1. SECCOMBE, Chapter 4

Unfortunately I have to agree that the welfare system breeds dependency on itself. On pages 79-90 Seccombe gives an example of Rhonda a 28 yrs old white women mother of a 5 yrs old named Robby who has been in the welfare system for 4 years and yet she doesn’t seem to realize her dependency on welfare. She claims she hates the welfare system but keeps coming back  whenever she’s unemployed. I think this is a good example that shows us both sides of reality, a mother that want to advance and provide for her family but keeps taking advantage of welfare. I personally think that welfare should be a support for people until they can pick themselves up and find a job and able to maintain a good economic status. I know some people who are in welfare who don’t need the help; they have god jobs, house, car, etc. I don’t know how they manage to do it but they do. I think is easy for people like this to think that they can take advantage, get away with it and be dependant while they are not busted.

However, I don’t believe that for most people living like this is really their choice. I don't believe that the better life for them is to depend on welfare. I believe that the reason that people give up so easily is because we have allowed them to become dependent on the welfare system. I know it seems cruel to put a time limit on a person or a family to stay on welfare, but in the long run, it's not. Living on welfare is all they know, they think that they could never really succeed. They have given up hope and is sad but true. It is up to all of us to be encouragers of people. To offer hope, an uplifting word. I think that all of us would be better off by not allowing people who are going through a difficult time to become dependent on welfare, but to show them that we expect them to take the steps necessary to improve their situation. And to give them the encouragement to do so.

2. SECCOMBE chapter 5

I agree with Seccombe when she says that living and surviving on welfare touches all aspects of a person’s life not just economic realm. I think her point is valid because if we think about when one is on welfare is most likely to be stress out, low self-esteem, perhaps drug proble, mental problems, not having enough money to bys basic stuff, etc. lack of money and being on welfare limits ones activities they have to learn how to survive on meager amounts. I can’t imagine what is like to live on $274 a month in food stamps.
Also, I think that people on welfare usually experience somehow discrimination form society which affects primarily their self-esteem. I notice this when I used to work in a grocery store years ago and people would shop with their link cards and I could see the cashier and the people in line would look at them in a different way. At he time I thought that link card was some type of special card that only some privileged people could have. Later on I learned that it was the other way around. But I guess if one is on welfare gets used to those kind of discrimination and situations and again I strongly believe that people on welfare have self-esteem problems, which is sad and should be that way.

On page 111, Secombee gives us an example of what is like to live on welfare and how this situation affects families like Jana a 28 years old African American mother of 4 children. Her oldest son is in a center for emotionally disturbed children located a 120 miles away from home. Jena lives with her other children in deplorable conditions that could affect the health of her children and herself in a poor are of town. So yes welfare does affect individuals and families whether one chooses to be in or have the necessity of welfare, it does affect people and communities. If Jena was form an affluent family or had a little bit more money, she wouldn’t have to go through this painful separation of her children and putting the rest of her family in danger, instead she would be healthier and live in a better area in town.

3. REVIEW OF TWO STUDENTS BLOG

The first blog I review was “Dino & justice” on Sunday April 08 http://onlydinothegreek.blogspot.com/.
I decide to review Dino’s blog since he is so outspoken in class. I noticed he does the same in writing. His blog is very good put together; he uses his own style of writing and naming each entry. I like the bubbles in the background and the color he uses for his blog. The only thing I notice was that he had some entries missing but I guess latter on he would put them! But overall I enjoyed reading his blog. 

The second blog I review was “Does the U.S and the rest of the world care?” by Clarence http://doestheusandtherestoftheworldcare.blogspot.com/. on April 09. I like the title of his blog and I think is very strong statement that I usually ask myself and people and I think we all know the answer by taking this class.  I think he did and excellent job in putting together this blog. So far is one of the best in my opinion. He has a lot of pictures and it flows throughout, this shows me that he is committed to the subject and knows what he’s talking bout.  I like his comments and summaries because they are concise and well written. Overall this is an excellent blog. 

