Things to never say...
Want to read more in-depth information on religion in the workplace? Visit our diversity-management website, DiversityIncBestPractices.com. For best practices and legal advice on religion in the workplace, check out our Dec. 14 webinar on faith. 1. “Why can’t Muslims decide when Ramadan starts? Since the Islamic calendar is lunar, Ramadan is determined by the sighting of the new moon, which varies from year to year. And like other faiths, there are interpretational differences in beliefs. “In America, there are two groups of Muslims: The first believes you can use scientific data to determine when a new moon can be sighted, and thus you can predetermine the month,” says Nadir Shirazi, creator of “The Ramadan Guide for the Workplace.” The second group, he says, “believes that you must sight the new crescent moon with the naked eye.” So the start/end dates of Ramadan, depending on the practices of Muslims in your workplace, may be different. Providing flexible hours and allowing floating holidays will permit employees of Islamic and other faiths to celebrate their holidays without using all their vacation time. 2. “Why can’t you eat today?” During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during daytime hours, so scheduling office parties, fall festivals and luncheon meetings at that time “puts a Muslim coworker on the spot [and] can be embarrassing for both parties,” explains Shirazi. Education and consideration are key. “The ideal thing is don’t schedule office parties during these times,” says Niham Awad, founding member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest civil-liberties organization for American Muslims, based in Washington, D.C. “The least thing employers can do is don’t force employees to attend these parties, with all the food and drink, while fasting.” 3. “But you don’t look/dress like a Muslim.” With an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, to think all look and dress similarly is a stereotype. “All Muslims do not have long beards or wear white robes or hijabs,” explains Imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey (ISCJ), a nonprofit religious, charitable and educational organization in South Brunswick, N.J. “That’s the image people see on CNN.” In reality, Islam principle specifically states that there’s no compulsion in faith. Conversely, asking a Muslim woman why she doesn’t cover her body in a black niqab or drapery is equally inappropriate. “Islam is very much a personal and private religion,” says Afia Mirza, a DiversityInc intern who is Muslim. 4. “I didn’t know you were Arab.” This is another culturally insensitive comment. The reason: Only about 20 percent of Muslims worldwide are Middle Eastern. “Muslims are Black. Muslims are white. Muslims are senators … they’re in the White House,” says Chebli. (According to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, three senior leaders in the U.S. government who are Muslim include: Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies; Ebrahim “Eboo” Patel, founder and executive director of Interfaith Youth Core [Mogahed and Patel are on the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships]; and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.) According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 10 percent of Muslims are Latino, 15 percent are white, 27 percent are Black and 34 percent are Asian. 5. “Why can’t you pray on your coffee break?” Depending on the times allowed for office breaks, this comment can violate religious rights. That’s because “Muslim prayer must be done within specific time frames,” says Awad, adding that the second and third prayers are during business hours. What’s more, Muslim prayer involves standing up and bowing on the floor, which can be awkward to perform in the workplace. It’s also preferred that prayer be done in a group. Progressive companies will designate a private room or other facility for group prayer. On Fridays, when Muslims are obligated to pray in mosques and not in the office, “companies must give an extended lunch hour,” explains Awad. Companies such as Ford Motor Co., No. 44 in The 2010 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity�®, are involving their interfaith-based employee-resource group to help give members space to share experiences and ideas of religious accommodation. “These are not only constitutional issues,” says Awad, “but when you have a friendly work environment, you will have better performing and more loyal employees.” 2009 CACREP Standards
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY—studies that provide an understanding of the cultural context of relationships, issues, and trends in a multicultural society, including all of the following: 1) multicultural and pluralistic trends, including characteristics and concerns within and among diverse groups nationally and internationally; 2) attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences, including specific experiential learning activities designed to foster students’ understanding of self and culturally diverse clients; 3) theories of multicultural counseling, identity development, and social justice; 4) individual, couple, family, group, and community strategies for working with and advocating for diverse populations, including multicultural competencies; 5) counselors’ roles in developing cultural self-awareness, promoting cultural social justice, advocacy and conflict resolution, and other culturally supported behaviors that promote optimal wellness and growth of the human spirit, mind, or body; and 6) counselors’ roles in eliminating biases, prejudices, and processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination. Race/Color Discrimination
