Blog #8: Urban Poverty

The biggest problems that are created from “urban poverty” for poor working mothers stems from being isolated in the inner-city with no way out (Putting Children First, pg 128). With people leaving the inner-city for better job opportunities and to get away from the violence that is associated with inner-cities it causes the people who are still there to have to make do with what is left. While some people are able to escape to a more affluent life by leaving the poverty ridden streets, others are left there to fend for themselves. This tends to cause the community to be full of crime and violence. Take Jessica, for example, she is living in low income housing and will not lower herself to move into “Section 8” public housing. As it is, she is living in a dangerous neighborhood where she cannot allow her children to go outside and play. This in turn leads her to put more pressure on her kids to succeed in life and to do better in school so they will have more options available to them. When things are really tough and there is not enough food to feed her and her four kids Jessica does not tell her kids why she is not eating (7 Days @ Minimum Wage, part 1).

Poor women living in mixed income neighborhoods have some advantages, but not many. Iris drives a bus full-time and does janitorial work as a second job (American Low Wage Workers’ Tour). Before she became part of the union she received no benefits and got no sick day leave. In a job where she is working around kids all day she was exposed to the same colds and viruses that the kids were and she was getting sick frequently. Iris said in her interview on “American Low Wage Workers’ Tour” that the “system was not equal” and that people who deserved the job where passed over for others that were not qualified or did not have seniority. The situation with Erin, a young women living with her parents, is not much better. She works long hours at a local grocery store to make up for the low pay she gets. She strives to make it from one day to the next. Erin is in a tough place because she does not know what she wants to be in life. For now, she is just getting by (7 Days @ Minimum Wage, Erin – Day 2).