4. ACTION PROJECT

My group is group 8 integrated by Adam, Scott, Kenneth and myself. We decided to do our action project at nonprofit organization called “West Suburban PADS” which dedicates to serve individuals and families who are homeless, or risk of homeless by providing shelter, housing and supporting services

On April 7 Scott and I began our action project from 9am to 2pm. I was put to work right away arranging some donations wrapped up in bags like shampoo, toothpaste and lotions. I had to separate each item and put them in a small shelve which later would be provided to clients when the y come in and out to use the shower.

Then we meet with Lindsey LaPointe, support center case manager, who basically told us the way this center functions and some valuable information like statistics of how many people they serve in a given day, what type of clients they have , the process of the clients selection, programs they provide which I will explain later in my presentation. After finishing our meeting with Lindsey we were put clean the refrigerator. There was some food that had to be thrown away. I know it sounds bad since is a shelter and food is suppose to be given away instead of ending up in the garbage. But I guess we had to do the hard task of dumping food. When we finished that task we were told to observe meanwhile. When we came back from lunch we meet with Justin Schloer he is in charge of substance abuse case manager. He’s been working in the area of substance abuse for 14 yrs. He explained us the services they provide to clients who suffer from alcoholism and substance abuse, some of these services are consultation; provide house treatment, therapy, meetings, narcotic and co dependency anonymous, etc. He informed us that 20-30% of these clients suffering form substance abuse and alcoholism are willing to commit with treatment, 85% of clients that come to PADS are most likely to be on some kind of drug or alcohol. We conclude our meeting with Justin by asking if PADS is doing a good job when it comes to these kinds of issues. He said that PADS has an amazing staff and he loves all they do for the organization. However, he would like to see a program where new employees or volunteers are trained properly. That’s how our project ended in this day.

On April 9, we were supposed to start at the same time but Scott and I decided that would be better to start from 4-8 because we wanted to see the lottery at the shelter which is basically a lottery that allows to select which clients can stay for the night and who can’t. When I arrived to PADS Scott and I were told to do some filing which it took us a while since there was a big pile of papers that needed to be put away and organized.

Around 5:00 I was sent to the shelter to observe the lottery. I meet with Tiffany Coco an intern who was in charge of the set up of the shelter. It turn out that there was no lottery in this day because there was enough room for all clients. Honestly the staff as so nice that they didn’t expected me to help and just observe but I decided to help and proceeded to put the mattresses on the floor, bring the pillows and put the cover on it, bring blankets and distribute to each bed, set up the table for dinner, put silverware, put a chair in between each mattress so each client can put their belongings

 

While I was doing this I felt proud of myself for doing this and I’m glad I got to see it first hand and experience this project. Later on around 7:30 it was time to call the clients and check their PADS memberships and make sure they are no in suspension. Clients were free to pick their mattress and put down the belongings. I found out that 25% of the clients have part time jobs. According to Tiffany the shelter usually fills up and they have to turn away clients as they did the past week. I stayed in the shelter until 8:30 observing clients and staff how they interact until they are serve dinner. To sum up my experience I found out and realized that being homeless is not a choice is not something that someone chooses to be, instead is a sad reality that many Chicagoans and people in the U.S can easily fall into because we have a bad Socio-economic and political system that lacks of opportunities and ways to advance to individuals in this society. I really enjoyed helping PADS to make a difference in poverty; I think I would never have done this project without taking this class. It created awareness and I feel  proud of what I did and pass onthe message and inspire other people to contribute, volunteer and try to make a change in poverty and hunger.

5. EHRENREICH TEXT

Ehrenreich began her journey in key west, Florida .her fist challenge was to find a place to live where rent started from $675 a month and up. But she could only afford $500 to $600 with a $7 job. So she decided to rent”efficiency” but she realized that is too far   away form jobs. She took a job at hearthside as a waitress making $2.43 plus tips, after a while she realizes that is not enough money survive so she was force to get another job. Sadly with 2 jobs she started to have health problem and had to leave one job after a short time and even is she stayed, she couldn’t have make money for the rent. Bottom line is that she could not get by in Florida by making minimum wage.

