a kid is what makes it easier to get accepted. I do not think the system should be that easy.

I do not agree that the system does not have strict stipulations. What I mean by that is, if there was someone keeping a close eye on the people using it, I am sure half the people would be off of it. I mentioned this in the previous chapters but want to reiterate that just like probation and parole officers have a clientele, they moniter them to see how they are doing. If we had several strict welfare officers that checked on the welfare recipients, people would think its too much of a hassle.

Where I volunteered, people lived there for about a year, and then they were set free into the real world. But they had a lot of help to get resumes going, to take classes for them to be well rounded and other skills to help them succeed. I think if it was mandatory to do everything I just mentioned people would think its easier to not be on it than have to worry about completing the requirements. I strongly agree that the welfare system breeds depence on the system.

Action Project Group 1

We are in group one and Miguel, Marnie, Clarence and I all went to Grace House on Friday, March 19th. It was nice to have all of us being able to go and help there all together. Even though we were not with each other most of the time, it was nice to see familiar faces. I started off before I got there going to the store to pick up water for the employees as well as plastic goods for them to use. And even the day before I passed out fliers to people that lived close by Grace house to see if they would be interested in donating but also getting a meal. I got there early morning and was put right to work. I was ready to do anything and everything. It was their first fund raiser that day for the children of Haiti and what they wanted to do was make lunches and dinner for people that have purchased beforehand and that money would go to Haitian children. I started off meeting the people I was going to be working with and then started to cut about 20 pound cakes into 13 pieces and wrap them in wax paper so that they could be with the meals. Once I was done with that, I helped put everything on the table from spaghetti, chicken, fish, coleslaw, bread, silverware, salad to potato salad. We had an assembly line to get everything put together quickly to get sent out. Unfortunately it was really unorganized and took longer than anticipated. Once I started to assemble many meals, they needed me to deliver food since Marnie, Clarence and myself were the only people really who had a car. I went with a resident to three different places that took quite a long time. We had about 20 orders in my car and even though it was only three places, the buildings were huge and one place was way downtown. Once I got back, we had to clean up this huge mess, and reset up for dinner and by then I had to leave. Time flew by so fast I could not believe it. I had a great time, met a lot of people and heard their stories while working and helping them.

Review 2

I reviewed Ricki's blog and it is very basic. I am more of a visual person and I would need more color and texture in mine. He is more simple than my taste but that's why its his blog and not mine. I was reading a blog on Ch 2 of his and read that he has similar feelings about the welfare system as I do. He is very bold and outspoken with his information and tells it how it is and I appreciate it. I like honest people and I can see he speaks his mind and is not scared to. Overall, it was good information to me.

Review 1

I looked at Claudia's blog and thought it was simple but nice. She had a basic format that you could choose from for the background. I think her information is informative to the reader and gives enough for us to understand whats going on even if we were a stranger to this class. Even though some people are more artistic than others, the purpose is not that and more so with what the info says and how it is portrayed.

Ehrenreich-city of Maine

Ehrenreich decides to go to Maine where it was predominantly white and English speaking. She got there by a bus and is lost in this foreign state. She brought clothes, books, shoes, laptop and $1000 that was left from the $1500. While immediately looking for a place to stay she realizes that 30 min away, in Portland is cheaper than where she was at. After looking some more, she finds a tiny cottage for $120 a week. It has everything you need from a TV, to a kitchen, to a bedroom and bathroom. Now that she had a place, she needed a job. She was in Maine in August and due to in being the end of summer, waitressing jobs were really hard to get. She looked for other jobs in different fields such as office helper, but could not do it because of the clothes she had. Ehrenreich realizes after seeing so many hiring ads, she finds that all the jobs are a staggering $6-7 an hour. Its real depressing to have to look so hard for such little pay. After a couple of days, she gets offered two positions, one at a nursing home serving paying $7 and a 40 hour work week that paid $6.65 as a maid.

She decides to take both jobs first starting at nursing home. Thinking that all the menus would be pre-prepared and easy to hand out, she thought wrong. Residents were able to order anything they wanted off the menu. What she found out later that day was her job was to not only to feed them anything they wanted but had to do all the dishes, clean up all food the they dropped on the floor, vacuuming floors, clearing tables and so much more.