Race discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion. Race/color discrimination also can involve treating someone unfavorably because the person is married to (or associated with) a person of a certain race or color or because of a person’s connection with a race-based organization or group, or an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain color. Discrimination can occur when the victim and the person who inflicted the discrimination are the same race or color. Race/Color Discrimination & Work Situations The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. Race/Color Discrimination & Harassment It is unlawful to harass a person because of that person’s race or color. Harassment can include, for example, racial slurs, offensive or derogatory remarks about a person's race or color, or the display of racially-offensive symbols. Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted). The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer. Race/Color Discrimination & Employment Policies/Practices An employment policy or practice that applies to everyone, regardless of race or color, can be illegal if it has a negative impact on the employment of people of a particular race or color and is not job-related and necessary to the operation of the business. For example, a “no-beard” employment policy that applies to all workers without regard to race may still be unlawful if it is not job-related and has a negative impact on the employment of African-American men (who have a predisposition to a skin condition that causes severe shaving bumps). http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm 1. Categories and Definitions
The minimum categories for data on race and ethnicity for Federal statistics, program administrative reporting, and civil rights compliance reporting are defined as follows: -- American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. -- Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. -- Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black or African American." -- Hispanic or Latino. A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term, "Spanish origin," can be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino." -- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. -- White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. As you look at these definitions i want you to ask yourself a few questions: What is problematic about these distinctions? Why do you think these categories were created? What human groups are left out of these governmental categories? How should people who share more than one category be grouped? Let get Andre's thoughts, while we ponder these questions. To Discipline or Not?
Deciding Whether to Take Disciplinary Action Analyze the Problem Based on the initial information you know about the problem and with consultation with the Employee Relations Specialist in the Personnel Office, determine the nature of the problem, i.e., if the problem is conduct or performance-related (see the "Employee Problems" section for specific instructions on analyzing the employee problem). If the problem is a performance problem, see the "Poor Performance" section If the problem is conduct-related, continue with the instructions, below. Investigate to Get the Facts You are first required to conduct a reasonably full and fair investigation of the situation before deciding upon, or carrying out, disciplinary action. In most cases, the employee's first or second level supervisor will conduct the administrative investigation. However, in cases where there are allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse; a serious conflict-of-interest; or serious misconduct, you should speak to the Employee Relations Specialist in the Personnel Office to arrange for the case to be referred through appropriate channels to the Office of the Inspector General (IG) for formal investigation. In conducting a "reasonably full and fair investigation," you should determine the answers to the following questions, at a minimum, in order to learn the facts of the case: What actually happened? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Who witnessed the event? How did the event or situation occur? Why did it happen? Who was accountable for the incident? In most cases, written documentation will be required. You, as supervisor or the witnesses to the event, at a minimum can write up the events that occurred, sign, and date them. This should be done as soon after the event as possible while the facts are fresh in witnesses’ minds. In some cases, for serious instances of misconduct or where possible criminal conduct has occurred, a formal investigation may need to be conducted where questions are asked of witnesses, and affidavits taken. The "Employee Problems" section provides guidance concerning documentation. You should get the employee's side of the story. A third party reviewing the case will want to know whether the employee was given a chance to present his/her version of the events leading to the disciplinary action. Representational Rights With regard to unions, a bargaining unit employee is entitled to be represented by a union representative during an examination of the employee by an agency representative in connection with an investigation if: the employee reasonably believes that the examination may result in disciplinary action against himself/herself, and the employee requests representation. (Weingarten Rights). If you are unsure whether the employees in your organization are in a bargaining unit call the Employee