How does one help a poor community? Unemployment and welfare can help out those in need but, that can not last forever. Money can be invested in a family or individuals to start a business but, how much can that do if the neighborhood and surrounding areas are all poor? Who is going to be the business? Just looking for thoughts/opinions.
You leave to go to a better place.
This helps the community by reducing the number of people unemployed and impoverished, and helps the family because they now have an income and are in a viable community.
Why would someone start a business in a place where no business is being done and there is no demand for the service or product?
Seraphim,
Bro I feel your pain, because I don’t live that far from you. It’s time to get the fuck outta Dodge, I am looking at my options myself.
There is no sign of things getting better, Garcetti will probably win over Wendy Gruel, and the only thing I see is more taxation on the middle class with businesses leaving.
Never would I have thought that I would be pushed to this level, but nothing will change unless you, me, and we the people make it so.
People need mentors. There’s a lack of good male role models in most poor communities. I’d define a mentor here as someone who is responsible and has a job. A lot of these kids see pro sports or the music industry as the only way out. They need people to help them learn a trade, or go to community college, and they need people to encourage them to stay out of gangs. Maybe Big Brothers, volunteer with a sports team, or get involved at a church, school, or Boys and Girl’s club.
It’s easier to make a real difference if you get to know a family on your street, if this is your neighborhood. There is a woman in my neighborhood who is a retired teacher. She reads to kids, and helps kids who are struggling with their reading several afternoons a week. She won’t let anyone pay for her services. She’s just a nice person, doing something good.
You can’t make a difference for everybody, but you can make a difference for one or two people. Story - A few years ago there was a notice that went out at my church. A single mom was trying to finish her bachelor’s degree to become a teacher. She needed somebody to watch her preschooler a couple of nights a week while she was in class, and she couldn’t afford childcare. It was a really easy thing for me to do. I can’t help everyone, but I helped that one at least a little bit. We still keep in touch.
EDIT:
I just thought of the whole Penn State scandal. Wow, it’s harder to do this sort of thing when you are a man. Avoiding liability, or the appearance of being a perv. I will say, a lot of these kids need someone to give them their first job. Maybe that will click for some of you who have small businesses.
Pat.
We were recently reading about a guy who had grown up in a poor neighborhood, done time in prison, and was now on the speaker circuit, talking about how to help poor kids avoid prison and get a job. He was giving a speech at our local University. He was suggesting that we need to establish “Multicultural Community Centers for the Study of Peace”. What the hell does that mean?
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Pat.
We were recently reading about a guy who had grown up in a poor neighborhood, done time in prison, and was now on the speaker circuit, talking about how to help poor kids avoid prison and get a job. He was giving a speech at our local University. He was suggesting that we need to establish “Multicultural Community Centers for the Study of Peace”. What the hell does that mean? [/quote]
Beats me. I had to google it and I still don’t know what it means. Sounds like a load of crap to me. I am happy for him that he turned his life around. But that ‘Multicultural Community Centers for the Study of Peace’ sounds like a load of bullshit to me.
Vote Republican.
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
How does one help a poor community? Unemployment and welfare can help out those in need but, that can not last forever. Money can be invested in a family or individuals to start a business but, how much can that do if the neighborhood and surrounding areas are all poor? Who is going to be the business? Just looking for thoughts/opinions.[/quote]
Well the first thing you have to understand is that you will never solve poverty. The quest to solve poverty has led to some really dumb and flat evil things. The second thing one needs to understand is that the poor wield a whole lot of power, despite the appearance that they don’t. All coups, dictatorships, and tyrannical governments or organizations have one thing in common, they built up on the backs of the poor.
With that in mind, how do you help the poor effectively, one person at a time.
Education is the single biggest component between the poor and the not poor. Education correlates very highly with income. So if your looking for a factor that will make the biggest impact, it’s education.
Now how do you get people educated? That’s a tough one, most people go to school, not everyone comes out educated. Somewhere along the lines, we as a society have learned to celebrate stupidity. Bullies pick on the smart kids, you want to be cool? Better the hell not be taking AP calculus. The popular kids mock the smart kids. Adults waste their time going gaga over lady gaga, the kardasians (I don’t care if I misspelled it), dancing with the low budget, can’t get a real action job, stars, American Idol where we celebrate the ability to make music with out the benefit of playing an instrument or doing anything musical other than singing.
Somehow, someway, we the people need to make education more attractive. Make smart, cool. Then more kids will actually want to be educated and more kids will be.
All of that being said, we have a pretty damn low rate of poverty in this country. Hell, we in many cases, don’t know what real poverty is…
[quote]pat wrote:
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
How does one help a poor community? Unemployment and welfare can help out those in need but, that can not last forever. Money can be invested in a family or individuals to start a business but, how much can that do if the neighborhood and surrounding areas are all poor? Who is going to be the business? Just looking for thoughts/opinions.[/quote]
Well the first thing you have to understand is that you will never solve poverty. The quest to solve poverty has led to some really dumb and flat evil things. The second thing one needs to understand is that the poor wield a whole lot of power, despite the appearance that they don’t. All coups, dictatorships, and tyrannical governments or organizations have one thing in common, they built up on the backs of the poor.
With that in mind, how do you help the poor effectively, one person at a time.
