Session 9

Policy Responses

I think the "American Dream" video was a great look at the poverty cycle. Many people today are poor because they have been poor their whole life. Angie use to be on welfare and then she found a job that pays $11/hour. I was shocked to hear that even with her job, she still lives in poverty and has to have the help of her eldest son. It was sad to see that both of Angie's older children had dropped out of high school. Lakeisha got pregnant young and now lives in poverty with her two children. It is true that the longer you are in poverty, the harder it is to get out of it. I also agree with the approach of having more fathers in the picture. We tend to forget that the men are in poverty as well. I firmly believe that more help needs to be given to the men, especially when it comes to black males. Black males make up a good percentage of those incarcerated. Many of them have to result to selling drugs in order for them to survive. As you could see in Ken's case, living with drug-addicted parents and not having food to eat made him turn to the streets in order to get by. I believe that once they get caught up in the idea of being able to make "quick money", it makes it so much harder for them to want to stop. Therefore, with the males getting in trouble so much and having to go to jail, this creates a void in their children's lives. This is why so many children in poverty are growing up without fathers and the mothers are left to provide for their families all on their own. 

There are some programs and aid out there to help those in poverty. There are public assistance and social insurance porgrams. Public assistance is based on income whereas social insurance is universal. Therefore, social insurance has a great influence on poor families. Food Stamp is also offered to families of three who make $16,608 or less a year. I have recently learned that there is a federal-state program by the name of TANF and EITC. TANF is a temporary assistance for needy families and this program administers money to those families who are defined as needy. I have never even heard of this, but I think this is a great program. It is sad to hear that TANF is one of the least used social welfare programs and that half of those eligible do not even receive it. I think it's great to know that most welfare leavers find jobs; however, some of these jobs still leave them in poverty. Even with all this assistance, poverty is still increasing and more needs to be done.

Session 7

Poverty and Wages

     I had no idea that 63% of all hourly wage jobs in Atlanta pay less than $10.50/hour or that six of the ten fastest growing jobs pay less than $10/hour. Even if an individual worked full-time, they would STILL bring home less than $1,800 a month and that does not factor in federal or state taxes. This budget is barely enough money for a single adult to survive or meet their basic monthly needs. Moreover, a family of three most definitely cannot survive on this income which results in the family being considered poor because the adult cannot support her family financially. Therefore,  the family will need government assistance and cannot be self-sufficient. 

      Also, tip workers have it a lot worse because they only make about $2.13/hour and that has not changed since 1991. There really isn't much you can buy for $2.13. Even if you do not make the minimum wage in an hour, the workers are not compensated. I find that ridiculous and quite sad because sometimes being a tip worker may be the only job an individual may be qualified for. 62% of tip workers are woman and this contributes to the higher rates of poverty among single-female headed households.

The "In Search of Living Wage: Faith in Georgia" video explains the minimum wage issue very well and in depth. It was disheartening to watch the video and see how some individuals have to struggle day to day. Although the increase in minimum wage has helped thousands of workers, the government STILL needs to do more.