Relations Specialist in the Personnel Office. If so, you must be mindful to observe "representational rights" for these employees; for example, if you are interviewing an employee about his/her misconduct and the employee asks for union representation, stop the meeting for a reasonable period of time until he/she can obtain a union representative. Know the Rules, Regulations, and Policies Generally if there is no rule, regulation, policy, work procedure, office practice, or conduct standard that prohibits whatever the employee has done, discipline is not justified. The reason is that discipline is used to correct behavior that violates Government-wide conduct standards, DOIs, Service's or management's rules and requirements. If there is no rule or requirement, there is no basis to discipline an employee. This does not mean that every possible violation by an employee must be covered by a written rule or regulation. Some actions are so obviously wrong that no written policy is necessary. For example, the Service does not have a rule against dumping garbage on a supervisor's desk. But such action by an employee could result in disciplinary action, even without a written policy against it, because it is so obviously wrong. When employees first report to work, they are provided a minimum of one hour of official duty time to review the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch. Employees are expected to abide by these rules and regulations. If they do not, they can be disciplined. Employees are also expected to carry out the announced policies and programs of the Department and to obey proper requests and directions of their supervisors. As the supervisor, you have the authority to establish standard operating procedures, office and work policies, and other conduct expectations. If your employee fails to follow your oral or written directions or requests, you can decide to discipline the employee for insubordination or for failure to follow supervisory directions or policies. Check to See if the Rules have Been Communicated and Enforced Consistently There are 2 other questions that you must consider when contemplating discipline: Did the employee know about the rule or regulation or, if not, is the offense so obvious that he/she could be expected to know about it without being told? Has this rule been consistently enforced in the past and, if not, were employees warned that it would be enforced before this incident? One of the most frequent reasons disciplinary actions are overturned is because employees are able to show that they were never told of the rules, regulations, or office policies. In most cases, there has to be some evidence employees were told of a rule, or knew about it before discipline can be taken. A rule can be communicated in any of several different ways including posting on bulletin boards, issuing all employee memoranda, explaining it during orientation sessions or staff meetings, discussing it in a one-on-one counseling session, etc. If the employee can show that the rule has not been consistently enforced, regardless of whether it was communicated to employees, disciplinary action can be overturned. If the rule has NOT been enforced, the employee can reasonably claim that he/she did not think it was in effect any longer, or he/she would not have acted in the same way. This does not mean a rule can never be applied if management has not been consistently enforcing it. But it does mean employees must be clearly warned that it will be enforced before imposing discipline on anyone for breaking it. Making the Decision to Discipline or Not to Discipline After you answer all the questions discussed above (i.e., Is there evidence that the employee did something? Is there a rule, policy, or regulation against doing what the employee did? Did the employee know about the rule? When other employees have broken the rule, has discipline been consistently applied?), you should be in a good position to make a decision on whether to administer discipline. Justice takes off her blind fold.
Understand the the impact of racial profiling, implicit bias and the real power behind the 1964 Civil rights act. Objectives: 1. Lawyers will discuss methods for over coming professional, system bias 2. Clarifying the difference between, discrimination, prejudice and bigotry 3. Examine problematic forms bias: " reverse discrimination", selective attention, implicit bias and stereotyping in the justice system 4. Develop a personal action plan for personal and organizational change One statement of what has been demonstrated as effective is the Common Principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), an organization of schools around the country that adhere to an educational philosophy based on research about what works. Founded by Ted Sizer, former Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, CES rests on the fundamental principle that "the best school for the best is the best school for everyone." The ten Common Principles are summarized as:
1. Learning to use one's mind well. 2. Depth over coverage (schools should teach essential skills in depth, rather than trying to cover all the bases and please everyone). 3. School goals should apply to all students. 4. Teaching and learning should be personalized as much as possible. 5. Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach. 6. Demonstration of mastery. 7. A tone of decency and trust. 8. Commitment to the entire school. 9. Resource dedicated to teaching and learning. 10. Democracy and equity. The complete principles and more information are available on the CES website. Why extend opportunities for the poor?
