Understanding Poverty

1. Understanding Poverty A Critical Look at Who is Poor and Why William T. Oswald, Ph.D., Springfield College, School of Human Services – San Diego

2. Two Theories on the Causes of Poverty Poverty as a Personal Problem The Culture of Poverty Poverty as a Social Problem Structural Failing

3. Poverty As Personal Problem Culture of Poverty: “resignation, dependence, present-time orientation, lack of impulse control, weak ego structure, sexual confusion, and the inevitable inability to defer gratification” – Oscar Lewis - 1966 Generational Poverty: “Often the attitude in generational poverty is that society owes one a living.” Ruby Payne - 2001

4. Underlying Assumptions of the Personal Problem Theory That most people are making it and that poverty only effects a small number of people That upward mobility is the norm in the United States

5. Some Facts About the Poor Low wages and loss of income is the most common reason people fall into poverty. Over 40% work full time 48% became poor due to involuntary reduction in work hours 18% became poor due to loss of employment 10% became poor due to loss of breadwinner through divorce

6. What do we know about the official poverty level? We know that a significantly larger portion of the population experiences poverty than this statistic projects We know that it is based on an extremely low threshold We know that the 12.7% of the population living below the official poverty line is only a snapshot

7. Self-Sufficiency Income $56,800 Families Below the Self Sufficiency Level 44% Families that are 1 or 2 paychecks away from poverty – 75% Live Below the Official Poverty Line 12.7% Official Poverty Level $19, 400

8. Who Are the Poor? ·     The episodic poor: This group consists of people who have at least one significant episode of poverty within a twenty-year period typically the result of an economic crisis caused by the loss of the breadwinner either through layoff, death, divorce, or illness. ·   The cyclically poor: These are people who move in and out of poverty on a regular basis. The people in this category experience poverty more than twenty percent of the time and make up about eighteen percent of the population. This group constitutes about two-thirds of those who are poor at any given point in time. ·   The chronically poor: The category consists of people who are poor more than eighty percent of the time, two-thirds of whom are people trapped in poverty for five years or longer.

9. How widespread is poverty? 47% 90% 66% 12.7% 37%

10. Upward MobilityAn American Myth • Upwards to 80% of one’s wealth has been passed down from the previous generation • Affluent children get to build on the foundation of their parents • Non-affluent children must start from scratch • Privilege begets privilege • Education is the pathway to upward mobility for most Americans –HOWEVER- the quality of one’s education is based on where you live – where you live depends on your social class and your ethnicity

11. Facts About Education The funding of schools is based on property tax. Wealthy towns have highly resourced schools, poor towns have poorly resourced schools San Diego: No poor performing schools north of Interstate 8 – all poor performing schools south of Interstate 8 50% of African American high school students attend a school were graduation is not the norm American schools more segregated today than any time since 1969

12. Staying out of poverty Poverty is highly dynamic Two-thirds of people in poverty at any one point in time are moving in and out of poverty. 50% of the people who work their way out of poverty fall back into it within five years The difference between staying out of poverty and falling back into poverty is the amount of assets you hold that will keep you afloat on rough economic seas

13. Assets/Wealth Different from income, “wealth is what families own, a storehouse of resources that, when combined with income, can produce the opportunity to secure the ‘good life’ in whatever form is needed or desired.”

14. Conclusions about the theories on the causes of poverty The assumption that poverty is experienced by a small minority does not stand up to the data on the prevalence and incidence of poverty The assumption that upward mobility is the norm falls flat in the face of the data on the importance of inherited wealth and access to quality education

15. POVERTY IS A TRAP Poverty is a trap. Once one gets caught it can be extremely difficult to get out. In addition, it is a trap of varied depth and the deeper one is caught in the trap, the more difficult it is to escape.

16. A Closer Look. . . WHAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED HERE IS A SYSTEM OF STRUCTURAL VULNERABILITY Not everyone in American society is equally vulnerable to poverty That the structural barriers to the pathways of upward mobility (development of assets and education) create a large segment of the population that is disadvantaged when it comes to grabbing a hold of the American Dream. This vulnerability is based in ones: ETHNICITY – GENDER – SOCIAL CLASS In all areas: women fair worse than men, people of color fair worse than European Americans, and poor/working poor fair worse than middle/professional class people.

