Comments on: The War on Poverty: Struggle changes as society evolves

By: Jennie Encalada

Jennie Encalada — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 16:27:25 +0000

In reply to Edward. I don't think it's about continuing "to help low-income" people (i.e. majority people of Color) to help them succeed. "These people" can succeed, but it's the racism that is pervasive in all institutions that prevents people from succeeding by not providing adequate resources to all communities. As social workers, we must continue to work with ourselves to not become the oppressors. It is imperative for schools of social work to prioritize community organizing and antiracist anti-oppressive curriculum so that we are well equipped to change systems from within when we work WITHIN them.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 21:23:45 +0000

In reply to Jennifer Urbaniak, Miami University, OH. Well stated!

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 21:23:25 +0000

In reply to Allan.

The article cites innovative ways to help low-income people out of poverty, but does not specify what or how these are implemented. We need to develop effective, efficient ways of educating and working with the poor to help them succeed.

We lack data regarding effectiveness of government-run interventions to help the poor. Social Workers have traditionally advocated for endless taxpayer dollars to fund programs with few to no prove outcomes in alleviating poverty. The new challenge is for our profession to identify new opportunities and interventions that will be proven to raise incomes for lower-income people.

The people at the top of the pyramid are people too! The article reports the top 10% of families hold 75% of the nation’s wealth. They also pay 75+% of the nation’s income taxes, while the bottom 51% pay no income taxes. They also support our economy through hiring, spending and voluntary contributions to not-for-profits through wonderful agencies like Community Foundations.

We need to “unlearn” our old ways of helping the poor and learn new ways of doing things, lest our profession become obsolete. This is what the research in the article is described as doing.

By: Allan

Allan — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 23:16:50 +0000

In reply to Beth. Beth, do you have data to show that the middle and lower classes have simply gotten richer? This is simply not true. The same people are sitting at the top of the pyramid, they just have a larger share of the money now. I think that is the point of this article.

By: Colby Bowman

Colby Bowman — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 17:48:49 +0000

Income inequality has become a large problem in the U.S., and social mobility has become a thing of the past. As stated in the article, social workers should engage more actively in policies. Planning for retirement has been an increasing problem in the U.S. Lower income people tend to have very little to no savings; which leads to dependency on Social Security in their future years. Government retirement policies need more advocation. Coupled with the Affordable Care Act, responsible retirement planning and affordable healthcare for lower income individuals will lead to a striking income gap.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 17:39:20 +0000

I agree that we need to continue to work with low-income people to help them succeed. I do believe that legislature similar to myRa can help these people, but I believe it is more important to focus our funding efforts and legislature on public education. We need to provide better education to our youth so that they can create more opportunities for themselves. Over recent years the United States education rankings have continued to slip. “Our scores are stagnant. We’re not seeing any improvement for our 15-year-olds,” said Jack Buckley, commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the Education Department in an article published in 2013 by the Washington Post. In the same article they addressed past legislation that we had created in order to better public education. “While the intentions may have been good, a decade of top-down, test-based schooling created by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top — focused on hyper-testing students, sanctioning teachers and closing schools — has failed to improve the quality of American public education,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. We need to focus more on creating better public education for our youth so that they have more opportunities for themselves to succeed later in life.

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:53:34 +0000

When discussing the widening gap between rich and poor in the U.S., another way of viewing it is a measure of success. More people are moving out of the lower and middle classes into upper income levels. If we have more financially-successful people, we are then being successful in moving people out of poverty.

The research cited in the above article is very welcome….we should continue to work with low-income people to help them succeed in life, providing the education, skills and opportunities to do so.

By: Jennifer Urbaniak, Miami University, OH

Jennifer Urbaniak, Miami University, OH — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:44:04 +0000

If we want to lessen this gap and help the poor, I think we can start with simple changes and work our way up from there. I think it would be beneficial if we had educational programs on financing to help keep the cost of leisurely spending lower. For instance, some people graduate high school or college without knowing how to balance a checkbook. Perhaps we could focus on helping to prevent more people from falling into that poverty line, and then work on helping those in poverty to get out. If these generations had help in organizing and balancing their budget, we may be able to help them get on their feet faster, while preventing more people from becoming poverty stricken.

– Jennifer Urbaniak
Miami University, Oxford, OH