Exploring Povderty

Our up-close look at poverty during our trip to New York was an eye opening experience for me. Throughout the week, we volunteered at various sites - soup kitchens, food pantries, and even a day care. On our first day of volunteering, we served lunch at an organization called Part of the Solution (POTS). It was here that my view of homelessness and poverty was first challenged. I had assumed that a lot of the people at POTS would be homeless. During the two hours we served lunch, I saw plenty of people that looked like they had homes and jobs, families and kids. I sat and talked with a man named Martin, who told me a bit about why he comes to POTS. Martin has a full time job as a janitor, and a small home in Queens, but with four children to support, the money he makes isn’t quite enough to make ends meet, so he most days he comes to POTS for a meal. Talking to Martin is when I realized that it could be anyone in that situation, even me. The face of poverty isn’t the stereotypes of a homeless person like you see in the movies - it’s a normal person with a family, a home, and a job, struggling to make ends meet.

Growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis in a middle class family, and attending a school like Drake, I think it’s easy to be naive about homelessness. My view of homelessness was mostly shaped by pop culture, and the occasional times I’d see homeless people on the streets of Minneapolis. I had a lot of assumptions about people that are homeless, many that are now hard to admit. Many people make the assumption that people are homeless because they’re lazy, or they choose to be. On some level, I think I bought into that belief that if the would just go and get a job, they wouldn’t be homeless. This week in New York changed that outlook for me. It’s not easy to get out of poverty. There’s not a lot of jobs out there, and people who are homeless often face many challenges in getting a job. Even if you do manage to get a job, minimum wage isn’t even close to enough to make ends meet. We spent a lot of time this week talking about ways people can get out of poverty. In the Pursuit of Happyness, we saw an unrealistic, one-in-a-million story of somebody striking it rich and making it through pure determination and willpower. Unfortunately, this isn’t the reality. After talking and interacting with so many people in these situations this week, I’ve realized that there’s plenty of people with potential, they just need a path out. That path starts with housing, and education. I think the best way to help someone “make it out” is by giving them a consistent environment to live in, and teaching them skills that will help them get a job. This is something we saw at the Dowery Mission on Thursday. They have an awesome program where they take in somebody living on the streets, give them a place to live for six months, and put them through an intense program focused on life training and job training. Of all the places we volunteered, I think this program makes the biggest difference in taking steps to get people out of poverty, rather than just putting a bandaid on the problem.

In class we talked a lot about generational poverty. Breaking the cycle needs to start with the kids. On Tuesday, we saw an organization focused on this. We volunteered at a daycare with an organization that serves women who spend time in prison, and their children. They house them, feed them, care for the children, and help the women find jobs. They talked a lot about the fact that in order to help these children, they needed to help the moms too. We spent a few hours that day helping out with toddlers in the daycare. The kids reminded me so much of my cousin when he was that age. That’s when I realized how important it is to help these kids. Breaking the cycle of poverty starts with them - giving them opportunities to develop properly, and receive an education. I think the most important thing we can do is find a way to reach kids growing up in poverty. If the cycle continues like it has in the past, 75% of them will live in poverty as adults. This week I learned how hard it is for an adult to make it out of poverty. There’s a lot of challenges to face, and it isn’t easy. Reaching kids at a young age is important, because it’s a lot easier to help them grow up and get out than it is to help them get out as a kid.

This week in New York, my view of homelessness and poverty changed dramatically. In the end, I got to come home to my house, my comfortable bed, my job, and my friends. Not everybody has these privileges. The challenge I’ve been having internally is what makes me deserve these things more than somebody like Martin. The honest answer is, I don’t deserve them any more than he does. Everybody deserves to live comfortably, to have a roof over their heads, and food on the table.