fLots of work needs to be done--please see suggestions and make those additions by next week please!

Gabryel Smith 18% of young children in the United States (almost one in five) live in poverty. This means that the household income for a family of three falls below the federal poverty line of $16,079. Such poverty results in hunger, malnutrition, and stunted growth. Children who grow up in poverty are also more likely to struggle in school, have children sooner, and have larger families. They are also more likely to be impoverished themselves as adults. (U.S. Census Bureau) Median household income adjusted for inflation climbed 1.1% to $46,326 in 2005. That means half of U.S. households earned more and half earned less. Per capital income rose 1.5% to $25,036, the agency said. Earnings actually fell for people working full time. Household income rose because more people in the households worked, although at lower-paying jobs. Median earnings of men declined 1.8% last year. For women, the decline was 1.3%. "It tells us the economy is still not generating the higher-paying jobs we'd like to see," says Douglas Besharov of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. He says some of the earnings decline reflects demographic changes found in an aging population: older workers cutting back on hours and more women entering the workforce as their children grow up. Immigrants made progress last year, enjoying a 3.3% increase in median household income to $42,040. For people born in the USA, income climbed 0.2%, to $46,897. Black households fared worse: Income dropped 0.8% to $30,858. Asians did best: a 2.8% increase, to $61,094, cementing their status as the most prosperous racial or ethnic group. Hispanic income grew 1.6% to $35,967. Non-Hispanic whites had a 0.5% increase to $50,784. The Census Bureau also reported on: *Poverty. The portion of Americans living in poverty was 12.6% in 2005, essentially unchanged from 2004. The poverty rate had been rising since 2000. About 37million people in 2005 lived in poverty, defined as annual income of $19,971 or less for a family of four. *Seniors. Income jumped 2.8% for people 65 and older. Older Americans benefited from greater income from Social Security, pensions and dividends. *Women. Wages for full-time female workers were 77% of men's wages. Women's wages have risen in relation to men's from 71% in 1995. The Census report is an imperfect measure of income and poverty. The numbers do not include the value of food stamps, housing subsidies, Medicaid, Medicare or the earned income tax credit. The earned income tax credit is the nation's largest cash assistance program for the poor, providing an average of $1,600 to 21 million households in 2005. LondonThe Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will impose devastating cuts on legal aid funding for specialist advice to help people solve their housing problems. Cuts to legal aid for housing issues will take 52,000 cases per year about 40% of all housing work out of scope, making an annual saving of 10m in the short term but increasing costs to the taxpayer down the line and denying access to justice for the most vulnerable in our society. see chart from this web site http://www.infoplease.com/finance/economy/people-povertycharacteristics.html This has family statics of familys in 2007 and 2008.

So how does this information work into your documentary? What role do you see it playing? Sarah Schulte (Local connection) Local Poverty one in six Americans live in poverty. The U.S. Census blamed the increase in poverty on the increase in the number of people who didn't work a single day last year. She said the recession has pushed 359,000 Iowans to the brink of poverty or below. The food Bank of Iowa said one out of five kids in Iowa don't have enough to eat. http://www.kcci.com/news/29217603/detail.html#ixzz1dKagOqHl WayPoint: http://www.waypointservices.org/default.aspx Local place in Cedar Rapids who serves family who are in poverty. They serve as a community resource, providing shelter and support to women, children and families who are in crisis due to homelessness, domestic violence or sexual assault. Waypoint is also providing quality child care to over 600 children daily. If you are looking at the recession and unemployment as the cause of poverty, how many people are at Wayside for THAT reason? Try to make connections. Mitch Renwick Present: Asia 2 thirds of the worlds impoverished population lives in Asia To reach the Millenium development Goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015 Asias poor need to be addressed many impoverished people in Asia live without clean water, sanitation and electricity (site 1) Majority of Asian Poverty in southern Asia In some countries, poverty is due to large population growth in areas with limited resources (site 2) poverty is very wide spread in south america poverty for these people is mainly due to unfair distribution of resources and wealth (site) 2 22,000 children die each day globally due to poverty

Mitch, any information that will not be compared to the poverty in the U.S. should be taken out of the document. So, the Asia info and lack of clean drinking water, limited resources, etc is irrelevant. You need to get your Italy info on here and other comparable countries that are experiencing poverty due to unemployment and recession. Bradley Kientoff: Many reasons why poverty exists. How are these two subjects relevant to your documentary and purpose you are trying to create for it? Neither seem to be the focus of poverty your documentary will look at. Rather than inflation, you should look at the cycle of recession and how that creates poverty.

