Nutritional and Social Risks of Families in Poverty - Assignment Example

Families in Poverty Families in Poverty 4F 1a. In 1967 the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was informed by a group of physicians that the pregnant women recently visiting the clinic are suffering from ailments that are emerging as a result of lack of food. Hence, upon gaining this knowledge the fabrication of Women, Infant & Children (WIC) Program took place in 1969, which was also stimulated by the acknowledgement of special care to be given to low-income pregnant women and preschool kids. Following this, under the amendment to section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, WIC came into being in 1972, September 26. 1b. Population served by WIC are low-income earners and nutritionally at risk. This includes pregnant women – from their pregnancy to 1.5 months after the pregnancy ends or birth of the child Women breastfeeding their child till his/her first birthday Non-Breastfeeding women – till 6 months after the infant is born or after the pregnancy finishes. Babies till their first birthday and children till their fifth birthday. 1c. the applicants for this program must qualify the following eligibility criteria that is The applicant must be women ( pregnant, postpartum and breast feeding), infants up to their first birthday and children till their fifth birthday The participant must be a resident of the state in which they are applying Applicant should possess a nutritional risk, which must be approved by a qualified professional physician or nutritious The gross income should be less than or equal to 185 % of the US poverty income guidelines. 1d. Women, infant and children get benefited from WIC as they get food supplement, free information on health, milk and formulas for babies, immunization referrals and reduction in medical expenses. However, the cons of this program is that it gets misused by the family who can take care of themselves, difficult to access for women living in rural areas and results in increase prices for formulas for parent not on WIC program, since half of the formula being sold in US is been subsidized by WIC. (Rector & Sheffield, 2011) 2a. After reading the article it can be said that the writer was implicitly implying that the poor we consider today are not really poor. If one pays attention closely, poor according to statistics own air-conditioning, a car, X-box, PlayStation and are not living over crowdedly, which shows that they are better off than the middle class of previous years. The sarcasm that the poor worries about paying the air-conditioning bill and putting food on the table implies that the eligibility criteria for government welfare should be reevaluated. The question ‘how a poor person can be poor, if they own a TV and air-conditioning?’ is actually an exclamation rather than question, because what poverty actually means is that the person is homeless, foodless and in time of severe hardship, rather than worrying about being not able to pay AC bills. 2b. As of now, owning such items will disqualify the participant form being considered poor, because the government definition of a poor household include house/apartment installed with air-conditioning, television, car, two color televisions, DVD player and VCR. 3. If I could formulate a plan or strategy to remove poverty, it will include all the departments of the State and a meeting at national level (Smiley & West, 2012). The plan will comprise of few different techniques and this will involve increasing of minimum wage to $11 per hour, as lack of money is the major factor resulting in poverty, eradication of theft and fraud, for people favoring from such tactics are doing so at the expense of other people, generally the poor, thirdly more free medical care, education and safety of workers so that their savings increases. 5A 1. With the statistics provided and the stories shared by the writer, it can be easily assumed that the US schooling system is not exaggerated (Kozol, 2005). However, my school experience had not been tainted by the factors such as racism or inaccessible to a proper schooling system, with adequate facilities and features. The school I attended had mixture of whites and black, howbeit there were a lesser number of Asian students. Furthermore, we were provided with a proper building and other curricular activities. Nonetheless, the little amount of racism conducted was a result of personal grudges, but not something incorporated within the school structure. 2. The most touching theme or story in the movie Waiting for Superman was seeing families striving to provide their children with the best possible education, which will in turn help them to achieve their dreams (Guggenheim, 2010). For instance, the story of Anthony was very touching as we see that after losing his father and from being a good student to a bad, for there is no support from teachers in the public schools and now has to live with his grandmother who needed to work hard to provide him with better education. The condition of public school detailed in the movie was also disheartening to see and know that parents who can’t afford private education, have to send their children in such a ‘sinkhole’. 3. Even though the intention behind the making of the movie Waiting for Superman was good and positive, I still don’t agree that the Charter Schools are the only hope for betterment of the education. As the documentary The Inconvenient Truth behind Waiting for Superman puts forward the idea that if the public school are renovated and education standards and testing standards are changed within the walls of these schools than there will be no specific need for elite schools (Movement, 2011). Furthermore, the documentary claims that blaming teacher in public schools is equivalent to demoralizing the teacher, when the government is supposed to look after such things. 