17. Access v. Opportunity Equal access refers to ones access to the pathways to upward mobility and economic stability while equal opportunity refers to equality in terms of obtaining a particular prize, e.g., a job, entry to a particular college, renting an apartment, etc. Equal opportunity raises the question: Having reached the finish line, do all competitors have an equal opportunity to cross the line? Equal access raises the question: Was the race fair or did some participants have advantage over others? EQUAL ACCESS EQUAL OPPORTUNITY GENDER CLASS RACE Yes No No Yes No No

18. Bricks in the Road to the Middle Class The Federal Housing Act of 1934 Social Security Act of 1935 Wagner Act of 1935 & Labor Servicemember’s readjustment act 1944 (GI Bill) The Federal Highway Act of 1938/1956 Highway Act Public Education Long term mortgages opens access to homeownership Access to means of upward mobility Lifted many elderly out of poverty Fund college Subsidize home purchase Right to organize Protected unions Highway system Suburbs developed Excluded agricultural and domestic workers Unions excluded African Americans Benefits connect to work African Americans deemed not “credit worthy” Excluded agricultural and domestic workers Racist admissions and housing polices block African Americans access to benefits Race & Economic segregation undermine equity Highway system facilitates “White Flight” Reinforcement of the Great Racial Divide

19. What does all this mean? Poverty is an issue of income and assets Training people for jobs that don’t exist or don’t pay the salaries needed to meet basic needs does not address poverty While many people who experience poverty do lack the human capital to gain the jobs with good salaries and good benefits – it is not the lack of desire, moral fortitude or effort Our present system of service is akin to trying to fix a broken water pipe by mopping the floor

20. Major Policy Shift Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE SEC. 2. Although the economic well-being and prosperity of the United States have progressed to a level surpassing any achieved in world history, and although these benefits are widely shared throughout the Nation, poverty continues to be the lot of a substantial number of our people. The United States can achieve its full economic and social potential as a nation only if every individual has the opportunity to contribute to the full extent of his capabilities and to participate in the workings of our society. It is, therefore, the policy of the United States to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this Nation by opening to everyone the opportunity for education and training, the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity. It is the purpose of this Act to strengthen, supplement, and coordinate efforts in furtherance of that policy.”

21. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 • The purpose of this part is to increase the flexibility of States in operating a program designed to— • provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; • (2) end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; • (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies; and • (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.”

22. Where Human Services Fits In Remediation is defined as efforts designed to address and eliminate problems that exist within the community or within the individual. Human Services as a Three-Legged Stool Amelioration Remediation Capacity Building refers to an active process of creating conditions and fostering personal attributes that promote the well being of people. Capacity Building Amelioration refers to efforts designed to address and eliminate the causes of the social problems that exist within the community or within the individual.

23. What is it we can do? WE MUST ALL LOOK AT OUR WORK AND EXAMINE: How much of our resources go toward remediation How much of our resources go toward capacity building How much of our resources go toward ameliorating the problems we see • WE HAVE TO ASK OURSELVES: • What issue brings my clients to me? • Is this person struggling because they aren’t trying or are larger societal factors operating? • Does the work of my agency focus solely on client behavior or does it attempt to address • some of those larger societal issues? • What would it take to move my agency’s work in the direction of addressing the cause? • How can I, as an educated, informed citizen take action within the political arena to push for a change in how we address the issue of poverty?

24. Steps to Creating Change • Challenge the ideology of the day: Poverty is a market failure not a personal failure Two times in history that the poverty rate was significantly reduced: • New Deal (1930s-40s) From 60-80% to 25% • War on Poverty (1960s-1970s) From 25% to 12-15% These are also the only two times in history that poverty was treated as a structural problem SPEAK UP – TALK WITH PEOPLE ABOUT POVERTY

25. Steps to Creating Change • Use our resources to build community: Healthy individuals require healthy families and healthy families require healthy communities – we can’t help our clients if we don’t have healthy communities. Connect your clients - build & support mutual support networks

26. Steps to Creating Change Build coalitions of providers, unions, constituent groups and non-governmental funders “Unless we begin to do something about the realities of power, we aren’t going to be able to do anything about poverty.Organized money and organized people - those are the two kinds of power available to us.” Ernesto Cortez, Southwest Regional Director of Industrial Areas Foundation Springfield College/WROHSP Ending Poverty Conference 2005