Cal Sloan's Protocol Blog: Poverty

Greetings All,

According to the Center for Women's Welfare the Self-Sufficiency Standard was created by Dr. Diane Pearce in the 1990s. It is an assessment on the amount of funds needed to meet the basic necessities for a standard family. In contrast, I contend that most families that need assistance are not standard but rather dysfunctional. The family statics in an article in the NY Times "Who Suffered the Most" indicates from 2007 to 2010 that African American female heads of the house hold between 15 to 24 suffered the most in reference to income.

My mother gave birth to 5 children, with myself being the oldest. Looking back on my childhood I can remember feelings of being hunger. It seemed that we never had enough and I felt that everyone else I came in contact with had it better than us. Now that I'm older, I see why our resources were scarce. First, my mother sent all of us to a private Catholic school. Which has had long lasting affects on the person I am today. I'm sure, though we never discussed this matter, that she made many more sacrifices that I am unaware of. In addition, I never knew my biological father and all my siblings have the same father. This was an issue I also had to deal with. Without going into details, just because there is a man and woman providing for the house hold does not exactly make it a functional home.

Emerging seemingly overnight, the infrastructure of our nation converged from manufacturing to service. As a result, millions of non working , as well as, employed United States resident, routinely fail to provide the basic necessities consistently. With few exceptions, the socially disadvantage encounter social barriers that stone wall countless efforts to improve their economic status. Ordinarily,

prospects at risk of plunging below the poverty line consist of, one-parent families, older adults, people of color, and deficiently anyone not completing the 9th grade; just to name a few (Zastrow, 2010). Meanwhile, our elected officials in Washington debate to and fro on their particular political party's interpretation of prudent public policies, while our nationals, ever since the Great Depression stretch of the 1930s has by at large, entrusted heavily on the U.S. Government to engage as a catalyst in stimulating the economy; while simultaneously alleviating unpleasant hard ships.