Extending opportunities to the poor has the overall goal of decreasing their number. If, as the New Testament quotes Jesus as saying, "the poor are always with us," why bother to try to change their state? There are several ethical answers to that question, and an even larger number of practical ones. Some of the ethical answers are that any civilized society worthy of the name has an obligation to its poorest members to help them improve their condition; that the ranks of the poor, in most developed countries, are constantly changing - many people don't spend their whole lives in poverty, and the more opportunities they have, the fewer their poverty-stricken years will be; and that virtually every major religion and philosophical framework advocates helping the poor. The practical reasons are even more convincing. Among them: 1. Decreasing poverty adds to the workforce. More people in the workforce means more possibilities for new business, as well as an increase in talent that may lead to greater productivity. 2. Fewer poor people reduces the tax burden on everyone. Every poor person who becomes a tax-paying worker reduces taxes twice over: she is now paying taxes into the system, and the system is no longer using taxes to support her. 3. Reducing poverty decreases medical costs. For a variety of reasons - ignorance of (or inability to afford) proper nutrition, lack of regular exercise, stress, environmental factors, lack of a regular physician, high-risk behavior - adults and children on the lowest rungs of the income ladder have more, and more severe, health problems than those higher up. Furthermore, they most often seek treatment at hospital emergency rooms, which is both more expensive and less effective than maintaining a relationship with a primary care physician. 4. Decreasing poverty means increasing the number of consumers, and thereby strengthening the overall economy. The more people who are able to buy goods and services, the greater the benefit for business. Businesses that make more money pay more taxes (at least if they're obeying the law), create more jobs, produce more goods and services, and - ideally - pay higher wages. We know, we know - businesses aren't always fair to their employees or to consumers, many have accountants that find tax loopholes, they produce - and convince us to buy - all sorts of products we don't need, etc., etc. All this is true, and the Community Tool Box is not endorsing trickle-down economics here. On the other hand, it is also true that when businesses are doing well and the economy is strong, everyone else generally does better, too. There is more money in government accounts for programs and services that benefit the disadvantaged, there are more entry-level jobs for the previously unemployed and the just-graduated, and overall poverty rates often drop. While unchecked consumerism - the "I win because I have more toys" philosophy - is not beneficial for an individual or a society, the ability to occasionally buy something you want makes you feel that you're not doing badly...and that is a good thing. 5. Adults rising out of poverty can break a generational cycle, and move out of the culture of poverty. Their children won't grow up poor, and will grow up in circumstances where they're likely to learn - from both their parents and their environment - the attitudes and behavior that will assure their own financial security, and that of their children. 6. Reducing poverty increases diversity in all sectors of society. While the majority of the poor in the U.S., in pure numbers, are white, populations of color and language minorities are represented in much higher percentages than whites in the poverty statistics. Providing opportunities for these folks to advance economically could change the character of the student population and the workforce at all levels, and change the character of race and ethnic relations for the better in the process. 7. Providing opportunities for the poor gives more people a stake in the society. If the American (or Canadian or European) Dream seems out of reach, then people don't have a reason to care about the society as a whole. Poor and low-income U.S. citizens vote in smaller percentages than their more affluent counterparts, and often don't see the society as belonging to them, or themselves as part of the society. This leads to alienation, particularly for the young, and can result in violence and other destructive and self-destructive behavior. When people are part of the larger economy, when they work and socialize with people from all walks of life, they see the society in a different light. The more people can enjoy and fulfill the benefits and obligations of the society, the more ownership they feel, the more actively they participate, and the stronger a democracy becomes. 8. Providing opportunities for the poor increases equity. Equity - the fairness of a society in terms of most people either having what they need, or no one having a huge amount while others have nothing - is one of the factors identified by the World Health Organization as being necessary for a healthy community. (See Chapter 2, Section 3: Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities.) It is, for instance, a better predictor of life expectancy (the greater the equity, the higher the life expectancy) than the affluence of the society - one of the reasons the U.S., the most affluent society in the world, ranks only 29th in longevity. 9. Providing opportunities for the poor can improve their and their children's lives. According to the Declaration of Independence, everyone has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That pursuit implies offering the opportunity for it to all. It's the right thing for a community to do, and can lead to a more equitable and humane society and a better quality of life for everyone. This isn't just rhetoric. In more equitable societies, there is less need for conflict and violence, and more of the society's resources can be directed toward actually improving the quality of life, rather than toward managing one crisis after another. What do we mean by extending opportunities for the poor?