According to the Labor Law center minimum wage in Florida is  $7.25, living wage is 9.70 and poverty wage is 5.00 (http://www.laborlawcenter.com/p-34-florida-labor-law-posters.aspx. If I compare this numbers with Ehrenreich making when she lived in Florida she was making $5.15+$7.50= $12.65 but having both jobs. If she maintained one job put her in the group of below poverty level. So she wouldn’t be able to survive if she stayed in Florida nor at that time could afford to live in Key West.

6. REFLECTION PAPER ON STREETWISE

The movie Streetwise exposed the facts of poverty that many young teens face in nowadays. This film centered on a particular teenage residents of the Seattle streets. What really socked me about this film was shows that teens engaged in various forms of drug dealing, petty thievery, and prostitution. These are often their only means of survival. Rat, a 17 yrs old who lives in an abandoned hotel and survives by ``rolling queers'' and digging discarded food from restaurant dumpsters. The character that stood out to me was Dewayne. With his malnutrition problems and yet very strong and determine to continuing in the daily battle of survive. I admire Dewayne and feel sympathy because he didn’t have many opportunities like most of us do; his father was in jai for almost his entire life.

I think this film was very interesting and educative for viewers because it showed the realism experienced by a growing number of nomadic teenagers in America's urban centers, and it is extremely difficult and disturbing to view. Streetwise inevitably undermines the comfortable myths that are associated with childhood. These give way to scenes of grim authenticity that depict the daily lives of children, who are routinely placed in danger of death, starvation, and prostitution and who must often sell their bodies and their blood in order to survive. This episode in the movie was hard to watch and understand how is possible that a fourteen-year-old prostitute climb into a passing car for the purpose of performing sexual favors and a 14 yrs old who must sell his blood in order to eat, it got to me and made me think how and why we as society allow this to happen to some of our teens.

What I like the most about this film was that unfolds the hidden reality of the horrors of life on the street as they are experienced by a number of, vulnerable teenagers. It does so without falsely glamorizing their dangerous exploits or elevating their experiences to the realm of the surreal. There was an. it was sad to see that happening to this teenagers who were left in life with two things, hope and a great heart.

7. ARTICLE

Food banks stretched, but ending childhood hunger reachable, advocates say

Source: Medill reports Chicago 

by Sarah Marchmont
March 04, 2010

 This article looks at Food insecurity rates are a way the government measure individuals' access to food and level of hunger.  According to this article every week, 5.7 million people are receiving food assistance from one of Feeding America’s nearly 42,000 member agencies.  In Cook County, 142,000 people receive food each week from the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s member food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. There’s been an 86 percent increase in clients they served between 2008 and 2009, serving in January around 980 clients. It also provides 600member agencies that lat year gave out 58 million pounds of food. However, in Cook County, 44 percent of households with children have “very low food security,” according to the Feeding America study, which means people in those homes are reporting disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake — people in this situation aren’t eating three meals a day, seven days a week as is suppose to. Nearly 40 percent of the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s clients are children.  So the questions is ending hunger just about pouring more and more money into federal food assistance programs, or is it about decreasing the need for assistance?  Anti- hungers advocates that this problem may be solve with 5 yrs in the barrack Obama’s administration.

The picture of this article is shocking, a young white man holding a cardboard trying to find a job and having his resume on hand.  He relies on panhandling and food pantries for food. This is similar story of Ehrenreich but in different way, Ehrenreich went she worked at various jobs trying to make a living she still wasn’t able making enough to meet her needs, I assume this guy shown in this article is trying to do the same as Ehrenreich which is surviving and trying to get a decent paying job. I used to think that this could only happen to foreign people or people who decided to be on the streets since they don’t have the language skills and education but I guess is not about the lack of opportunity and jobs. Addressing the problem of the high demand of people assisted in food depositories. I believe the answer for poverty is not to provide more food banks and investing, although I think is good that Chicago food depositories help children and people who need of this basic items in order to get by. And understand why people are hungry and address those issues.

