By Ashley Jackson

Recently, Zambia, located in Africa, has had a huge economic growth rate, but despite that there is still a very high poverty rate. Mr. Mukata, the Deputy Minister of Finance, said though the economy had been performing well statistically, the growth rate had not been sufficient to notably reduce poverty. The deputy minister said the Government was aiming at achieving a higher growth rate of at least 8% per annum over the next five years. Many places like Zambia have been facing similar troubles, beginning to grow, but the goal of getting out of poverty still far ahead. 
There are many ways people can help poverty, whether it's helping your own community or somewhere far away. All around the world natural disasters happen all the time, usually putting people into poverty. One way to help with that would be food security. Donate canned foods, water, and clothing to help others, or if you're more extreme, go there and give an actual hand. 

By Siera Brown

**Human rights are the basic standards that people need to live in dignity.  All human beings are entitled to enjoy human rights.  Human rights exist to make sure that we are treated properly and fairly, and given the freedom to develop to our full potential, and to promote our wellbeing. **

Millions of children have no access to education, work long hours under hazardous conditions, are forced to serve as soldiers in armed conflict, or languish in institutions or detention centers where they endure inhumane conditions and assaults on their dignity. Premature and naive, they can be easily exploited. For instance, they are abused by the very individuals who are supposed to be caring for them. 

There were 3.4 million reports of child maltreatment in the United States involving more than six million children. Over 680,000 children were found to be victims of child maltreatment. 9 percent of those children suffer sexual abuse and 17.6 suffer physical harm and abuse. 78 percent of those children were neglected; Those children often being as young as a newborn. 

Its incredibly sad to see the mistreatment of such children. One of life's many gifts is to be able to raise a child and show them, in the best of your ability, right from wrong and the wonders of life. A small, helpless child looks to their caregiver for guidance and the fact adults can neglect a child boggles my mind.

Children still possess human rights. It's our responsibility as members of this society remind our peers and especially our government that their are voices unheard and children who do need help. Our help.

If you do know of a child that has been neglected, harmed or abused you can contact your local CPS (Child Protective Services) agencies and inform of the wrong doings you are aware of.

By: Clair Lorch

As of 2010, studies showed that one in seven kids between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away. Within this age range, 75% of those running away are female. Between 20 and 40% of homeless youth identify as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning (GLBTQ). 46% of runaway and homeless youth reported being physically abused, 38% reported being emotionally abused , and 17% reported being forced into unwanted sexual activity by a family or household member. 75% of homeless or runaway youth have dropped out or will drop out of school. In California there is an organization called the Homeless Youth Project (HYP) that has set out to research the issues and challenges faced by unaccompanied young people who are homeless or lack stable housing. They want to help bring light to this issue and alert policymakers of it. "This project seeks to improve understanding of young people ages 12 to 24 who are on their own and the issues they face.  These include family conflict and other reasons for being on the street, lack of shelter and educational opportunities, health and mental health needs, and the effect of interactions with law enforcement agencies.  The project highlights solutions for these youth by engaging them directly in research and policy discussions, and giving voice to their experiences and recommendations as well as those of researchers, practitioners, and policy experts" 
(http://cahomelessyouth.library.ca.gov/about.html)

By Karly Roesling

Teens in our own district are hungry, and don't get enought to eat when they should. The situation of not having enough to eat. Even when the food bank supplies bread and veggies, more healthy foods, the county still suffers with children not having access to the food, or at least being able to have more for them. 
    "The Hunger in America 2010 study said that across the nation the number of
  people in need of food has increased 46 percent since the previous study in
  2006, and the numbers aren't confined to urban areas. They are in suburbia"
Children should always have enough to eat.
FRAC food research and action center, reports that there are more people who need food stamps than recieving them, creating a situation that isn't good for children.

 


 


 


 


 

By Siera Brown

When you think of poverty in California you probably think of specific spots like San Francisco or Oakland but in reality poverty is everywhere. California is in fact the poorest state, as of recently.

Lets look at the facts:

In recent years, California has maintained a substantially higher poverty rate than the rest of the nation: 16.1% compared to 12%. Only New York and Washington D.C. possess higher poverty rates once living costs are factored in.

Poverty in California is higher among women, 16%, than men, 14%, and highest among children, as a staggering 21% of California’s children live in poverty.

In 1969, 12% of poor families had a member who worked full-time. Today, over 34% of poor families in California have a full-time worker and an additional 39% have a part-time worker. Poverty, more than ever, is tied to working people.

It is said the reasoning for California's very high poverty is a multitude of things. For instance, the governments wrong estimation of California's Census Bureau (The Census Bureau one source for current population data and the latest Economic Indicators).

The child poverty level in California rose 4 percent from 2006 to now. Children's poverty is, of course, everywhere but when it's right outside your front door it becomes real to you. Helping these kids is imperative to helping our society grow.  