People in all of these circumstances can benefit from opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty. But what kinds of opportunities are necessary or most beneficial? The answer to this question is complicated by the fact that the causes of poverty may be very different from its effects. Poverty itself is an economic condition: the poor simply don't have enough money to get by. The reasons for that, however, as we've been discussing, may have to do with their world view, their psychology, their backgrounds, or with circumstances beyond their control. As a result, while some of the opportunities we'll consider focus directly on the economic, others address the internal barriers that tend to keep poor people poor. 1. Employment. The obvious solution to poverty is to make sure that everyone has a job that pays enough to support her family. In many cases, it's actually that simple, and the task is to provide opportunities for employment. In other cases, however, as implied above, people simply aren't ready for the kind of job they need. They may lack the skills to perform it, or they may lack the skills to hold any job reliably. If so, they need the opportunity to gain those skills. Equally important, they should have the opportunity to look at work life as a long-term process, and to try to plan for a career. Thus, depending on the individual's needs, the opportunities here might include actual employment, employment training or retraining (learning a trade or specific job-related skills), job skills training (learning how to get and keep a job), and career planning. 2. Education. There are really three ways education can act as an opportunity for the poor. The first is to counter a lack of basic skills or majority-language ability. The second is to prepare people for white-collar or professional jobs through post-secondary education. The third, and perhaps most important, is the educational opportunity that can be offered to children, through the improvement of public schools in low-income neighborhoods and the offer of educational alternatives. 3. Life skills. Managing money, keeping healthy, and participating in the community are only some of the areas that many poor people have difficulty with. Helping them learn these and other skills that will improve their lives can contribute greatly to their self-sufficiency. 4. Survival. Creating opportunities for the poor to improve their situations is all fine and good, but their basic survival needs still must be met while they gain skills and seek employment. Addressing hunger, through food banks, Food Stamps, and other programs; providing shelters, food, and other survival services to the homeless; and establishing programs where people can find decent used clothing, furniture for a recently-acquired apartment, protection from domestic abuse, free health services, child care, referrals to other services, and relief from isolation are all necessary even - or especially - while people are taking advantage of other opportunities to change their lives. Poverty is a relative concept. People see themselves, and the society sees them, as poor in relation to those in the society who are well off. In developed countries, that usually means the difference between being able to provide only for basic needs and being able to afford at least a few luxuries. Poor neighborhoods are often dangerous and unhealthy, but statistics say that most of their residents have jobs and own cars and TV sets. In most cases, only those who are at rock bottom - homeless, jobless, and without prospects - are in danger of dying from poverty itself. In developing countries, the poor may be a majority of the society, and their lives may be threatened daily by hunger, the elements, illness, violence, or environmental poisoning. Most poor people in countries like the U.S., Canada, and Denmark would be considered well off in sub-Saharan Africa or south Asia. There, survival can mean finding food that day, rather than finding the money to pay the rent. 5. Social connection. Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone and other works about social capital, has found that social connectedness is a better predictor than income of health, longevity, employment, and several other positive factors of life. Creating opportunities for the poor to expand social connections can improve their prospects of employment, support them through crises, and raise the general quality of their lives. Social connection can come about through programs and initiatives that are run or sponsored by government agencies or community-based organizations, and they can also be generated by grass roots community groups of all kinds. Volunteer mentors, service clubs, businesses, even recreation and social organizations - all can contribute to forming the kinds of relationships that people need in order to feel supported and move economically and socially. Opportunities for the poor don't just pop up out of nowhere. They exist because of policy, funding, and the in-the-trenches gruntwork of community-based organizations, activists, and advocates. Much of the real work of providing opportunities for the poor comes from advocacy, using relationships with legislators and local officials, with businesses, with government agency personnel, with funders, and with the media. The emphasis in this section is on the types of programs that provide opportunities and how they can be used. But without advocacy, no matter how well they're planned, many won't exist. (See Chapter 30: Principles of Advocacy; Chapter 31: Conducting Advocacy Research; Chapter 32: Providing Encouragement and Education; Chapter 33: Conducting a Direct Action Campaign; and Chapter 34: Media Advocacy.) What are some of the causes of poverty?