8. EXTRA CREDIT - NATIONAL RUNAWAY SWITCHBOARD

The first request of the speaker was to put our wallets or cell phones on the tables; I could notice that many classmates were wondering what the hell is she talking about? After we did it, she asked us to exchange our items with the student next to us which made me really uncomfortable. I don’t let anyone look through my personal stuff but I guess I had to do it in this exercise. Later, the speaker explained to us that the reason she did this exercise was to make us think about feeling that kids who run away from home go through when they are in shelters or in the streets. I found this an interesting exercise and very challenging. Later, she started to ask the class what we thought were the reasons and causes for young kids to run away from home among this causes we said that the reason could be peer pressure, poverty, pregnancy, abused, family conflicts, etc. And some of the consequences of running away can led kids to suicide, murder, drug addiction pregnancy, etc. these facts never crossed my mind, is almost taboo for me since I’m pretty new to the subject of kids running away from home. I would think that many American families live well with their children and protected them from this to happen. But in this information session I learned I was wrong kids run away from home everyday. Later on, the speaker showed us an interesting film where kids were interviewed on the streets about their reason why they run away and how the dealt with the situation. I found this film very interesting and most of it was filmed in Chicago.

The guest speaker from the National Runaway Switchboard shared some important and shocking information. I didn’t have the minimal idea that the percentage of total youth runaway is 57% which includes youth in crisis, homeless, throwaway, suspected missing, etc. What was really surprising to me was that in 2006 youth who call the runway hotline was between 12 yrs old and 21 yrs old. I can’t imagine what is like being 12yrs old and runway from home and living on the streets of a busy and metropolitan city. Another statistic that impacted me was that according to the National Runaway switchboard call data report stated that 72% of people who called was female and males only 28%. I also learned that between 1.6 and 2.8 million of kids run away from home each year. That’s a huge and outrageous number that I find hard to believe since I have never had the experience of knowing any runaway kid in Chicago streets or across the country. I would think that is more likely to happen in 3dr world countries which I have experience. But I guess it happens more often here in the U.S. overall this was a good information session that I’m sure it created awareness in the class and myself.

Seccombe, Chapter #2

In Chapter 2 Seccombe looked at the explanations of poverty and welfare use. She argues the individual perspective focuses on the achievement of the individual. Suggesting that they are responsible to be successful or put themselves in a bad economic position. However, she says that the inequalities are found in social structure like the labor market, families and government which can affect out economic position. And worst they are not gender neutral but present in the male experience. I agree with Seccombe when she says that individualism is not gender neutral and gender interacts with social inequality, poverty and welfare .The reality of life is that we are destine to born into a social class or status, some people are lucky and some are not. Depending of the class, family, color r race and race one is, will determine the ore chances to be successful or bad economic position. (Not everyone).

Seccombe, chapter #3

In this chapter Seccombe talks about many reason that the welfare is stigmatized is because is associate primary by African Americans. One of this reason is that Welfare has become racial because wrongfully whites believe this is only been used by African American. Welfare is primary serving African American mothers who have never married. I believe the reason why the welfare is stigmatized is not because of how many black, Hispanic or perhaps whites uses the service instead is because is being abused. It can be anyone from any race. I have never been in welfare but I assume is not too hard to get into. So I guess for those that want to take advantage f welfare is very easy to do it. On the other hand, America tries to say that all races are treated equally, but in reality is that inequality still prevalence in America society and that why whites may not be pat of the welfare system as much as minorities. They are not victims of inequalities but they feel they are victimize by policies of “reverse discrimination”

Entry 3 Students Review

REVIEW 1
I read Franca F. bolg http://gooch-franca.blogspot.com/ on March 17. I found her blog very interesting and the picture she has as introduction is very dramatic; little girl opening the fridge in deplorable conditions. I like the lay out of the blog very clean, neat and it flows. I also notice she has very good points and suggestion on the chapters of Seccombe. Suggesting that people shouldn’t abuse the welfare system and people without GED should get free classes so they can at least find a decent job. I like the idea of volunteering with a charity called Grace House. I think this is a great idea of Franca and her colleagues to focus on the women who have been dismissed from corrections. Overall I think Franca’s blog is great, clear, concise and colorful.