Off to the next job as a maid being paid $6.65. She gets an outfit to wear and the rules were: no smoking eating or drinking, or gum chewing. Everyone working there was female except for one and the ages ranging from 20’s to elderly. The maids are sorted out into teams of 2 or 3 and it may differ every day. Since it was her first day she stayed back and had to watch videos for orientation. A week went by a she could not believe how numb she was and how she outworked people that were 20 years younger than her. But of course she says “…our world of pain is managed by Excedrin and Advil compensated for with cigarettes and booze on the weekends.” As she soon realizes working there for a little all the employees are living with extended family members an luckily one are homeless. She finds that one of her employees forgets a sponge at a house and between the two other people in her group, they cannot come up with $2 to buy another one. Getting to know each person there, she realizes there are childcare issues, food problems (not enough), rent and vehicle problems, a never ending battle to sacrificing the solution to one problem to solve another. She is depressed to hear these stories. She hears from another woman that there is pain with her teeth and cannot get in looked at unless she finds free dental care which is almost invincible. She makes a notation to herself and it says, “ If you can’t stand being around suffering people, than you have no business in the low-wage workforce as a journalist or anything else.” I think that was her reality kick to realize how many people around her suffer every day and just cannot do it. It is not fair to people that want to do better but cannot because they can never be above water. So after hard long days at work she goes back home to realize that her cottage is $200 a week since supposedly tourist season has not ended yet and she is short money and now has to go to food pantries and emergency aid.

Back when this book was made the minimum wage was $6.00 and now it is $7.50 in Maine. Clearly that is not an amount that you could live off of. Ehrenreich needed two jobs to barely make it. According to http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/places/2300560545, the living wage in Portland, Maine for one adult and one child is $18.19 an hour, one adult $9.60, two adults $14.09, two adults one child $22.64. These are some facts that are stated for this particular city.



http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20080924-BIZ-809240309

Ch 4

In Chapter 4 it discusses the question why welfare? Rhonda is a white woman with a son and a father that comes around once a month to help out but does not pay child support. She moved from a trailer to an apartment with subsidized housing. She does not talk with the neighbors because she thinks they are criminals and have no interest helping them selves. Even though she is on the welfare system she thinks differently about someone else that is on it. Rhonda feels that she has only been on and off of welfare for four years and the people she know have been on it for 8-12 years and they do not care to get off of it. She wants a better life and only goes on it when she tries to find more work. She is trying to go to school and make things better while her child is sick from lead-paint poisoning. I feel that she should be on it from time to time because she is trying to make a difference in her life. What I think the system should do is have welfare counselors that come to your house once a month and physically checks the employers businesses to see that you physically are trying. The only proof you need now is a list of places you have sent your resume to. The government does not do any more than check that you wrote down these places. And actually they do not do that for everyone. My mother is on Medicaid because of cancer not being able for her to work. I think she should be on it and not because she is my mother but because of the circumstances. I feel that these are examples of people in need and that every applicant should be monitored closely so that our taxes and money are going to the right places. I do not completely disagree with the system but I think with strict stipulations, half the people would not be on welfare.

I think there should be other ways in our system today so that people can make better decisions. For example people that do not have a GED they should be able to go for free so that those people could try and find work. Also people should be on welfare only for a certain amount of time like a couple of years not a decade. That way if we had welfare counselors helping people get jobs, and get their GED's there will be a higher rate of success and not more taxes being distributed to them.

As Saccome states, many people can find jobs but not sitters to watch their children. Then they try to put them in child care and what ends up happening is all their money goes to the child care. Also there are not after school activities in the neighborhoods so that the kids can stay at school longer while the parent is working. Instead the neighborhood are more troublesome and bad behavior is promoted because then you have you kids on the streets causing trouble. I think Saccome is trying to let us know how hard it really is and to not make judgements when you really do not have the research and answers of how and why people are on welfare.

