Janson And Fraser On Poverty

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Heather Steelman’s CAP When beginning the readings in the module about poverty, I was struck by a sense of shame. Jenson & Fraser (2011) have some pretty hard-hitting statistics and the graphs did a really good job illustrating the prevalence and trends in poverty; I really appreciated graph 2.1, which displays the racial and ethnic disparities that exist for children experiencing poverty, because it demonstrates how the national rate of childhood poverty can be deceptive (26-30).
In addition to providing alarming statistics about the rate of childhood poverty, Jenson & Fraser highlight how much poverty can adversely affect the outcomes of children both directly and indirectly by impacting them at a familial and community levels (31-34). …show more content…

Raedle (2013) reports that enrollment for SNAP has increased and now 15% of Americans are enrolled in SNAP. Raedle’s (2013) report on the rising enrollment in SNAP coincides with Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin’s (2010) article discussing how the recession has impacted outcomes for children; Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin (2013) discuss how food insecurity can have a major negative impact on childhood wellbeing and can produce negative outcomes into adulthood (p. 14). According to Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin (2013) the last recession has resulted in high rates of unemployment, which can take years after a recession to recover, and “unemployment is a known contributor to food insecurity” (p. …show more content…

With the recession hitting “hard-working” middle class citizens, the state of food insecurity became an issue with more support in the county; the American people supported the expansion of safety net programs because it was middle class Americans losing their homes and hard earned retirement savings. Like Cousins’ (2013) discusses that the Great Depression “sparked awareness among some policy makers and the population at large that poverty is part of an economic cycle”, this awareness happened once middle class Americans saw their home equity and retirement savings plummet due to actions completely outside of their

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