REVIEW 2
The second blog I decided to comment on was Zlatan F. http://bhfman.blogspot.com/ I read it on March 17. I though my blog was good but this guy blog is awesome. Very well put together , a lot of visuals, good statistics information and he took the time to put the cover of the book ‘So you thin you I drive a Cadillac?’ I this is awesome tool for the chapter responses. I also think his action project is good, his group wants to get involve in many thinks like register the clients and front desk, answering phones, servicng food, etc. I think is necessary to be involve in things liked this group is going to do so we can understand poverty. in general, Zlatan’s blog is excellent.

ENTRY 4 Action project Details

There are four members in my group including me; their names are Adam, Kenneth, and Scott. Our action project is going to be with West Suburban Pads. West Suburban Pads is located in 1851 South 9th Avenue Maywood, IL 60153. This organization offers support in these areas: Emergency Shelter, Supportive Services, Supportive Housing, Homeless Prevention. Programs range from basic food and shelter, to support services, case management, temporary housing for working families, couples, and single adults, permanent housing for persons disabled by mental illness, and the prevention of homelessness. The reason we picked this organization is because we thought is a excellent learning experience for our group. We will be able to see firsthand the homelessness and hunger issues and learn what people do to help. We will also ask the staff why they chose this profession. Finally we will help PADS at there support center by assisting clients with various services like serving food and directing them to the computer labs and other areas. We will be volunteering at west suburban pads for two days 5 hours each day. The first day will consist of us getting to know the staff and observing what they do. Also, we will be asking the staff why they do what they do. The second day will be more hands on with the clients by assisting the clients with the everyday task that west suburban pads support center accomplishes. Also taking into account how the organization is run and its effectiveness. Our plans of documentation will be writing our experience in our paper and through a letter from the Shelter coordinator and support center manager. I also plan to video record a decent amount of this experience as well as take some pictures. I think by doing this we can show the class how we work interact with people suffering from poverty, the environment they live in a daily basis and how the organization helps them overcome hunger and poverty. I believe by picture and video documenting this can give our audience of what we did, rather than just write it down in a paper.

ENTRY 5 City presentation

 My city presentation was on Cleveland, Ohio we focused on unemployment, homeless, drug and substance abuse. According to a report on MSNBC on sep 2006. Cleveland was crushed by the loss of steel and other manufacturing jobs. Cleveland has ranked high for poverty before but never #1. A report from the U.S Census Bureau recently rated it has the nation’s poorest big city, putting it ahead of Detroit, Miami and Newark, N.J.

The mayor’s repot states that;
• 26,000 homeless in the Cleveland area

• 4,000 live in the street

• 29.50% of Cleveland population lives below poverty line.

• Unemployment is 12%

Another astounding statistic is drug-related deaths in Ohio soared 304 percent from 1999 to 2007, a trend attributed mostly to abuse of prescription pain medications called opioids. Only in recent years have federal health authorities realized that a rise in overdose deaths was due to prescription painkillers rather than street drugs. However the total number of drug users in Ohio is 42,000.


• Alcohol only 9,238
• Alcohol with secondary drug 8,494
• Cocaine (smoke) 6,270
• Cocaine (other root) 884
• Marijuana 3,070
• Heroin 3,070
• Meth 122


So as we can notice the city of Cleveland faces serious social problems of poverty and drug addiction. I think the reason Cleveland does not have a better service for homeless is because other cities have huge programs where they have a social worker visit the apartment or house of everyone who is being evicted and then work with that household to prevent them from going into the shelter system. They usually have a pool of funds available to help with security deposit or moving if necessary. The few hundred dollars spent on homelessness prevention does not even compare to the thousands of dollars it costs to house a family in an Emergency Shelter. If programs like the one I mentioned is implemented in Cleveland, can make the difference and reduce the number of homeless in the city and the streets.

