Introduction; Personal Experience

After putting together this blog for my class Just 315J Poverty and Homelessness at NEIU I have become more sensitive while watching, pictures, statistics I’ve realized how serious and important is to fight poverty, hunger and homelessness. I guess I feel more compassion and sympathize with those that are unfortunate to be in such bad spot. On the other hand, I have to admit I understand and can relate to poor people in some ways, I too have experience poverty in some level. Sixteen years ago, I can remember being a ten years old child who didn’t know anything about life. Having both parents struggling to provide the basic means. Trying to settle down in a stable home but I guess the conditions and the situation at that time didn’t allowed me and my family to do it. Waking up and not knowing if there is enough money to put in the table for a family of seven, etc. So I know what is like to be poor. Fortunately the luck of me and my family changed for good after a short period of time and those bad memories are in the past. Now I’m a grown adult and I see life differently and I learned how to appreciate things in life. I hope this blog help my audience and my class to obtain a better understanding of why and how individuals in the society are force to live in this deprived conditions, inside an invisible support system. We all are vulnerable and can be victims social inequality. We society need to learn how to overcome poverty, prevent and help those that need form us.


Music

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Poverty in Chicago

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

Make Poverty History - Bono


Hunger Action Event with Chicago Food Depository





Poverty Definition

My definition of poverty is when a person or community is in a bad economic situation where is deprived or lack the essentials meas such as such as house, education,clean water, food, health care, clothing


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

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

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

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.
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