Poverty is a Hidden Epidemic

Poverty

Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. (11) Poverty is a hidden epidemic that is on the rise. Poverty can affect anyone and its consequencest can be serious. Poverty can affect someone academically, socially, and emotionally.

The topic of poverty is of interest to me because I live in a neighborhood that is in poverty and I am wondering why it is in poverty and the methods of alleviating it of poverty. In addition, I live in a neighborhood that experiences poverty and some of my friends live in neighborhoods experiencing poverty. Moreover, I have friends who have faced poverty themselves and I want to know how to prevent others from experiencing poverty.

Poverty can affect the academic achievements of children. There are means of combating poverty so that the achievement gap can be closed. The number of children in poverty is currently increasing. There has been an established correlation between poverty and low achievement due to the fewer resources available to children in poverty. Also, because the mother in poverty usually doesn't have a college education, this can detrimentally affect the children's success in academics. In addition, standardized testing should be eliminated to close the achievement gap. Rather, a more holistic method of evaluating children's academic achievements should be adopted. (1)

There are many factors that increases a family’s chances of getting into poverty. As the head of the family gets older, the family is more likely to have financial troubles. In addition, if someone in the family dies, the family is more likely to go into poverty. The more members the family has, the more likely the family is going to avoid poverty. The mo...

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...n, a country where poverty is rampant, still allows slavery(200,000 people had been enslaved during the Second Sudanese Civil War). (9)

Poverty increases the risk of homelessness. Slum-dwellers, who make up one third of the world's urban population, live in a poverty. There are over 100 million street children living throughout the world. Experts and child advocates claim that orphanages are expensive and often traumatize children by separating them from their families. 40% of those who are homeless are families meaning that homelessness affects many kids. The number of homeless people have been slowly increasing. (10)

Poverty is an issue that can be prevented through planning and looking for signs of people at risk of falling into poverty. People in poverty are not hopeless. There are many strategies that people in poverty can utilize to get out of poverty.