Growing up with a single mother and no financial stability may seem dooming for some individuals. Saisha Rodriguez, 19 years old, grew up without a father figure for most parts of her life and falls into the category of a low-income individual. Rodriguez has grew accustomed to instability in her life, as her health has also been an ongoing roller coaster. Rodriguez suffers from depression as well as anxiety. With the obstacles she has faced and still faces today, it seemed easy to assume that there was no way Rodriguez would be able to break out of the cycle of poverty. Luckily, Rodriguez alongside 24,000 residents in the greater New Britain area, were able to seek help from the Human Resource Agency here in New Britain. “HRA has …show more content…
The program is funded by the Federal Government. Rodriguez says this program was a huge tool in being able to receive an education after high school. “Thanks to this program, I was able to enroll in a phlebotomy technician program,” says Rodriguez. “It helped me learn that in life you can save up money for the better. It was easy and simple to …show more content…
“It’s rewarding,” says McGhee. “I get a chance to whatever extent to help them reach their dream of going to college or buy a house, the American dream.” For McGhee, the mission of the HRA is to help families and individuals become self-sufficient and he hopes the programs are accomplishing just that. According to HRA’s annual report, 507 individuals and families avoided homelessness and/or eviction. Rodriguez, with the aid of the HRA, has been working at Dunkin Donuts for eight months now and plans to return to school at Tunxis Community College in the upcoming spring semester. “It’s very rare to see that there are still organizations who actually care about their youth’s future and education the way the HRA does,” says Rodriguez. “Personally, I don’t know how far in life I would have gone if it wasn’t thanks to the HRA.” If you are interested in learning about the other several programs the HRA offers and there various locations, you can visit their website at
David K. Shipler in his essay At the Edge of Poverty talks about the forgotten America. He tries to make the readers feel how hard is to live at the edge of poverty in America. Shipler states “Poverty, then, does not lend itself to easy definition” (252). He lays emphasis on the fact that there is no single universal definition of poverty. In fact poverty is a widespread concept with different dimensions; every person, country or culture has its own definition for poverty and its own definition of a comfortable life.
Life for young Elva Treviño Hart was less than ideal and in her autobiography, Barefoot Heart she vividly explains the back-breaking work, financial hardships, and emotional struggles a migrant worker faces. Influenced by the struggles of day-to-day life, migrant work, school life, and society, Elva was shown over and over again what life would be like if she did not make an effort to change her predestined life. All too commonly people like Elva Treviño who are born into poverty will remain living in such conditions for the rest of their lives; however, growing up in poor conditions will have a great positive influence the life decisions someone like Elva makes.
Economic inequality and injustice come in the same hand. Poor people are more likely to experience inequality and injustice. The negative assumptions of poor people are created by the media and politicians. Promoting economic justice by offering people living in poverty some form of social support. Barbara Ehrenreich found in her experiment the workforce for low-wage was difficult. Conley talks about the different types of social inequalities and how they have been unsuccessful.
...dependent individual, and if she decides to move out of her foster mother’s house before she finds a better paying job, then unfortunately poverty might become an issue for her.
Educational Funding: One of the ACA's primary mechanisms for increasing the amount of providers, particularly in areas wherever need is high, is through extra funds to the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). This 40-year-old program, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), offers providers monetary, skilled, and academic resources in exchange for operating in historically underserved areas of the country.
financially. In a world where prices keep inflating and wages are being cut, single mothers have become
Suki Kim the author of the story “Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits”, she discusses her challenges and hardships moving to America. She was born into living this luxurious millionaire lifestyle in South Korea, until one day her world gets turned upside down. Suki Kim along with her dad is forced to move to Queens, New York. Young Suki Kim goes from riches to rags in her story. It starts when Suki Kim witnessed her dad go under bankruptcy. In Korea bankruptcy was punishable by a jail term at the time. This triggered the effect of Suki Kim and her dad coming to America. Suki Kim realized there is major differences in American and Korean culture. In Korean schools, the classrooms are more strict. An example of this is, students are expected
Moreover, while families have to maintain social relationships, they also have to arrange financial resources for themselves, so that they survive. When Dyk is explaining the poverty of the poor rural Southern Black Women, she also says that, “You will be encouraged by their strength and resiliency.” (Dyk178). This means that even though some women have to prostitute themselves and face domestic as well as community violence, they keep on trying to find different ways to earn, so that they can feed their children and give them a better life. Similarly, Coontz presents it in a different way and calls it economic independence.
As a teen, as a student, and as an American citizen, I can say with honesty that America’s gift to my generation is a purpose and an opportunity to do great things. With the protection from Veterans, the fairness among gender and races, generous education systems and freedoms given as every citizen's rights, I can have extensive opportunities to do great things in this country. Education in our country has blossomed into a hopeful grounding place for students’ foundation to learn, grow, and explore possibilities for our future. I am able to focus on an education without worrying about where my next meal is coming from, or whether or not I will have running water, or electricity or anything we may take for granted
"Phlebotomy Technicians." Exploring Health Care Careers. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Furgeson, 2006. 712-18. Print.
Poverty can be defined in many different ways. It is described as the state of being extremely poor. It is hunger, lack of shelter, lack of resources, decline in mental and physical health, not having a job, lack of power and representation. It is living one day at a time and fear of looking towards the future. Poverty is a significant threat to women’s equality. More women live in poverty than men, and women’s experience of poverty can be harsher, and more prolonged. Women are often left to bear more burden of poverty which results in the “feminization of poverty”. The goal of this paper is to identify key aspects of alleviating poverty specifically for women, by means of government assistance programs.
Sociological imagination is a concept by C. W Mills, who defines it as a situation where individuals become aware of their personal experiences, but choose to think away from their everyday life and routines to viewing their actions and situations from a 3rd party’s perspective. (Mills, 2000) This can also be described as the realization of how personal experiences relate to the wider society. Miller continues to say that men in this life are living, feeling like their everyday life is made up of traps which their daily worlds cannot help overcoming these troubles in the traps. This is the point where he brings the idea that human beings live in circles or private orbits where our
“Four in 10 American households with children under age 18 now include a mother who is either the sole or primary earner for her family, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census and polling data released Wednesday. This share, the highest on record, has quadrupled since 1960.”
The Family structure has changed significantly in the last fifty years. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce, and higher rates of childbearing out of wedlock, single parent families are increasing rapidly. “Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household.” (Dowd) Studies have shown that the children of these families are affected dramatically, both negatively and positively. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support, and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. At the same time, children of single-parent homes become more independent because they learn to take care of themselves, and rely on others to do things for them.
One of the Biggest Challenges for Women Today: The Feminization of Poverty The division of labour and education along gender lines, racial inequalities and discrimination, and unpaid domestic labour all contribute to the growing feminization of poverty. Feminists are working to decrease the income gap, to benefit the overall health of women and the population at large. The term feminization of poverty describes the disproportionate number of women who are poor, and its link to the division of labour along gender lines (Calixte, Johnson, & Motapanyane, 2010). The Canadian Labour Congress reported that in 2005, women working full time earned 70.5 cents to the dollar that every male in a comparable job earned ( as cited in Calixte, et al., 2010, p. 17). Across the board, women are more likely to suffer from poverty than men are (Harnan, 2006).