Poverty Issues in El Cajon - Coursework Example

Antipoverty Program

El Cajon being the poorest city in the county needs antipoverty program to erase or reduce the poverty levels. The program should be able to address issues which bring about the poverty. First of all there is high unemployment rates which is about 4.8 percent and it is a major element of increasing poverty. The Antipoverty program should be able to address issues relating to housing, education, Affordable and better healthcare access, and provision of basic needs such as food and good health. The program should involve young people and by this it will be giving them an opportunity to work since they are very energetic. This program is aimed at resulting into better living standards as well as accessibility to the resources of the poor people in El Cajon city. The resources which will be required in this program are; food, shelter, donors, volunteers and time. The members of the community will be required to collaborate in order for the antipoverty program to be effective.

As part of the antipoverty program, there is need to first of all know or assess all the information which is necessary. It is very important to know the level of the problem and therefore some agents will be assigned the role of investigating people’s poverty issues or levels. This will be done by use of surveys, observing the problems directly band also reviewing existing poverty archival records. Carrying out all those things will give the decision makers a clear record of the problems existing which are lack of capital, lack of proper housing hence low rents, and lack of income. After identifying these issues, the program should also identify agents or targets who are capable of bringing change to this city. It is important to identify these people so that the decision makes of El Cajon city can be able to know their part in the whole project. The agents to bring change falls into two categories which are; those who contributes to the problems daily through their actions and those who experience these problems. Determining what these agents can do to bring change in the antipoverty program is a very important phase. These people should be encouraged and convinced to embrace change since they are the ones to make the change happen. Therefore the decision makers will have a role of interacting with these people and ensure that they maintain the required change. Examples of these people may include: service providers, teens, parents, business people, teachers, elected and appointed officials, merchants and peers.

The antipoverty program will ensure that there are basic things to the poor people of the El Cajon city which are provision of water, shelter, food and healthcare. Having these people provided with the basic things, it will create some light in the lives of poor. Once this is done the program will focus on the other big picture of poverty eradication. The people living in poverty conditions lacks thing like income, education, and health according to (Reading, & Wien, 2009). Below are the things which the antipoverty program will address.

Housing Assistance

Housing assistance program is part of the antipoverty program that will build El Cajon city. The program involves creating job opportunities for the El Cajon residents and this will positively impact human capital. Unemployment and low wage jobs forces the population to stay in shanty apartment which are affordable according to (Stone, 2010).This directly points out a clear picture of a poor city. To begin with the major contribution of this situation is the increment of rent rate while the wages remains constant. Therefore, his program will focus on improving the wage rate of the population. It will enable them afford move out of the low rent apartments and move to affordable houses. By creating job opportunities the residents will encourage them to move out of this low cost apartments and move to affordable better houses which reduces congestion of low-income apartment housing.

In the process of creating employment also the population will be educated on the necessity to have a nice living area and the need of good shelter. Provision of incentives or vouchers to develop housing to this low income population .through conducting interviews randomly we will be able to identify the highly affected areas with poor housing and assist in repairing the houses or even building better houses. The families will cut off the cost they spend on rent and manage to provide the basic needs. The receipt of housing voucher will impact the entire family this by improving the housing condition they live in, the parent will invest more on other resources other than rent and reduced parent labor supply. Eventually a better home makes better living condition and a healthy life. The government, donors and volunteers will assist in achieving this to ensure the city is improved.

Free Education.

Education is a powerful tool to fight poverty levels. Having the right support and availability of the materials required, it is easier for someone to raise above the poverty line (Ladd, 2012). The program will consider providing free education to the community members. It will ensure all ages can access education freely because it will have a positive effect on the poor as well as the community. People who are educated have better ways of reasoning and solving existing problems. Educated people are likely to be more creative and innovative. Being creative, they will be able to bring about change in the city of El Cajon since they can creates employments using the idle resources in the city. Education will also help the individuals to plan on where the community money goes and ensure that it is well utilized. The antipoverty program bringing about free education will be a very big step towards raising above the poverty line.

Employment

El Cajon being the second city in San Diego County with highest unemployment level, more need to be implemented so as to build it and strengthen the community. More creation of well-paying jobs will assist the unemployed and the unskilled workers to enter the labor force and create availability of valuable infrastructure and resources (Cray, Nguyen, Pranka, Schildt, Scheu, & Rincon, 2011). Liaising with the public work office in the city more youth and adults will have access to job increasing cash flow in the city and the poverty lines reduced. The population will have a high standard of living leading to a positive impact on social life. The population will be trained on entrepreneurship since they have capital to begin their business, hence increasing capital flow and more employment opportunities. This will transform population living in El Cajon city successful and the city will face increased economic growth.

Affordable and Better Healthcare Access.

Increased number of facilities that offer affordable and better health care will be part of antipoverty program. Better health coverage is important since it will buffer against long term impact on economic consequences due to illness or accumulated unpaid medical bills. With an improved access to health care by expanding the health insurance will reduce the mortality rate especially for the elderly reducing the population that faces the long term impact of growing in poverty .This is because there is reduced number of children facing financial strain which is a factor that levels up poverty level after their parents die. Ensuring the health centre has effective services to the patients to enable to have good health for them to work so as to raise enough household income (Ensor, & Cooper, 2004). Free clinics to cover basic health need will advocate to ensuring good health to population hence they will be motivated to work hard to earn a living. Also the expenses reduced thus budget focusing much on other basic needs.

Networking

The antipoverty program founders also will need to stay connected. Networking is an important aspect since it helps one to stay connected, updated and coming up with relationships which can help you sooner or later (McDermott, & O’Dell, 2001).Networking with people outside the city will enable open new opportunities for the unemployed individuals. The program will also write down its strategies, goals and objectives and present this to the potential donors and fundraisers who can help the city live better lives. A well written planning will attract the right donors who will help the El Cagon city to reduce their poverty levels maybe by creating jon opportunities to them. As the decision makers of this program network with different individuals, they will also have to listen to continued issues of the poor people and build social capital to help them out.

Obstacles

There are always obstacles on the way and the antipoverty program may not be able to achieve collaboration from various individuals as intended or as per their initial plan. As much as the program will develop a well action plan there may exist obstacles such as collaboration of the community members. They may be reluctant to change their way of living due to upholding of various cultures hence it may be difficult. To overcome this, the decision makers of the antipoverty program will identify various alternatives to be employed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, antipoverty program is expected to bring about change in El Cagon city. Some of the changes expected is reducing the number of people who are under the poverty line. To achieve this the program will focus on housing assistance, provision of employment opportunities, provision of free education, affordable and better healthcare access, and networking. The resources which will be required include: food, shelter, donors, time, and volunteers. The program will be implemented and everyone I this city will be informed about its effects since it affects every individual either directly or indirectly. The program will also be prepared to deal with the obstacles on the way to its effectiveness. If the people of El Cagon city will welcome this change, poverty will appear as history in their lives.