Ch 3

Ch 3 discusses very important topics about how one is stigmatized by their surrounding people. What I mean by that is people that are on welfare are constantly hearing negative comments about them. Dawn states that she hears these comments all the time but people really do not know what it is like to be on it. She also says if she was not on it, her kids would not eat. I have many pros and cons about welfare and unfortunately I still am more towards the con side. I just feel that many people I know are working the system and if I know many people doing that then how many more people are working it as well. Some people do not have the resources to make them better as a person and succeed but some people have more and more kids so that the government will give them more money so they do not have to work. And it seems to me that the stereotypes fit the picture alot of the time. As I stated in my last chapter reflection, I know someone real close to me that is on welfare and does not need to be. She is a smart person and has made bad decisions before and you would think she would learn from her mistakes the first time, but she did not. Now she has a second child with a deadbeat father and cannot work because she has to watch her child.
Reading about racism and welfare in this chapter should make me want to change my mind about the system but what is described in here is what I believe. It just so happens that it is stereotypical but with the people I know. I have one friend that is white that is on the system and the rest are not. It says in the book that many whites feel the reverse discrimination and that minorities reap employment and social welfare benefits. I do believe that with our history from the slaves movement, African Americans do get more because they have a past of not getting any. So the government wants to make sure they favor them more but I think in the end it hurts them and keeps them at a comfortable stage. Why should a 21 year old that has two kids get welfare and food stamps when I work my but off to get the things I want when they can be doing the same? I think this system is jacked up because all my taxes go to them while they keep popping out kids. I'm not talking about one race I'm talking in general anyone that decides to have a kid before they can financially do it. I think that welfare does not teach you a lesson instead it promotes people to get knocked up and not to worry if the father does not be in the child's life because there is the government to help. Personally, I am enraged at this matter and really after all the classes I have taken, it has made no difference in my decisions that I have encountered. Some people do not have good resources to do good or be good and I feel for those people but personally with experiences in my life with the people I know, they clearly do not need to be on it. They have grown up with great resources and know the right decisions to make.

Going into the context where stigma and discrimination occurs, Saccome states that stereotypes believe that many women on welfare should be monitored to prevent irresponsible behavior, like shopping for steak and shrimp. Many people on welfare should be embarrassed because they have given up a lot of their privacy and their choices as Saccomes states. I am really bias and I guess it has to do with the people I know that are on the system. Thats really all I can say. When there are not just one but a few doing the same thing, its hard to not follow the stereotypes. I think Saccome wants us to have a better understanding on racism and discrimination by telling us the facts, real stories and the stereotypes. Unfortunately it will take more than what I have read and learned from her to really make me change my mind.

Kimberley S

Kimberley was a very interesting person to listen to. I never really had someone come into class and speak deeply about her life. I really appreciated her doing so because it made me realize that every person on the street is not the same but similar. She was in and out of jail five times and during her in between times of not being in jail she was a drug abuser as she stated and a prostitute. I think what takes a big part in the mess she was in was that she was raped several times by family members. Thats where I felt she did not care for her body because of the trama that went with her past. Her drugs of choice was heroin and cocaine and would do anything and everything for it. She said it started off getting free heroin from her siblings that were dealing it and then once she became hooked they were not around to support her habit and she went into bad debt trying to support the drug habit and nothing else. She became homeless and had to be on the streets. At first she said it was hard to be on the strett but then it got better with experience and you started to know a lot more people than when you started. Thats when she finally went on the streets and then got pregnant not once but twice.

She has been in and out of the streets for 26 years and is 40 years old. She has been clean for 20 months and decided that she does not want to be in jail anymore and to not do that she had to stay clean. She cleaned up her act and now wants to be a good role model for her two sons but she does not have custody of them and unfortunate one is incarcerated. You have to really truly want to have a better life to be able to change for the better permanently. If you do not, you are in for a disaster and off to the streets you will be. I am very proud of Kimberley that she decided to be better and stop the street living.

Action Project Proposal.

Miguel, Marnie, Clarence and myself are in group one together. We decided that we are volunteering with a charity called Grace House. It provides a place called home for for the women who have been dismissed from corrections. The women of Grace House have chosen to support the SOS Children's Village of Haiti by putting together a fundraiser which will take place this week Friday which is the 19th of March and will offer the public and friends and family the option to order meals for lunch, and/or dinner. The money the people spend on the food is what is going to be donated to the children's village for the children in Haiti. The SOS Children's Village is an independent non-governmental social development organization. This village helps out many people and transforms their lives. I hope to and know that I will have a better love for helping people in need and to make the world a better place.

