ENG 103 Paper

Poverty in urban area

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The World Bank and many other organizations have made many strides in a bid to fight poverty. Poverty is that state in which a person is not able to obtain some basic needs of life such as food, shelter and housing (Tribbiani, 2004). Poverty can also be defined as that state where a person is experiencing scarcity in terms of materialistic possessions. This being the goal of this organization we are going to see the case of a city called Brooklyn in the United States of America.

Brooklyn is a place in the east of New York with a mixed industrial and residential neighborhood. This place was estimated to have a population of 183000 in the year 2010. This population has been growing over those years. Over forty percent of the population in New York lives below the poverty line. Concentrated poverty rate can be described as the proportion of people in a particular geographical area who live in extreme poverty neighborhoods. Concentrated poverty levels in Brooklyn for example rose from 38 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2006 (Bloomberg & Schmandt, 2005).

Major causes of poverty among the people living in this neighborhood are: Low unemployment levels and apathy. The number of people without jobs is on the rise. Most people live with minimum income and hence do not afford the basic needs such as food and shelter (Bloomberg & Schmandt, 2005). Low income earners are many yet the economy of the state is high. High population in the area leads to scarcity of resources. The available resources are also limited and unevenly distributed. Apathy is another cause, it is when the people affected do not care or feel so powerless and do not see the need to change an existing wrong in the society. People are therefore careless and do not want to take charge of their lives (Bloomberg & Schmandt, 2005).

Poverty has negative effects on the population among them being; increased stress levels on families living under poverty. Provision of basic needs becomes hard for most families and they live in anxiety and uncertainty. Poverty also does not allow the people affected to access good healthcare hence poor health standards among the affected. Likewise poverty leads to increased crime levels. Brooklyn is an area where crime is on the high side. Poverty is directly linked to crime as most poor people result to crime for livelihood (Bloomberg & Schmandt, 2005).

In this place also there is high mortality rate, children born under poverty are usually born underweight and a huge percent of them die before the age of five years. High child mortality rates are therefore experienced. These children have their school programs disrupted as they miss school due to diseases that come along with poverty. Other children are not also taken for immunization against diseases that can be vaccinated hence making them to be in a big risk of getting the disease when they grow up (Tribbiani, 2004).

Also in this poverty stricken area there is a large number of children. Despite of the large numbers of children per family they cannot afford to provide them with good learning environments hence leading to poor living standards. The large numbers of children is due to the fact that many people do not get family planning methods since they cannot afford them. The high number of children becomes a burden thereafter to the parents to the point that they cannot provide for them even food (Bloomberg & Schmandt, 2005).

Poverty may not be totally eliminated but can be reduced to acceptable levels. This can be done by; creating good jobs for the jobless and low income earners, raising wages, training to ensure that people have the necessary skills required for independence, strengthening the affected families, emphasis on basic education for acquisition of skills and hence reduced crime levels, ensuring equitable distribution of resources by the government to give all citizens equal opportunities, encouraging entrepreneurship, improvement of health and infrastructure and ensuring food security. These and many more are among the measures the government can take to ensure that poverty levels are reduced and that its citizens have good living standards (Tribbiani, 2004).

In conclusion the government should step up and enforce these measures that will help eradicate poverty in place such as ensuring that people are responsible and avoid situations where poverty which can be evaded is a problem to them. The government should also champion campaigns that will help the people learn on the importance of having a small number children, this will help in ensuring that people attain good living standards which is the sole aim of the government and world aid organizations.

References

Bloomberg, W., & Schmandt, H. J. (2005). Power, poverty, and urban policy. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Tribbiani, H. (2004). Socioeconomic factors associated with hunger and poverty in urban America: hearing before the Select Committee on Hunger, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, hearing held in Brooklyn, NY, November 8, 1985.. Washington: U.S. G.P.O.