The Faces of Poverty

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The Faces of Poverty

• How Is Poverty Defined In Our Country?
• Who Is Affected By Poverty?
• What Kinds of Affects Does Poverty Have on
  Children and Families?

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How Poverty Is Defined- Government Definition

• A family of four is considered at poverty level
  if they make 19, 350 a year or less (according
  to 2005 Federal Guidelines)
• This translates to a 9.30/hour job forty hours
  per week
• The poverty guidelines are based on a 1960s cost
  of living formula
• In reality someone would have to earn 150 to
  200 of poverty level to survive

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Who Is Affected By Poverty?

• Nationally 12.7 of people live in poverty
• The largest absolute number of people who live in
  poverty are white
• African Americans and Hispanics have the highest
  percentage of people in poverty as a percentage
  of their total population

4
The Near Poor

• In addition to the 37 million people who live in
  poverty according to the federal guidelines,
  there are another 50 million who are nearly poor
  (make between 20,000 and 40,000 per year for a
  family of four)
• Anthropologist Katherine Newman calls this groups
  the missing class

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The Poor and Near Poor in Your Community

• You can get poverty information on your school
  district by going to the following website and
  selecting your school district
  www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/district.html
• Realistically, when we include the near poor to
  the number of people in your community who are
  estimated to be living in poverty, the number who
  are struggling financially is at least twice as
  many as you identified in the US Census Figure
  above.

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How Does Poverty Affect Children and Families?

• 67 of parents in poor families are working an
  average of 1.7 jobs
• The average HS/GED earns 17,000 a year.
  Education beyond HS translates into much greater
  earning potential.
• Lots of hours at work less time at home
• Lower social class translates to lower job
  expectations
• White people in poverty often get blamed for
  their poverty leading to shame and destroying
  self-confidence

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How Does Poverty Affect Children and Families?

• Hard choices must be made between needs (do we
  buy food or pay the electric bill?)
• Credit is never established and the poor are
  forced to use non-traditional financial
  institutions (like check cashing stores who
  charge fees)
• Lack of financial literacy leads to uninformed
  and potentially unwise decisions (i.e. predatory
  loans)
• Present time orientation vs. future
  orientationfuture planning is a luxury because
  one can only think about what is happening now

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How Does Poverty Affect Children and Families?

• People in authority are seen as those who take
  away (the police, the gas company, etc.) not as
  those who give or make life better
• There is often a big disconnect with school (a
  lack of relevance)
• There is often shame and humiliation that is
  internalized about being poor
• Life feels out of control