Boston part 2

Boston according to the http://usconferencemayorreportboston.org states that there are 2625 homeless people in shelters and 22317 that are not. There are over 600 families not in homes and families unsheltered 18554. This information states that there has been a decrease in the services provided from last year and there are unmet needs. The issue is the non affordable housing and Boston needs to come up with a better plan to distribute their money so that there can be at least government owned property or subsidized property and no t this many people homeless and on the streets.

Critique 2

Timothy has the same title as me, Hunger and Homelessness. As for the beauty of this blog, he also has a very basic page with no pictures though and no difference in fonts and color. I read it on March 5. His information is very basic and that he does not go into as much detail as I did. I'm not saying that is bad it all depends on what you really look for. I personally have to write a lot to get my point across and some people do not have to. It seems as though Timothy summarizes the material given to him and not really discusses it.

Critique 1

Hunger and Homelessness is Micheal's title. I viewed it on March 5th. His blog is very simple and clean. If you wanted just that I think he would be good but if you wanted to have it more in depth, I would recommend that he adds more pictures and more colors. From what I've read of his work, he seems to clarify and go into detail on important aspects of this class. I enjoyed reading his blog but felt as though there should be a little more excitement as I continue to read.

Poverty in Chicago...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LxDGEQ9nvs

This is a documentary of the homeless people in Chicago. I find this video very interesting because they have real people on the streets telling their stories. Some are on the streets because of divorce, inadequate education, lack of affordable housing, and being in the service and becoming handicap. There is a place called The Pacific Garden Mission and most of the homeless say that it is hell there. Once you have been in there you never want to return and would rather sleep in the cold. This place in not funded by state or government. They also talk about why there is still run down neighborhoods and half finished housing. Most contractors do not want to finish and do business in low income areas because they will not profit. This video really shows the actually live footage of being poor and surviving.

Poverty in Chicago

With a high of 9.7% unemployment rate in 2009 and high of 11.1%(IDES) currently we can honestly say that we are in a crisis. Chicago is in the top three county's in Illinois that have the highest amount of the un-employment. Recessions have very high impacts with lower income families because it causes rising of unemployment. 405,000 Chicagoans have been pushed into poverty since this recession. Unemployment and poverty correlate very much so because with no work there is no money provided. A bad economy means more people falling into the poverty category. Out of 7 county's in Illinois, Chicago(cook) meets and exceeds the most amount in the extreme poor, low income and poverty chart. Employment is a security and backbone of a community and economy. The reality of this is known that we have reached currently the highest rate ever and with that we need to have the strong support that helps with loss of jobs and to try and create work so that we do not continue to have people on the streets.

www.heartlandalliance.org

Ch 1

Seccombe let me just state is a very intellectual person with strong values and wanting to fufil her purpose in social inequality. In Chapter one she interviews several people on welfare and goes in dept on the particular issues I will be disecting and how life is for them. Not only are the interviews very helpful but they help her have a better understanding with the struggles, and their experiences. These examples help the reader understand their lives and to understand their situation and that it examines the attitudes and reactions that women on welfare get from strangers. She also examines the assumptions, values and perspectives that are assumed with the people on the welfare system.
I think Seccombe wanted to start off interviewing women to see the life they had and have and I think she knows that being a woman is far harder to survive in society than a man. Saccombe points out several times and suggests some statistics on the average employment history of woman and men and it is relativly higher that men will continue to have a better and more paying job than a woman. She states that women are more likley to be dependable on others and are more likley to be poor, lower wage work and being a single parent.
Sheila was the first that she interviewed. Shelia is working on her GED while taking care of her daughter and sometimes her grandchildren. She has looked for jobs but has not been lucky. With her going to school two nights a week, she has figured once she gets her diploma she can have a job by Jan 1. Shelia stated how hard it is to get a job if you cannot type, add, or read. So the jobs that she has had were being maids and cleaning ladies. With her being on welfare it is sort of a security thing as she stated. She fears if she accepts a minimum wage job she wont get health insurance and that her food stamps will vanish leading her in worse conditions. And if she gets laid off she would have to wait to get her welfare at least a month later. It is bad enough the life that she is living now and I can understand the fear of change because the risk of doing so can be a great thing yet a bad thing. Its almost like gambling. You can have 50% winning or 50% loosing. I think Saccombes contention was to share with the readers the real stories and life of someone struggling and being poor. She has been seperated from her man for about 14years and he has not helped with a dime. She has been under water and cannot seem to stay a float.
Saccombe has opened my eyes and to understand the life of people on welfare. I have come to understand that many people do work but still cannnot do it by themselves especially if they do not have their babies father in the picture to help financailly or emotionally. Some people do not even have friends or family to turn to. I know someone close to my boyfriends family that is un-employed and receiving food stamps, unemployment, child support but is capible of working. This person used to work at a job that was of good pay and an established company and now with her having a second child with her boyfriend not working makes me angry that there are people like this taking advantage. I have a hard time with those people. Both parents are capible of working and have some education to suceed and not be on welfare but because it is easier for them, they choose not to look for work. And unfortunetly the father is a drug dealer to make that quick easy cash so that they can live in a nice house. For a long time I resented people on welfare but honestly every person has a different situation and some people work the system and some people need the system to survive. I guess all this time I was looking for an answer as to why people take advantage and realize that the government is there to help you out and some people think it is an easy way out, or laziness. In the end I agree with Saccombe intentions and I think that she makes points that really make the reader think about situations and understand that everything and everyone has their own sitaution and to really never judge unless you know the whole story and are willing to help make a differnce.

