Intergenerational poverty is a problem that has plagued this nation due to a history of segregation and discrimination that has led to the exclusion of some groups from opportunities that are essential to the advancement of those groups. This problem impacts the youth of these groups in a particular way. Black and Hispanic youth that grow up in low-income communities have poorer educational outcomes, health outcomes, and a variety of other problems. Blacks and Hispanics in poor neighborhoods often find themselves in low-wage, dead-end jobs, if not altogether unemployed.
Poverty in the United States is divided along racial lines. Adults that grew up poor often remain poor, and then raise children in poverty, who then raise their own children in poverty as well. It becomes a never-ending cycle of misery.
This nation is highly touted for being the supposed “land of opportunity”. There is a general idea in the nation that people can rise out of their circumstances here through hard work and dedication. But how can this be true when so many people that are poor remain poor? It cannot be true that every single person that is suffering economic strain is unwilling to work hard, as many of the nation’s policy makers and the general public itself seems to believe. In reality, most of these people are willing to work and truly want to, but cannot because they are systematically excluded from opportunities.
Something must be done to counter the effects of the systematic way in which certain populations in this nation have been excluded from economic opportunities, at least in New York City. Something can be done now. This issue is especially relevant in the current political atmosphere in New York City; our (relatively) new Mayor’s platform for election was heavily focused on the “tale of two cities” and his concern for those in poverty in New York City. So there is a great opportunity here to hold the Mayor to his word and push forward a poverty prevention and eradication program.
This post was written by a student enrolled in the Capstone Seminar course in the undergraduate program in public policy at Hunter College. Any opinions expressed here are solely those of the student.