Extra credit: A reflection paper

I decided to visit a social service since I was absent for Kimberly states visit. The place I visit was Inspiration Corporation also known as “Inspiration Café” located On Wilson and Broadway 4554 North Broadway (just around my job Truman College). I interviewed the director of Development and external relations Diane Pascal. She was very nice woman who has been working with the corporation for about 5 years. Her job is to coordinate housing, employment training, meal preparation and catering. I asked her how many people they provide service in any given day but I dint get an accurate number because she said they don’t keep track on that. However she share to me that they see al least 3,000 people a year. I thought that was a low number but I didn’t argue. I know there are a lot of homeless people in there because I work around the corner. She mentioned that Cafe guests are required to attend all meals, which provide daily structure in their lives. Through regular case management meetings, guests receive individualized counseling and support in identifying, monitoring, and achieving personal goals. She seemed to do a great job and I know mane people benefit form these services. My interview with Diane concluded with a hand shaking and we both returned to our great jobs to help succeed people and encourage them to keep on going in this hard society.

News article #2;Chicago homeless crisis worsens with budget cuts, mass foreclosures

According to the wsws.org due to the crisis the country is facing the number of homeless people has increased dramatically in the Chicago area and the suburbs in the past moths. The Chicago Coalition for homeless estimates that “21,000 people are on the street on any given night.” So this recession is not only affecting those with homes and jobs in fact are increasing the number of poor and homeless people.
For 2010, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that homelessness is expected to grow based on rising unemployment and increased rental market competition due to foreclosures: 4.5-6.3 million if unemployment reaches 9 percent. This would represent an increase of about 900,000-1.1 million families.


Author; Kristina Betinis
Title; Chicago homeless crisis worsens with budget cuts, mass foreclosures.
Date of publication; 21 December 2009
WORLD SOCIAIST WEB SITE

News Article; The changing face of poverty

Millions of Americans live in poverty, more families are suffering and hunger is seen growing. According to the most recent Census Bureau statistics, nearly 36 million Americans lived in poverty in 2003, an increase of 1.3 million from 2002. And since 2000, 4.4 million more people in this country are living in poverty.

According to Jared Bernstein, a labor economist the U.S is facing one of the worst economic situation and we have to acknowledge that those that have money become richer and richer every day and the disparities between poor and rich are astounding, there is few that falls in the middle class and what is left is either poor or rich.
Finally, Fear and hunger walk hand in hand with poverty, and last year 12.6 million American households -- 11.2 percent of all American homes -- were afraid they might not be able to put enough food on the table, according to the Census Bureau. That's up more than 1.6 million households from the year 2000.



Author; Octavio Blanco CNN
Title; The changinf face of poverty
Date of publication December 30, 2009
CNNMONEY.COM

Seccombe, choose one of the secctions from chapter 1 (part #2)

2. Do you agree with her position on this issue? Defend your stance.
Seccombe explores some points such as women being targeted and neglected by society and/or some individuals. But she needs to realize that not everyone experienced what these woman experience in her examples. It is obvious that ones experience depends of race, color, and social status but she can’t generalize for every woman in the community. In fact women are liberating in today’s society, they are earning same income or perhaps more that man are making in some jobs. Those stories and statistics Secoombe showed are part of history in the where women were abused and mistreated. The feminist liberation movement has change the way we society view women their values, and importance in our life.

Legal Definition of porverty (what i think it should be)

I believe that the legal definition of poverty should be the lack of many things being the most imprtan one "money" or of having income and/or wealth so low as to be unable to maintain what is considered a minimum Standard of Living suck a wamr ouse to live, food, health insurance.

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, REFLECTION PAPER

7. A reflection paper on one of the issues raised by the speakers from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

On February 4, 2010 members of the Chicago coalition for the homeless shared their stories in the classroom. The fist speaker was Mrs. Stephanie told her story of how she became homeless years ago and how she overcome and decided to become part of the organization that helped her out to be useful in society.


The second speaker was MR. Jose a humble gentleman who faced police harassment and suffered hunger years ago when he was form shelter to shelter trying to survive in the streets.

These two wonderful people along with others in the organization are an excellent example to our society. They dedicate their time to create help for the homeless in the Chicago area by implementing programs, education, transportation, shelter and transitional housing for these that are in need. Not only that, they go beyond by trying to change some awful laws and meeting with state representatives to help create home for youth. Is absolutely impressive the hard work that these people are dong for homeless and poor people in the Chicago area.