4a. The three ways in which money ‘talks in education’ are very apparent, the first being that the more money parent have, the more chances they have at educating their child in a exemplary school. Secondly, if the money factor is not a problem, then there is a greater chance of the child completing his education to a professional level and thirdly the unequal educational opportunity leave the immensely segregated schools to face poverty as they don’t have required positions and fund to upgrade the system (Its all about money, 2004). 4. There are ways that are practical and possible to implement to provide all the children with quality education and one of these procedures involves moderate to high income earners. These income earners can be asked to act as mentor for the children residing in their area. For instance, if a person is a high-income earner then he may be made mentor of 3 children and the moderate-income earner can be made mentor of a single child. Hence, their job will be to provide with high school education and if not this then at least pay them some stipend and help through free tutoring, providing with books and stationary or covering their transportation and lunch expenses them till the end of high school. 5F 1a. In my opinion the ways through which we can alleviate the lives of the poor is through education, health and economic security. Education provides an individual with relevant skills and knowledge to fair in the market and earn for their selves. It also upgrades people with changes that are taking place such as technology, to be compatible with this alteration and be able to help others educate too. Second, healthier workforce is the biggest asset of any country, as it becomes cause for the betterment of the country and for their families too. They don’t just put food on the table, but are able to do some saving too and lastly, economic security provide the people in poverty to acquire skills that will help them land a job, so that at least they are able to meet the basic necessities of life. 1b. Clean water and sanitation is another way of eradicating poverty, for ensuring that the upcoming generation will be healthy and taken care of, will help reduce excessive expense on health care plus the aforesaid point will be re-enforced that a healthy country is more capable of creating good opportunities. 2. Tipping Point Community works to fight poverty in San Francisco Bay Area through grants. It was founded in 2005 by Daniel Lurie. As mentioned their targeted population is the people living in San Francisco Bay Area. Their funding comes from local philanthropists such as Chris James and Ronnie Lott and their outcome comprises of supporting youth and their education, shelter, employment and family wellness. 3. Another lie that America cannot afford id that education standard for the poor has risen, however this is not the case as we have already seen through a documentary that people living in rural areas or those who are poor cannot afford better education and are not properly funded by government. The second lie is that without health insurance the citizens cannot avail health care, on the contrary health insurance is another mode of extracting money from people to buy the health care products and services, besides there are surgery which are not at all insured such as breast surgery. 4. According to my opinion, Universal Food Delivery System (Smiley & West, 2012) is more important because, there is much need to end hunger and bring about food security. Fresh and nutritious food is essential for betterment of the people and the community as a whole, besides what good can a malnourished and weak nation can bring to the country and this in turn lead to increase in medical expenses. Bibliography Its all about money. (2004). Retrieved July 14, 2014, from Beyond Brown: http://www.pbs.org/beyondbrown/legacy/money_facts.html A Tale of Two Schools. (2009, Feburary 21). Retrieved July 14, 2014, from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdfVAPvv9A=related Guggenheim, D. (Director). (2010). Waiting for "Superman" [Motion Picture]. Iceland, J. (2013). Poverty in America: A Handbook. University of California Press. Inequality in Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2014, from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTVu0-v2SQ Kozol, J. (2005, September 1). Still Separate, Still Unequal: Americas Educational Apartheid. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from Learn to Question: http://www.learntoquestion.com/resources/database/archives/000711.html Movement, G. E. (2011, May 19). The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/41994760 Philippe, E. (2009, September 27). Differences in Urban and Suburban Schools. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from Suite: https://suite.io/emmerson-philippe/2bt7207 Rector, R., & Sheffield, R. (2011, July 19). Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today? Retrieved July 14, 2014, from The Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty Smiley, T., & West, C. (2012, April 19). Tavis Smiley & Cornel West on "The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto". (J. Gonzalez, & A. Goodman, Interviewers) Smiley, T., & West, C. (2012). The Rich And The Rest Of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. SmileyBooks. Read More