To answer this question, we should start by asking another: Just who are the "poor?" What do we mean when we use that term? In fact, if we assume "poor" to mean living below the level of income needed to ensure basic needs - an adequate amount of nutritious food to gain and maintain good health at any age, intact clothing appropriate to the season, and shelter that is weather-tight, secure, and safe - then the poor are easily identified. They're the folks who simply don't have enough to keep themselves above water financially. In developed countries, they may be on welfare, live in subsidized or substandard housing, and be dependent on government assistance. In the developing world, they're often on the edge of starvation, have high rates of infant mortality and preventable disease (malaria, for example), may be homeless, and are usually the first to suffer when disaster strikes or times are bad. (A percentage of the poor in the developed world can be described in similar terms.) In the U.S., the poor can fall into any of several categories, two of which really aren't relevant to the purpose of this section. One of these is what we might call the intentionally poor, who have chosen, for philosophical or lifestyle reasons, to function with very little money in exchange for living in a particular way. The other group might be called the temporary poor. These are people, often recently-divorced women with children, who might have skills and credentials, but have lost a job, a supporting spouse, or some other form of support. In most cases, they have the ability and the personal network to find jobs, further education, or other ways to solve what are usually temporary financial problems. These folks may need support, since they're adjusting to a whole new way of living, but that support is usually temporary and either minimal or leading to further education. The author was familiar, several years ago, with a program for "displaced housewives," women who were newly divorced or widowed and hadn't worked recently. The program provided subsidies for courses and career counseling, after which most either went on to four-year institutions or found their way into decent jobs. The poor that we're concerned with here are those who have no obvious way out of their situation. There are a number of reasons for this. None of them obtains for all those in poverty, but often at least one applies. Furthermore, they're usually interrelated: someone who has low-level skills may have difficulty finding work, which, in turn, may lead to substance abuse or crime, making it even harder to find work. Several factors often work together to keep people in poverty. Lack of basic skills. Many people who live below the poverty line have problems with reading, writing, and/or math, or lack English proficiency. (While many immigrants to the U.S. come with excellent educational backgrounds, others are not literate in their native language, let alone in English.) This problem also leads to a lack of computer literacy and difficulty in learning new technical skills (because of the necessity to read and understand instructions and manuals, many of which are written at a fairly high level.) It makes it virtually impossible to get and keep any but menial, low-wage jobs. Lack of employment skills. This may mean both specific job skills beyond a strong back and the ability to sweep a floor, and also the kinds of generalized skills it takes to get and keep a job: getting up on time, making sure you have reliable transportation, treating others at work reasonably, following directions, etc. One, or a combination of, these two can mire a family in the ranks of the "working poor." One or both parents may have jobs, or, typically, more than one job, but still be unable to earn enough to emerge from poverty. To make matters worse, because they're working at low-wage, menial jobs, they're unlikely to have health insurance, but are ineligible for Medicaid. As a result, they can be working more than 40 hours a week, and still be only a medical emergency away from hunger or eviction. At the current federal minimum wage in the U.S., a year's pay for a full-time job is under $11,000.00 a year. The federal poverty level for a family of four - which is in itself probably a gross underestimate of what is really needed to provide adequately for basic needs - is just over $19,000.00. The median family income in the U.S. is currently (2005/6) about $44,400.00. About 7.5% of U.S. working families live below the official poverty line, and a total of 27.4% live below twice the poverty line, which is considered the definition of low-income. Severe physical or intellectual disabilities. Many people with physical disabilities are more than able to thrive in the society, making their disabilities irrelevant because of the strength of their intellects and the force of their personalities. Others, however, are so severely disabled that they are unable to work, and are dependent on public assistance. Those with intellectual difficulties - adults who function at the level of young children, for instance - are also generally dependent on parents or on public assistance. For those who are placed in caring group homes, the quality of life can be high. For those who have no such support and no outside resources, life can be grim. Alcohol or drug dependency. The relationship here is not necessarily that poverty leads to addiction, but rather that addiction leads to poverty. There