Seccombe, Choose one of the secctions on chapter 1 and discuss (part #1)

CRITICAL AND FEMINIST FRAMEWORKS
1. What is one of her contentions? How does she support this?

Seccombe says that a feminist framework uses gender as a central lens and as a key variable in the argument of welfare. She says women have certain experiences because society is organized by gender. Her goal is to show biases and appreciate more women and understand better about women. According to seccome welfare is a women issue because they are vulnerable in society and women are not part of a wealthy group. Also, she says that women make much less money than man. She emphasizes that our society is dominant by males and supported by law, religion, culture and societal norms.


Se supports this by saying that social class, as well as race shape experience of women. She provides a valid example and compares two women from different background and ethnicity  Anne Moody growing up poor and black in the rural south vs. Dorothy Allison a white girls experience growing up in rural southern poverty. She argues that women are abuse sexually, physically simply because they are women providing a reference of the book Against our will; Men, Women and rape (1975) Brownmiller and Dorothy Miller in Women and Social Welfare (1992)

Cleveland, OHIO city presentation about poverty and homelesness

The city assingned to our group is  Cleveland, Ohio. We plan on present and divide our presentation in 4 parts;  My part will be focused on Substance abuse;

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Cleveland, OH

Demographics

• Population (2005 American Community Survey): 414,534
• Race/Ethnicity (2005 American Community Survey): 38.7% white; 53.8% black/African American; 0.6% American Indian/Alaska Native; 1.5% Asian; 0.0% Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander; 4.0% other race; 1.5% two or more races; 7.7% Hispanic/Latino (of any race)2
• Cleveland is located in Cuyahoga County.

Number of Substance Abuse-Related Offenses Known to Police, Cleveland, 2004 Offense # of Arrests

Drug/Narcotic violations 5,841
Drug equipment violations 119
Liquor law violations 577
Driving under the influence 20



Drugs

􀂾Cocaine

Intelligence indicates that powder cocaine is readily available throughout the Greater Cleveland area, particularly in the lower income/inner-city neighborhoods, where many suburbanites travel to purchase the drug. Both treatment professionals and users state that cocaine is rarely used alone, with both groups describing combinations of alcohol and cocaine, cocaine and heroin and cocaine and “poppers” (amyl nitrate). Crack cocaine is reported to be extremely available and easy to purchase throughout the Greater Cleveland area. Both the quality and price of crack cocaine have reportedly decreased over the past 12 months.

􀂾Heroin

There has been a dramatic increase in the availability of heroin throughout Cuyahoga County over the past several years. The price of a bag of heroin in the inner-city is $10-15 per bag. Reportedly, the most available and popular heroin being used in the Cleveland area is black tar heroin. A black tar “ball” sells for approximately $20. Users and treatment providers report an increase in abuse of heroin within the Hispanic population in Cuyahoga County. Users report that quality heroin can be found within Hispanic neighborhoods throughout the Cleveland area.

􀂾Marijuana

Marijuana is consistently reported as easily accessible in the Cleveland area. Users and treatment providers agree that marijuana use among elementary school children continues to increase. Many parents of these children have continued to use marijuana on a recreational basis. Therefore, marijuana may not be viewed as a harmful or addictive drug by these same parents. Intelligence indicates that the price and quality of marijuana has recently risen. Higher quality marijuana sells for approximately $350-400 per ounce.

􀂾Methamphetamine

Law enforcement professionals have continued to report low and unchanged availability of methamphetamine in the Cleveland area.

