introduction to inner city problems

      The inner-city has a lot of problems from poverty, various social issues, and high crime rates. The worldbank.org tells us that, "Urban poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon", they suffer from "limited access to employment opportunities and income, inadequate and insecure housing and services, violent and unhealthy environments, little or no social protection mechanisms, and limited access to adequate health and education opportunities" (Urban Poverty and Slum Upgrading). These problems are not new to us. As New Yorkers, we are close to the very rich and the very poor. We are able to know of two very differing roads of life. We understand that in Manhattan there can be someone who has never owned a home and one that doesn't know what a welfare check is. Thus we are open to understanding how a situation that one is placed in affects their opportunities.

       Focusing on educational opportunities, the New York times recently released an article titled, "Live near a Great School? It's costing you". The article argues that due to the second study done "identifying a relationship between where a child lives and his or her ability to attend a high-performing school." The study found and confirmed that the wider the gap of economic segregation, the wider the gap between the test scores. The performance of the children was based on where they lived and the quality of life in these areas. It's expensive to try to enroll your children in a high performing school because the annual price for a house in one of these areas is $16,000 above "low performing areas." (Mary Ann Giordano). If you can't afford to even feed your children, then how is one supposed to afford enrolling their children in high performing schools? Thus the cycle is perpetuated since inadequate schooling leads to mediocre if not low paying jobs, and that leads to lower class pay and more public housing so that the next generation is born into the same cycle.

      The cycle of inner-city poverty in schools is likened unto a 600 pound gorilla in the classroom in an article by University of Michigan. The presence of the poverty in schools adds to factors that make these inner-city schools worse. They already face decreased funding because of the No Child Left Behind act which gives them a disadvantage to start off with. http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mitchellyellin.356/poverty

      However, the problems have increased and expanded to the suburbs due to the recession. "A 53% Surge in Poverty Rate is Reshaping Suburbs", an article from the New York Times, tells us how there is a growth of people who are struggling with poverty in the well-off suburbs. The poor people population in these areas has increased significantly so that now, "more than half of the metropolitan poor live in suburban areas" (Elizabeth Kneebone). The people in these areas are faced with news challenges that they did not have to think about prior to this time, "Poverty is new in Parma Heights, a quiet suburb of cul-de-sacs and clipped lawns, and asking for help can be hard." One of the pastors of a food pantry said "he had to post an employee in the driveway the day the church’s food bank was open to coax people inside, they were so ashamed to ask for help." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/us/suburban-poverty-surge-challenges-communities.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

        Overall, the entire situation is depressing and hopefully, through perusal, we will be able to come up with ways to rectify the situations and find ways to stop the cycle of poverty that plague many inner-city families.