High Standard Living- Not all countries are developed at the same level. You have first, second, third, and even fourth world countries. What we, as a first world country, would call poor, Ethiopia, as a second-third world country, would call wealthy. Then theres the problem of the cost of high standard living. Even people in first world countries could live in whats considered poverty due to the massive expense of a normal life. Food, money, transportation, shelter, and even water costs a lot of money to acquire. Many people who live under a lowincome have a great difficulty surviving without government help. Economic and Demographic Trends- Inflation sucks at the best of times. However, when it hits hard, those fall below the line struggle to live. Inflation is a major cause of poverty simply by the fact that it causes people previously above the poverty line to fall below it very easily. That, coupled with poor education in many countries and tripled with the population rising (which causes more people vying for jobs and less land to place these people on), causes anyone in poverty to have a very difficult time coming out of it. Concept of Poverty: Hard to Define Temp vs Chronic Poverty, Objective vs Subjective Poverty, Absolute vs Relative Poverty, etc. as examples of different types of poverty. Official Definition of Poverty: The lack of means to provide for minimal material and social needs of life. The official definition should be worked in, then the info that focused on what the amount of money is to be considered lacking the means to provide the minimum basics. Cole Ramey: Structual adjustment. Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world have resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bottom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources. What does this information have to do with your documentary? Seth Vongpanya Trends on Poverty (hacap.org) The USDA reports that 11% of households in the United States do not have sufficient food to thrive. Over 25 million children live in families with an annual income less than $35,000. In 2005, about 37 million people were living in poverty in the US. African-Americans and Hispanic have a higher rate of poverty than Whites. In 2005, 24.% African-Americans and 22% Hispanics were in poverty, compared to 8.3% of Whites. Share our Strength (strength.org) More than 16 million children in America are at risk at hunger. Thats more than 1 in 5. 15.7 million children in America live in poverty. 18.6 million children in benefits from food stamps. Over 20 million children get free or reduced lunch on an average school day.

Sirs/GIC (sirs/global issues in context) Studies showed that more than 1 billion children worldwide are having insufficient food and health conditions, the highest since 1970. The United Nations has been active in the fight against poverty and has created organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization and others to help spread the aspects of global poverty. Recently, benefit events with big media coverage have been held around the world to bring attention to global poverty and with help from world leaders. The Salvation Army showed that Canadians have more than 150,000 homeless living on the streets in cities across the country. Also, 30% of Canadians said that a good work ethic is the way to escape poverty in Canada. An educated population is a country's greatest wealth, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says. There is no way to escape from poverty without a vast expansion of secondary education worldwide.

Some good stats, how does that help promote the purpose of your documentary? If you go with the focus of the recession causing employment, you will need to find more recent info than 2005.

Nicole Newgaard: 15 million children in the United States 21% of all children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level $22,050 a year for a family of four. Research shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. Using this standard, 42% of children live in low-income families. (4) Levels of stress in the family have also been shown to correlate with economic circumstances. Studies during economic recessions indicate that job loss and subsequent poverty are associated with violence in families, including child and elder abuse. Poor families experience much more stress than middle-class families. Besides financial uncertainty, these families are more likely to be exposed to series of negative events and bad luck, including illness, depression, eviction, job loss, criminal victimization, and family death. Parents who experience hard economic times may become excessively punitive and erratic, issuing demands backed by insults, threats, and corporal punishment. (5) Alexus Omar 11.1% of residents are below poverty level in CR 11.8% of residents are below poverty level in Iowa Marcy Koenigsfeld If a family with one child is in poverty that means that their income is below $17,552. (1) To get all families just enough money to be out of poverty it would take $105.6 billion. (2)

14.45% of the total amount of families are below the poverty level. (3) 68.2% of all people in poverty are females who have lost their husband.(4) There are 1516 families in poverty in Cedar Rapids. That is about 11.1% of people in Cedar Rapids that are in poverty.(6) Family poverty can cause some long-term effects on a childs personality development. Poverty can also cause family dysfunction, stress among caregivers, and inadequate parenting.(7) There are so many organizations out there to help and aid those in poverty, one that I found is CLASP. This particular organization help put people back into work or to get an education that may not be able to themselves.(8) There are other organizations such as the Drive to End Hunger that are more focused just on the hunger aspect of poverty.(9) Trickle Up is another association that helps families that are in need for aid. Their mission is to empower those who live on $1.25 a day. They hope to provide these people with resources to build a sustainable life hood.(10) You can donate to any of these organizations, even the smallest donation can make the biggest difference in someones life.

Everyone has statistics about poverty, but we need to see some specific Cedar Rapids information--you may need to look through Gazette archives or local news websites. How does poverty impact family life? What are those everyday effects they have to live through? How do charities and organizations or government aid help in this matter--what impact do they have? There is NO research on ways people can help people in poverty--if that is the main focus of your documentary, there has to be research on that. What agencies are out there? Find 3 or 4 ways people can help and describe with detail what that entails so people can leave being truly informed of what a difference they can make. There needs to be more global research, and perspectives, not just statistics, how do their governments help them, what charities exist, how are their everyday lives affected?

Bradley Kientoff: http://www.nps.gov/partnerships/fundraising_individuals_statistics.htm The site tells us how many people donated and how much was donated.

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