Poverty in Illinois

Heart Alliance states that 10 of the top 20 poorest cities are in the Midwest. The total amount of poor people just in Illinois is over 1.5 million with a grand total population of 12.5 million. That is 12.3% living in what we call poor or poverty level. In particular, Illinois is identifying poverty as a huge problem and looking for good leaders for solutions. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a sense of Congress resolution that sets a natural goal of cutting poverty in half over 10 years. Lets hope it is a continued effort during and after those years. I find it great that we have several charities such as the Catholic churches, Hearland Alliance and a place called A center for American Progress as well as many more but these are the bigger ones. With poverty being a high in our state there are many negative effects contributing to being homeless.

15.5% of Illinoisans have no health insurance. Poor people are less likely or able to get access to preventative care, have limited opportunity to be engaged in health-promoting activities. These issues alone are increased each year and the poor ending up having more health care debt and health problems making it harder to get to the top. 2.5 million Illinois workers do not get paid sick days. Like I mentioned earlier we have 12.5 million living here;that is an extreme amount. As for continuing education, public schools have risen 34% from 2002. All Illinois children as well as across the globe should have equal access to quality education. The reality is that many are unable to realize the promise of education due to unequal distribution resulting in performance disparities and continuing higher costs. These two points are two of the major problems Illinois faces on a daily basis. It is often said and done that education and healthcare are overlooked. Education and healthcare should be on our top priority but we often become too wrapped up in politics and finances that we loose our entire philosophy on why we need to make change. Knowing that Illionis is one of the poorest states frightens me because I thought it could not get any worse but there are worse states out there.


Source: heartlandalliance.org

Poverty in the City of Boston

The part of Boston that I took of interest is the street living population and the adults/families in shelters in the city of Boston.

Some statistics: Total population living on the street in 2008 according to http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/homeless/default.asp, 79% were male and 21% female. According to the winter in 2007, of the 184 street count 28 were women. In 2008 winter of the 219, 46 were women. An increase with women over the duration of 10 years. Now this is looking over a couple of years and we can see that there is a small yet large increase with women. Also noted on the website the 1998 Census states that in 1998 of the 180 people, 11% were women and now 21% in 12 years. That's a huge amount and it just about doubled. Another factor to consider is the weather. Many numbers increase with bad cold weather causing health issues and safety concerns. The warmer the weather the more homeless people would rather be outside according to the Boston Census. Also, Boston has housing effort programs that provide homes and also vouchers and supported services to those in need.

