Poverty

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Poverty
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Questions to Consider

• What is poverty?
• What does it look like to be poor?
• Why is there poverty?
• Where is there poverty?
• What does a person need to have an adequate
  standard of living?

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Why does it matter?

• By understanding what poverty is, we acknowledge
  its existence.
• This is the first step to combating the hardships
  it creates.
• It brings awareness to the effects of scarcity
  and how it affects people.
• Awareness inspires activism.

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According to the United Nations

• Poverty a human condition characterized by the
  sustained or chronic deprivation of the
  resources, capabilities, choices, security and
  power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate
  standard of living and other civil, cultural,
  economic, political and social rights.

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What does this mean?

• lack of resources
• Lack of materials necessary to survive
• lack of capabilities and choices
• Lack of education and skills necessary to choose
  your future
• lack of security
• Consistent exposure to violence and ongoing
  conflict

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What does this mean?

• lack of adequate standard of living
• Safe and clean housing, healthcare and
  transportation are inaccessible (Standard of
  Living also encompasses resources, choices and
  security)
• lack of rights (civil, cultural, economic,
  political and social)
• They are denied to you because of a weak or
  oppressive government
• They are inaccessible to you because you are poor
  (lack an adequate Standard of Living)

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Why define poverty?

• The United Nations believes that poverty is as
  much a denial of natural rights as it is an
  economic struggle.
• Recognizing denial of rights is essential to
  restoring them.
• Only by knowing exactly what poverty is can we
  know how to eradicate it.

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How is the official UN definition used?

• Used to identify, assess and act effectively on
  global situations.
• Used as a standard or reference point across
  nations.
• Commonly measured as an income of 1 to 2 a day.

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Who uses this definition?

• The following organizations use this definition
  to help decide how to best reduce poverty
• International Organizations
• UN UNICEF, WHO, WFP
• World Bank
• IMF
• Philanthropic Organizations/NGOs
• Millennium Campaign
• ONE
• Oxfam

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Who uses this definition?

• Governments use this definition to assess social
  and economic conditions to evaluate and carry out
  national economic policies and other programs to
  help the poor both within their own countries and
  abroad.

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The United States
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United States Definition of Poverty

• Poverty in the US is officially defined by the US
  government.
• The Census Bureau uses a set of money income
  thresholds to determine who is in poverty. 
• This is money earned before taxes and does not
  include any non cash benefits such as food
  stamps.
• Thresholds are money income minimums based on
  specific details of a family.
• The "absolute poverty line" is the threshold
  below which families or individuals are
  considered to be lacking the resources to meet
  the basic needs for healthy living having
  insufficient income to provide the food, shelter
  and clothing needed to preserve health. (HHS
  definition)

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How does it all add up?
2008 Poverty Thresholds, Selected Family Types 2008 Poverty Thresholds, Selected Family Types 2008 Poverty Thresholds, Selected Family Types
  Single Individual Under 65 years   11,201
  Single Individual 65 years older   10,326
  Single Parent One child   14,840
  Single Parent Two children   17,346
  Two Adults No children   14,417
  Two Adults One child   17,330
  Two Adults Two children   21,834
  Two Adults Three children   25,694

• Minimum Wage - The federal minimum wage was
  increased 70 cents in July 2008, the second of
  three steps to raise it from 5.15 an hour to
  7.25 an hour by 2009.
• If someone works 40 hours per week for 50 weeks a
  year earning minimum wage are they above or below
  the thresholds?

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How does it all add up?

• Health Insurance - About 47 million people (16)
  were without health insurance coverage in 2006.
  This included about 9 million children.
• Federal Programs - In May 2008, food stamp
  participation of about 28,400,000 persons was up
  over the prior May by more than 2 million people.
  
• Need for Federal Funds - In 2007, 37.3 million
  people (12.5) in the United States were in
  poverty.

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Why does the US have an official definition of
poverty?

• Minimum Wage - The definition of poverty is taken
  into consideration when the federal government
  sets the minimum wage.
• Health Insurance - State and local governments
  may use the federal poverty definition to
  determine whether people qualify for state-funded
  health insurance programs.
• Federal Programs - The definition of poverty is
  used to determine eligibility for more than 25
  government assistance programs such as the Food
  Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program.  
• Allocation of Federal Funds - The definition of
  poverty is also looked at and is used to
  determine how to distribute Federal dollars in
  order to benefit the most people. 

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Poverty in Mountain View

• According to the 2000 Census
• 6.8 of the population and 3.6 of families in
  Mountain View had incomes below the poverty line
  in 1999.
• 5.3 of native-born residents live below the
  poverty line.
• 7.0 of foreign-born residents live below the
  poverty line.
• 7.2 of those under the age of 18 were living
  below the poverty line.
• 6 of Mountain View residents are below the
  poverty line vs. 12 for the whole state.

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Teach-In Essential Questions

1. What is poverty?
2. Is poverty inevitable?
3. Is poverty best addressed through public or
   private efforts?

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• Thresholds developed in 1963-1964 by Mollie
  Orshansky of the Social Security Administration
  (Original Purpose To conduct studies about the
  Department of Agricultures food economy
  analyses)
• A few ways to understand poverty
• -consumption based poverty (minimum income)
• -poverty as a failure of capabilities i.e. one
  fails to provide x, y, z for themselves.