is probably little question that poor neighborhoods provide more opportunity to use drugs and alcohol early and often; but there is also little question that the purchase of drugs and alcohol drains resources, and that being drug- or alcohol-dependent makes it unlikely that someone will regularly show up to a job that pays reasonably well, or will maintain relationships and stay out of trouble. (There are obviously exceptions to this generalization, but that doesn't mean it's not accurate in most cases.) To further complicate matters, substance abusers tend to lose their moral compass. To feed their addiction, most will do whatever they can to get the drug they need, and their behavior when they're drunk or high may be offensive or violent. The result is that whatever networks they might have had usually break down fairly quickly. Family and friends will only put up with so much before they withdraw support. Substance abusers often become homeless for just this reason - they no longer have any clean and sober connections that will give them a place to sleep. A subset of this group is that formed by runaway and "emancipated" homeless adolescents who live on the street. (If an adolescent is "emancipated," it generally means his parents have thrown him out and told him never to come back. This happens to kids as young as 14 or 15, many of whom have no place to go.) They form groups for protection, almost always become drug users, often sell their bodies in order to eat, and are among the hardest of the homeless to contact and serve, because they've learned that it's unsafe to trust anyone. Mental health issues. When you think of the mentally ill poor, you may picture a homeless person who walks down the street talking to herself or fighting imaginary attackers. Those people certainly exist - in fairly large numbers in some cities - but they aren't the only ones affected by mental health problems. Many are invisible - they act normally, but are unable to function because of depression, mood swing disorders, or the results of traumatic experiences. They may have the skills and/or education to lead a very different life, but they're unable to do so. The classic example here is the Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who sees a threat behind every lamppost. Less familiar, but just as powerful, is PTSD caused by domestic violence or the childhood experience of physical or sexual abuse. Some people who've undergone these experiences are emotionally and psychologically affected to the point where they're unable to work or develop relationships. Some of those who can function - and this is true for people with other types of conditions as well - may use addictive substances, particularly alcohol, as medication, because it turns off their conscious thoughts. As a result, it may seem that their problem is alcoholism, when it's actually far more complex. True hard luck. This is a growing concern, especially for middle class people who may be only one disaster away from poverty. An unexpected medical catastrophe (cancer, a near-fatal car accident), a lost job (or perhaps a lost trade - think about industrial and service jobs that have migrated to Asia), a divorce - any of these can bring expenses or losses that destroy an individual's or family's fragile financial structure. Whatever the reason, it's possible for people to find themselves in a downward spiral that ends in poverty and isolation. Culture of poverty. The phrase "culture of poverty" has been used to describe the world view of people whose families have been poor for generations. It's difficult to estimate how many of the poor are actually part of this culture, but it definitely exists, and the number who grow up in it is significant. These are people who are raised in poverty, and are never taught the values, attitudes, and habits of mind necessary to become self-sufficient in modern society, largely because their parents weren't taught them, either. They can end up in a cycle of early parenthood, lack of skills and credentials, lack of interest in or respect for education, and lack of belief that life could be any different for them or their children. This cycle can be broken (and is broken more often than most people think), but it takes a change of world view, as well as support for that change and the opportunity to learn new skills and behavior. This list applies specifically to adults, but a large number of the poor are in fact children. Recent figures (2004) show that 17.8% of children in the U.S. live below the poverty line, as compared to 12.7% of the general population. Fully a third of African-American children are poor, and nearly 29% of Hispanic children, while about 10% of white and Asian children fall into that category. A majority of poor children live in single-parent families, and virtually all are affected by the same list of reasons for poverty that pertain to adults, because they live with those adults. In addition, because they are poor, they tend to live in places that are less healthy, and more dangerous in terms of crime and the availability of harmful substances and opportunities. They are more likely to attend substandard and unsafe schools, and there is little social support - even if such support exists within their families - for the kind of behavior and thinking that might lead out of poverty. |
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June 2015
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