The adults in shelters has decreased 4% in 2008 Census and has a continuing trend for six years later. Although it is a slight decrease it still is a positive result especially for Boston. The highest percentage of people homeless are between the ages of 31-50. The adult males outnumbered the total adult homeless population. It was a close number but the white adult males had a few percentage more increase than African Americans. I found that interesting because if you read about other cities, you have the opposite with results. And according to what I have learned in some of my classes is that many of the issues and problems we discuss are with and about minorities. Not so much minorities being the cause but minorities struggling to be treated fairly.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/homeless/default.asp

2000 families and 2900 individuals are living in shelter in 2008. Average stay is 17 days. If there are no shelter space, the state puts them in hotels or motels. It is actually cheaper to put them in hotels and motels. The average stay in a shelter is 99 dollars and a hotel is 85. Being placed in shelters and hotels can interfere with children's education because you can be placed where ever they have room.
www.boston.com/new/local/articles/2008/homelessnesshitsrecordhigh?page1-2.

Poverty definition

What I think poverty means without looking at a definition is not having enough money to live a basic life. What I mean by basic is having a roof that is yours to live under and to have food to eat and pay your bills. Now to break down what I mean is in order to have an "basic life" you pay your bills and have a home to live in. That does not mean a nice home or nice things but as Jose stated in the interview last week you are homeless if your name is not on the lease. But being poor can make you have none of the above or sometimes only one thing. Being in the life of poverty is not a pleasant sight. You wonder how you are going to get your next meal, when you will be able to wash your clothes, where will you sleep, where to find a job, and what do I do now. I never realized how poor my family was until I got older and realized that if it was not for the help of my grandparents my family and I would have probably been on the streets. My mother had two jobs and barely could do anything for herself or her three kids. I consider us having a basic life because we had a roof over our head and we were able to eat and pay some bills. Luckily my family is great and there are not that many families that are there or can help. Poverty is a huge issue and makes the world a harder place to be in. You can loose all hope, become an addict and even not want to live any more. I know people that have been poor and have gotten back on their feet but I also know and hear of people that get so far caught up in their treacherous lifestyle that its easier to stay a failure than to try and make something out of themselves. So to recapture what I just said in a sentence; my definition and how I view poverty is that your are considered poor or at the poverty level if you cannot eat with your own money nor have a roof over your head that is under your name. If you have to start getting welfare and food stamps to survive then you are considered at the poverty level.

The definition of poverty on answers.com states- The state of being poor; lack of the means of providing material needs or comforts. Another website webworldbank.org says- Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. Now looking up the technical term opens my eyes in a broader perspective. Not only do you not have food and shelter but you also lack in education, likely succeeding in the future and getting in trouble with drugs. And the most crucial one is not being able to go to the doctor not even for a regular check up. If we could even get free health care we would probably reduce the dying rate and diseases by 50%. I think that there is no right answer to the word poverty because some people are not exposed to much worse conditions than some others and I think that they could think their lifestyle is the worst. I feel that everyone's answer is right according to what you know and where and how you were brought up. The definitions that I recently discussed should and are the proper way of describing what poverty is.

Blog on C.C.H.

Stephine and Jose are both very strong people that wanted to do better for themselves. I want to specifically focus on Stephine's story. Stephine started off telling us that she was in an abusive home with her daughter and could not take it any more and wanted out. I gave her props for realizing that she was not in a good situation. She continued to struggle and and became an addict in the mean time. Traveled from home to home sometimes without her daughter. With all the stress going on in her life she did not know how to deal with it and started drinking and "it" became her best friend. In the end she decided that this was not going to be her life anymore and decided to change after 8 long years of torture and struggles. Many people like Stephine who was homeless do change and can make the world a better place little by little. She said a comment about how she would get spare change from people and go get booze to last her the day and not really worry about her daughter. I was really upset hearing that she said that but when someone is addicted to a substance , that becomes your priority. I did not realize that until later how difficult it is. On a better note Stephine had contributed a lot of her time with Bailey and Jose to help more homeless off the streets. The three of them as well as many others are continuing to change laws and policys so that they have more funds to continue to rescue. I think its a continous struggle but even harder to make the house bill 174 get passed unless you really educate your surrounds. This means higher income tax but the money we pay for that tax will help fund people in need. It can happen if they talk to the people that want to make change.

Poverty on the rise article...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jul2009/chic-j01.shtml
Economic crisis have been treacherous to Chicagoians. Particularity the people that have been unemployed, disabled, and underemployed are in desperate need. Stated are facts and opinions on the crisis occurring now.




Hunger Poverty on the Rise in Chicagoland.
By Kristina Betinis
1 Dec 2009