By: Clair Lorch

Poverty is all around the world, even within the Bay Area.  In fact, one in five residents in the Bay Area lives in poverty.  Out of the five poorest neighborhoods in the Bay Area, four of them reside in the East bay.  These neighborhoods include:  downtown Bekeley, uptown Oakland, Alameda Point, part of West Oakland, and Hunters Point in San Francisco. More than forty percent of the people living in these areas are below the poverty line, stated a report from the Contra Costa Times (http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_19251068).  The poverty line for a single person in the Bay Area is $11,000.  How comfortably do you think you could live on just that small amount of money to get by all year? 

Depending on ethnicity, some may be more likely to fall into poverty. As an example, every one in three hispanic children is reported to be part of a family living at, or beliow, the poverty line.
NBC Bay Area has even found reports that “nearly half of California’s children live in poverty [or close] to it. . .”. They even went on to find that 21.6 perfect of children live in poverty within California.  From 2006 to 2011 the percent of childhood poverty has gone up four points.  It is pretty sad that only five California counties have shown to decrese in child poverty rates over the measured time period.  (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/California-Childhood-Poverty-Rates-Increasing-Report-186100321.html). 

So what can you do to help? While there are many organizations working to fight poverty and prevent causes, here just a few maybe  you could volunteer with:

- The Hunger Site: focuses on the power of the internet and its ability to spread relief.
- Mercy Corps: helps those suffering in poverty build secure, productive, and just communities.
-Meals On Wheels Association of America: work  to provide meal services to people in need of such help.

By: Brianna Piserchio

Poverty in the Bay Area has always been a problem, especially in certain areas such as: Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco. Today in San Francisco, there is a 'different kind of homelessness' where poverty and homelessness is stretching out of the inner city into suburban outskirts. In 4 years alone (2005-2009) there was a 9% rise in poverty in the suburbs, now 16% poverty in the suburbs. The new, different kind of homelessness would be, "There's fewer chronic homeless and more people just lost their jobs and couldn’t keep up on their home payments." said Capt. Michael Paugh. Poverty now-a-days is formed and brought up mainly because of the drop of the housing bubble, 20,000 individuals have undergone foreclosures.

By Ashley Jackson

    In D.C. recently, there has been a major spike in homeless teens. Even though this is the case, there has also been a recent cut of a budget that was intended to help with the problem by funding a shelter that provides the homeless teens with a place to stay and that gives counseling  and prevention programs. The funding cuts reached 1.1 million dollars, causing the shelter to limit its services. 
    D.C. isn't the only place that's seeing a high rate of homeless teens, but it's really a problem all over the world. The main cause of teens becoming homeless is running away because of reasons such as physical or sexual abuse, addiction of a family member, and parent neglect. Although this isn't the case for everyone, many teens who become homeless become exposed to drugs, violence, crime, and homicide. Since they have nowhere to stay, a lot of the time they will squat in vacant homes, sleep on the streets, go to homeless shelters, or sometimes halfway houses. When a teen is homeless, they also tend to drop out of school because of a lack of confidence in themselves. In America, there is an estimated 1.6 to 2.8 million teens who were runaways, throwaways, or just homeless youths. When they are subjected to this kind of environmental living, they tend to go into a survival mode or a comfort method, which means many will use sex to get them things, increasing their risk of also getting HIV or STD's.     

By Siera Brown

There could be many causes to the excessive rates of poverty. Trying to fix poverty seems to always be the unfixable problem of every society. What are the main causes of poverty though? Once we get down to the roots the answers to our problems could be simpler.

One major cause I would like to point out is, if you are already poor it is harder to get the medical attention, education and standard of living. I feel as though we fail to tend to those who have so little. 

For average everyday people like us who don't have access to tons of money or political power it may seem harder to help those in need, but its not. There are various ways to help people who get lower then the minimum in life.

For instance you can donate food, clothes, blankets and any other necessity to charity that you may not use or need anymore. Also, you can volunteer your time and service in the food kitchen, shelters and orphanages. You can also get more involved by educating those who have not been able to realize the severe poverty in the world today. Any sort of knowledge reflected on the general public is a step closer to showing people todays problems. You may be to busy with work and family yo volunteer your time, so in that case spare a few dollars to an organization, program or person in need. 

I don't think people expect just one person to fix this poverty problem. Ideally, we all should work together to see a different world, so we can can help those who can not afford to even keep themselves alive.

By: Deyaniro Delgado

Over 72 million children world wide have no education or aren't able to go to school because of their sex, religion, language, ethnic background, finacial problems, poverty and several more reasons. Many places in Africa, Asia and Middle East are strongly against education rights for girls and women. Alot of places in these countries are also ruled by warlords, very poor, living in poverty, or the education isn't free like America. In Saudi Arabia the litericy rate for boys is 78% and for girls the rate is 48%, in Nigeria the rate for boys is 62% and for girls its 39% and in Libia the rate for boys is 75%. Not every child in the world doesn't have the right or access to an education, but everyone should.  Some children get taken from their families or abducted. Those who are taken into foster care often get separated from their siblings and bounced around to too many different foster placements. Some endure further abuse in the child welfare systems that are supposed to protect them. Instead of being safely reunified with their families  or moved quickly into adoptive homes when reunification proves impossible many languish for years in temporary foster care placements or institutions.