Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

[Kismet]

[url="http://www.charlottediocese.org/customers/101092709242178/filemanager/CNH%20Docs/Poverty2005.pdf"]http://www.charlottediocese.org/customers/...Poverty2005.pdf[/url]


Breaking the cycle of poverty
January is ‘Poverty in America Awareness Month’

by KAREN A. EVANS staff writer, the Catholic News & Herald

CHARLOTTE -- More than 37 million people live in America’s 51st state, “Poverty USA,” as it is called by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty, social justice program of the U.S. bishops.

During January, Poverty in America Awareness Month, CCHD will launch its sixth national awareness campaign. By focusing on poverty, CCHD hopes to remind Americans early each year that poverty remains very much a part of American life and that they can do something to help.

A recent Gallup poll found that only five percent of Americans believe poverty and homelessness are important problems for the country.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2004, 37 million Americans were living below the official poverty thresholds numbers, a figure 1.1 million higher than in 2003.

Since 2000, the number of poor Americans has grown by more than 4 million. The official poverty rate in 2004 (the most current year for which figures are available) was 12.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2003.

Of the 2 million children in North Carolina, 473,000, or 23.1 percent, are living in poverty. Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, North Carolina ranks seventh in percentage of children living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Children in poverty had a higher uninsured rate than all children in 2004, 18.9 percent compared with 11.2 percent. Children 12 to 17 years old had a higher uninsured rate than those under 12, 12.5 percent compared with 10.5 percent. Also, Hispanic children, at 21.1 percent, had a higher uninsured rate than non-Hispanic White, Black or Asian children.

While the White House’s Office of Management and Budget defines the average poverty threshold in 2004 as $19,307 for a family of four, a CCHD study showed that most Americans believe it takes nearly $30,000 to adequately house, clothe and feed a family of four.

The top five problems facing the United States today, according to the low-income population are: unemployment/low wages, health care, education, discrimination and poverty. By contrast the top five problems bothering the general public are: the economy, war, government/politics, immorality and terrorism.

Breaking the cycle of poverty in the United States is a primary concern for the U.S. Catholic bishops. The mission of CCHD is to address the root causes of poverty in the United States through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and education.

“In 1970, the U.S. Bishops thought that poverty could be eliminated when they initiated CCHD as a ‘temporary’ domestic program,” said Terri Jarina, program director for parish social ministry for the Office of Justice and Peace of Catholic Social Services in the Diocese of Charlotte.

“They soon realized that poverty is quite complex, and in recent years the CCHD focus has been on breaking the cycle of poverty,” she said.

CCHD supports local groups involved in creating jobs, improving neighborhoods, training adults for employment at a living wage, keeping schools safe and enriching for children, and raising leaders for the future.

The success of CCHD is due in large part to Catholic parishioners whose contributions to the annual appeal over the years have made meeting CCHD’s objectives possible.

“As we entered the new millennium CCHD launched the PovertyUSA Web site to present all the complexities of poverty and the hope associated with breaking that cycle in many areas of our country,” said Jarina. “We see evidence of that hope through the three national and 11 local grants awarded in 2005 to groups in our diocese.”

Jarina encourages people in the Diocese of Charlotte to help their brothers and sisters in North Carolina escape Poverty USA.

Contact Staff Writer Karen A. Evans by calling (704) 370-3354 or e-mail kaevans@charlottediocese.org.

Want More Info? Go online: Poverty USA at www.povertyusa.org; Catholic Campaign for Human Development: www.usccb.org/CCHD

[OLAM Dad]

What exactly is the point of having a 'poverty awareness month'? Should we not be aware Feb - Dec?

I'm not trying to be insensitive or snarky. I don't resent or dislike this country's hard working poor in any way. But what good does this do? I didn't even know until I saw this that January was poverty awareness month and yet I was already aware. In fact, I'm sure everybody is aware that poverty exists in America.

[Era Might]

[quote name='OLAM Dad' date='Jan 17 2006, 08:31 PM']What exactly is the point of having a 'poverty awareness month'? Should we not be aware Feb - Dec?

But what good does this do?  I didn't even know until I saw this that January was poverty awareness month and yet I was already aware.  In fact, I'm sure everybody is aware that poverty exists in America.
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That'd be nice, but I think it's unrealistic. There's a difference between knowing, and KNOWING. How often do we walk by the homeless in subways, and think nothing of it? They are the walking dead, seen but not seen, living but not living. We drink our hot chocolate and watch our television, and all the while people are freezing on the street.

I know, it's not wrong to drink hot chocolate and watch television. But my point is that all of us, I think, need a personal conversion, a renewed vision of Christ in the poor. If Christ were outside, freezing to death, would we at least give it a second thought? But he is out there, as Mother Teresa would say, in a "distressing disguise".

Sorry. Maybe I'm ranting. It's something that's been troubling me. All this decay around me, and it all seems so hopeless. We all, including myself, need to do something. I honestly don't know what it is, but we have to do something.

Edited January 18, 2006 by Era Might

[Krostandt]

Although, I respect the bishops aims and I agree that poverty is a concern, I find many of the plans to be too based on this world and material without including God in it. To be honest, if you want to combat poverty in America, then you need to reform the education system. I'm talking about a top-to bottom, get the federal gov't out and rid of No Child Left Behind, reform. Probably something closer to Britain's system. One of the direct problems with poverty too is the culture. I do not remember her exact name, but I suggest reading material by Ruby Payne. The culture of the lower class, often encourages poverty. It doesn't emphasize savings and long term planning. Nor does it emphasize education and the way the welfare system and education system is presently it doesn't encourage independence. Of course there are always exceptions, but in the barrios, and inner-city, this is what I've mostly noticed as the signifigant problems.

[Krostandt]

[quote]They are the walking dead, seen but not seen, living but not living. We drink our hot chocolate and watch our television, and all the while people are freezing on the street.[/quote]
Also many of them are mentally ill. Although, I give my share to the beggers on the subway or in the street, often I give them change and a phone number to the religious homeless shelters. Lack of places for them are not so much the trouble as finding them and getting them there . . . and getting them to comply, which they do not have to and sometimes choose not to, which is there right.