􀂾Pharmaceutical Drugs

OxyContin continues to be a serious problem in Cuyahoga County despite relative lack of availability and high price. Due to the high price of OxyContin, many users

indicate transitioning to heroin because of its greater availability, cheaper price and the perception that heroin provides a better high. When available, OxyContin reportedly sells for $40-60 per 80 milligram tablet. Additionally, the synthetic painkiller, fentanyl, has been reported by users and dealers as available in Cleveland.
According to the Ohio department of alcohol and drug addiction services


In the last couple years Cleveland has :

• Increases in crack abuse among older adults in public housing, homeless people, and adolescents
• Increasing numbers of women seeking treatment for heroin abuse. Heroin availability and abuse continue to increase across the state. “Tar” heroin is now consistently available in parts of Cleveland
• Ecstasy is readily available and inexpensive.
• PCP (pharmaceutics ) continues to be a concern in the Cleveland area.
Prevention programs

In order to do this work they follow the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) prevention strategies which include:

• Information Dissemination
• Education
• Alternatives
• Problem Identification And Referral
• Community Based Process
• Environmental


SFY 09 SFY 10
Final 10.61% Reduction
Federal Fund 3G40
Prevention Services Prevention Services
ADAMHS/ADAS Board Allocation Allocation

Allen, Auglaize, Hardin $ 37,549 $ 33,565
Ashland $ 37,549 $ 33,565
Butler $ 37,549 $ 33,565
Columbiana $ 37,549 $ 33,565
Cuyahoga $ 150,558 $ 134,584
The Department distributes the majority of its prevention funds to the fifty ADAMHS/ADAS Boards through a per capita method. Per capita funds which come from the federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant and state general revenue funds are used by the Boards in accordance with their community plans



OHIO DEPARTMENT OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADICCTION SERVICES
http://www.odadas.state.oh.us/
WHITE HOUSE DRUG POLICIY
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/statelocal/oh/ohcleveland.pdf

Reflection paper on January 28th at hte AAANACA conference; HIV stattistics and prevention

HIV/AIDS: A global & local dilemma impact of social Determinants. Speaker Mildred Williamson PhD, MSW


One of the subjects this conference explored was the structural inequality, vulnerability and risk health care access. Racism, gender inequality and homophobia often intersect with poverty to increase the risk of HIV infection. According to the statistics more than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide, and another 33.4 million are currently living with HIV/AIDS.

Second, nearly 6000.000 of Africans Americans are living with HIV and 30.000 are becoming infected each year. Hispanics and whites are becoming infected with HIV.

Also, the top ten states by AIDS case rate per population 100.000 in 2007. new york, Maryland, Florida, Louisiana, Delaware, Georgia, south Carolina and others.

REFLECTION

This information session On January 28 of 2010 hosted by the AAANACA was very important to me and everyone. Is an eye opener and made me realize how deep the problem of HIV in Chicago and worldwide is. How social inequalities, racism, lack of education can be part of such a horrendous problem. Is a lesson and made me think about every time I wan t to have sex. Not only me but I could see others in the room looking at the material and the numbers of how many people are infected worldwide. I think is good that NEIU hosted this kind of workshop and i hope that many universities and high schools explore and talk about this big problem of HIV. Also, besides the valuable information i gained at this workshop what i like was the speaker's energy, shewas very friendly and gave some suggestion and advices to the audience and encouraged to get help in case of infection.

Short paper on the poverty level in Illinois, two paragraphs; CHILDREN LIVING BELOW POVERTY

According to the Illinois Kids Count 2010 the economic recession apparently is affecting many children in the state of Illinois. Some families that in 2008 were living form pay check to paycheck now can become homeless. This report shows that the numbers children living below the poverty line has raised in the last couple years “between September 2008 and September 2009, the number of Illinois families depending on food stamps increased 17 percent to 1.5 million. In June 2009, 1.5 million Illinois residents.

Mywebtimes reports that young children in Illinois are most likely to face poverty in these days. They estimated that by 2012, nearly one of every four Illinois children would be living in poverty. That would translate to about 700,000 children. According to this report in southern Illinois, 44 percent of Alexander County children live in poverty. In Rockford, the figure is 34 percent. The report bases its conclusions on data from the Census Bureau, Agriculture Department and surveys.

Mywebtimes.com
 http://www.mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=397623
 BND.com
http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/1128051.html

Personal definition of Poverty

Poverty is a condition in which a person, group of people or country can't meet essentials meas such as clean water, nutrition, health care, clothing and shelter.