Poverty And The Inner City - 2575 Words

Poverty has been a consistent problem throughout the history of the world. Despite the wealth of a country, there will always be people who are homeless and hungry. Poverty carries many different definitions, but one that truly encompasses all of its effects is, â€Å"the unfulfillment of basic human need required to adequately sustain life free from disease, misery, hunger, pain, suffering, hopelessness, and fear† (Julio, 76). Even though the United is one of the most prosperous countries in the world, it is not immune to poverty. In 2014, 46.7 million people (15%) were in poverty in the United States. This is no small issue, and one that we as Christians are called to combat. In the United States poverty is a national problem, however, it is most prevalent in the inner cities. The inner city is defined as, â€Å"A general term for impoverished areas of large cities. The inner city is characterized by minimal educational opportunities, high unemployment and crime rates, brok en families, and inadequate housing† (Dictionary.com). Although, according to the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), absolute poverty is higher in the suburbs than in the inner cities, affecting 11 million people compared to 8 million people in the inner cities, poverty is still concentrated in the inner cities and is more prevalent there. The inner cities comprise less than 1% of land area versus the suburbs which comprise 17% of total land area – nearly 100x that of inner cities. Overall, 3 in 10Show MoreRelatedA Look Into Inner City Poverty2020 Words   |  9 PagesA Look Into Inner City Poverty Inner city distress in the American economy is not the only pressing issue facing the nation. Lack of businesses and jobs in most inner cities fuels a crushing cycle of poverty and crippling social problems like crime and drug abuse. As the condition of inner cities continue to worsen, debate on how to improve them through such measures as education, financial and technical assistance has continued to grow. The sad reality is that efforts from the past decades to addressRead MoreEffects of Inner-City Poverty on Youth Essay example881 Words   |  4 PagesUrban High-Poverty Areas on Youth With the rising poverty levels in today’s society, the amount of youth that has been affected by poverty has increased substantially, rising more than fifty percent in the last twenty years. Studies show that there are at least nine million kids living in high-poverty areas of the United States. Children raised in poverty have no choice, but are forced to view the American dream in a very grim manner. For children and young kids growing up in high poverty areas drugsRead MoreChallenges Facing Urban Sprawl And Inner City Poverty926 Words   |  4 PagesThis can lead to greater issues of urban sprawl and inner city poverty as the larger municipality becomes more fragmented. Key Purpose: Equity When examining equity and equality in a fragmented municipal structure, serious concerns can be raised in regards to inequalities to income, economic opportunity and quality of life (L.G.C, pg. 161). It is sadly ironic that suburb residents avoid the social costs of the inner city, but yet, the inner city residents are subsidizing the expensive projects inRead MorePublic Education System For Education1688 Words   |  7 Pageswhile students in a low poverty community receive a higher quality of education. It is frustrating that even when socio-economic statuses are rapidly merging and changing that an educational achievement gap still exists between low-income minority students in inner city schools and their white higher income counterparts who live in the suburbs. Educators, policymakers, and researchers all attest to the fact that a large number of schools, particularly in high poverty inner city schools, are ineffectivelyRead MoreUrban Poverty And The Urban Underclass Essay939 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to Curley (2005), urban poverty has been a huge issue for hundreds of years. The people living in inner-city neighborhoods were the primary target for poverty. It had a tremendous effect on the black population; it increased by 164 percent in ten years alone. Finding a job became hardly impossible. Therefore, neighborhoods began to segregate, leaving the disadvantaged poor behind. The neighborhoods relied on welfare to make ends meets. This resulted in an increase in crime rates (pRead MoreIncreasing Poverty Among African Americans957 Words   |  4 PagesIn his discussion on poverty among African Americans, William Wilson has identified several historical factors that have contributed to the increase in poverty levels in the recent years. Such factors included, first, shift in the American economy from industrial to informational economy, thus limited the labor poll to only highly specialized individuals; second, the historical flow of migrant s, and what it bring with it from competition over limited amount of resources; third, change in the urbanRead MoreEducation Is The Most Powerful Weapon1195 Words   |  5 Pagesthan ever and the amount of people living in poverty are growing at an alarming rate. As a whole, the impoverished are struggling to provide for their basic needs. A major factor in this inequality is the gap in education. Inner city public schools are not effective at teaching children the necessary skills to succeed in college, if they do not drop out of school altogether. Clearly, traditional welfare programs are not effectively ending the poverty cycle, so, new targeted programs must be put inRead MoreThe Ghetto Of A Caste System1630 Words   |  7 Pagesliving in the inner city would say otherwise. A class system exists that is built on individual’s achievements but elements of a caste system are certainly practiced in the United States. Power and wealth is distributed amongst only 1 percent o f the U.S population, therefore, their wealth is inherited from generation to generation, segregated from the rest of the population. Consequently, the ghetto poor families living in the inner city are the most alienated class of people in the city. They are raciallyRead MoreEssay On Toronto1463 Words   |  6 Pagesevenly distributed across all regions of the city. While Toronto is normally considered as a safer city, significant crime does seriously occur in many neighborhoods. I visited the Markham and Lawrence neighborhood in Scarborough, to investigate the aging physical urban changes in inner suburban neighborhoods. and the role of social control that aging infrastructure and housing are playing in ties with concentrated poverty and urban crime. Torontos inner suburbs were composed and constructed duringRead More Urban Essay930 Words   |  4 Pagesour cities, And our minds Everyone bemoans the way street crime, visible poverty, deteriorating infrastructure, decaying homes and boarded-up businesses are becoming increasingly common features of city life, but we rarely ask ourselves how this deterioration in the world around us is affecting the way we look at the world. In not asking that question, we underestimate the importance of urban decay as a problem in its own right, and the degree to which it promotes other social ills. Inner city