Politics Poverty in the US

[Jamison]

First I just want to say that while I think it's wonderful that people give money to countries that are in dire need, it seems as though they forget about poverty that is occurring in our own backyard.

My communication skills class has spent a great deal of time discussing poverty in Appalachia (where my university is located). The statistics of poverty in this country (especially in this region) are absolutely appalling.

As far as industrialized nations go the United States has more children living in poverty than any other one. Almost 20% of the families living in my county live below the poverty line. It isn't seen though, and many people forget about it. My college town is filled with wealthy tourists who summer up here from Florida, and stay through the fall to watch the leaves change colors. We have multi million dollar houses all over the place. But once you get out of the city a bit it is such a shock. Many of the people don't have electricity or running water...and this is in the US (and I know that there are people in every state who are this situation).

I guess my purpose of this post was to give us a place to talk about poverty in the US, since so much attention is given to other countries. Also to see what people think might help this situation, and if they are doing any kind of volunteer work that deals with poverty.

I'm currently involved in a couple groups that help collect food and clothing and then bring them to needy people all over the Appalachian mountains (not just in NC), and I'm being trained to be a mentor for a child who is currently living in poverty. While small things, I think that anything little thing can help.

So, your thoughts?

 

[xdancer]

There is a lot of extreme poverty in this country, whether rural poverty like in Appalachia or inner city poverty in places like Chicago. I'm looking into opportunities to volunteer in the US next summer. I also live in North Carolina, and my family is actually from the mountain area, so I would love to do somehting in rural Appalachia.

 

[Jamison]

There is a lot of extreme poverty in this country, whether rural poverty like in Appalachia or inner city poverty in places like Chicago. I'm looking into opportunities to volunteer in the US next summer. I also live in North Carolina, and my family is actually from the mountain area, so I would love to do somehting in rural Appalachia.

Exactly...and it seems like it gets overlooked. I think it's wonderful that we help other countries, and we certainly should. But we need to remember that extreme poverty exists in every part of America.

As far as Appalachia, there are some really wonderful groups who are involved. One of the ones I'm involved in is a little too religious for my blood, but they do some really good things for people in all parts of Appalachia. My university also does a thing called "alternative spring break" where they travel to different parts of the country (sometimes out of the country) and they build houses and help install water lines and such to places that don't have those sorts of things.