Social Factors Affecting Inner City Poverty

Poverty has stricken the country with thousands of inner city families facing dilemmas that contribute to their inability to reach a higher economic social status. Each year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issues updates for the U.S. Federal Poverty Measure. These updates report thresholds that determine eligibility for particular federal programs, and also is used to set an income measure which allows the National Census Bureau to estimate the percentage of the population who are indeed suffering from poverty (The 200 HHS Poverty Guidelines). These poverty-stricken homes have very few ways to escape the economic trap that they are in. Forty-two percent of all poor live in metropolitan areas of 300,000 or more (Harris 12). By examining the factors that affect the poverty within America’s inner cities, one can easily see the economic damage that each can cause. Three major factors that affect poverty in the inner cities are the lack of educational and oc!

cupational opportunities to those who live in the communities, racial and economic segregation, and governmental ignorance and abandonment of the urban communities.

Over twenty percent of all children under age

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The populations of today’s ghetto neighborhoods are almost exclusively made up of the most disadvantaged segments of the black urban community (Wilson 19). The suburban congressional members may have some personal sympathy for the urban economic crisis, but have less motivation to vote for spending their constituents’ tax dollars to alleviate these urban problems (Boger 80). These policies should include changes in governance and school funding (to narrow disparities between poor and wealthy localities)” (115). The abandonment and ignorance of urban community crises by government officials prevents the restoration of not only the physical aspects of the community, but the economic aspect!

s, as well. To state this fact otherwise, the residents of these racial ghettos must overcome a number of factors that have subjected them to the poverty stricken areas of our inner cities. The number of congressional members who represent cities is declining while the number representing suburbs is increasing. Without the education or skills to obtain a job, these students will most likely fall into the trap that poverty has already set upon them. “African Americans, Latinos, and Unequal Education”. The residents of inner city communities have lost their voice in their government, and therefore suffer at the hands of their nation. By ignoring and abandoning these urban inner cities, the government has offered no escape or refuge from the level of economic state that these individuals suffer in.

Approximate Word count = 1328
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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