Education is the single biggest component between the poor and the not poor. Education correlates very highly with income. So if your looking for a factor that will make the biggest impact, it’s education.
Now how do you get people educated? That’s a tough one, most people go to school, not everyone comes out educated. Somewhere along the lines, we as a society have learned to celebrate stupidity. Bullies pick on the smart kids, you want to be cool? Better the hell not be taking AP calculus. The popular kids mock the smart kids. Adults waste their time going gaga over lady gaga, the kardasians (I don’t care if I misspelled it), dancing with the low budget, can’t get a real action job, stars, American Idol where we celebrate the ability to make music with out the benefit of playing an instrument or doing anything musical other than singing.
Somehow, someway, we the people need to make education more attractive. Make smart, cool. Then more kids will actually want to be educated and more kids will be.
All of that being said, we have a pretty damn low rate of poverty in this country. Hell, we in many cases, don’t know what real poverty is…[/quote]
In all seriousness this x2.
I am still iffy on making smart cool though. I took AP Calculus and played on the O-Line in Football so it is possible to be smart and cool. I was.
Pat - For sure on the one individual at a time, and education. I have a friend who’s teenage daughter was killed in a car accident a few years ago. She didn’t need her college fund anymore, so she established a scholarship in her daughter’s name to help other kids go to college. Anyone could do that, even if it were a few hundred dollars a year to help some kid go to a trade school.
About the way the poor live in this country, I recall when my husband and I were just starting out. I had my first job in CA a very poor area of LA county near Compton. One of my elementary schools was made up entirely of kids from a large housing project. When I went into some of those homes, I was expecting to see some really bare places. Nope. I was blown away at how much STUFF they had. Toys everywhere, big TVs, HBO or ESPN on the tube, everything. All while the Puffs were living in a very small apartment with a few pieces of hand-me-down furniture and some rabbit ears. I realized we were living way below the level of a lot of people on welfare. Of course, there’s no real wealth in a pile of plastic crap and electronics in your house, but Americans sure have a lot of stuff. People don’t know how to delay gratification and save up for something - To plan ahead. To know the difference between wants and needs.
We try to keep it simple and not own a lot of stuff. It’s a constant battle and we don’t always succeed. We finally broke down and got our 17-year-old a basic cell phone this year. It’s not a smart phone. A lot of “poor” kids have had a smart phone since Jr. High. That’s how poor America rolls, and that’s one of the reasons they don’t accumulate real wealth. BTW, our son was just elected student body president at his high school for next year, so not having a phone didn’t exactly kill his social life.
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Pat - For sure on the one individual at a time, and education. I have a friend who’s teenage daughter was killed in a car accident a few years ago. She didn’t need her college fund anymore, so she established a scholarship in her daughter’s name to help other kids go to college. Anyone could do that, even if it were a few hundred dollars a year to help some kid go to a trade school.
About the way the poor live in this country, I recall when my husband and I were just starting out. I had my first job in CA a very poor area of LA county near Compton. One of my elementary schools was made up entirely of kids from a large housing project. When I went into some of those homes, I was expecting to see some really bare places. Nope. I was blown away at how much STUFF they had. Toys everywhere, big TVs, HBO or ESPN on the tube, everything. All while the Puffs were living in a very small apartment with a few pieces of hand-me-down furniture and some rabbit ears. I realized we were living way below the level of a lot of people on welfare. Of course, there’s no real wealth in a pile of plastic crap and electronics in your house, but Americans sure have a lot of stuff. People don’t know how to delay gratification and save up for something - To plan ahead. To know the difference between wants and needs.
We try to keep it simple and not own a lot of stuff. It’s a constant battle and we don’t always succeed. We finally broke down and got our 17-year-old a basic cell phone this year. It’s not a smart phone. A lot of “poor” kids have had a smart phone since Jr. High. That’s how poor America rolls, and that’s one of the reasons they don’t accumulate real wealth. BTW, our son was just elected student body president at his high school for next year, so not having a phone didn’t exactly kill his social life. [/quote]
My daughter is in 6th grade, and my wife and I refuse to get her a cell phone. I understand delayed gratification, but it is hard to teach a child that. My wife and I scrimped and saved for many years and now we are starting to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Mr. Puff should count himself a lucky man because there are not a lot of women like yourself. My wife is one such woman, and I love her deeply for it.
[quote]dmaddox wrote:
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Pat - For sure on the one individual at a time, and education. I have a friend who’s teenage daughter was killed in a car accident a few years ago. She didn’t need her college fund anymore, so she established a scholarship in her daughter’s name to help other kids go to college. Anyone could do that, even if it were a few hundred dollars a year to help some kid go to a trade school.
About the way the poor live in this country, I recall when my husband and I were just starting out. I had my first job in CA a very poor area of LA county near Compton. One of my elementary schools was made up entirely of kids from a large housing project. When I went into some of those homes, I was expecting to see some really bare places. Nope. I was blown away at how much STUFF they had. Toys everywhere, big TVs, HBO or ESPN on the tube, everything. All while the Puffs were living in a very small apartment with a few pieces of hand-me-down furniture and some rabbit ears. I realized we were living way below the level of a lot of people on welfare. Of course, there’s no real wealth in a pile of plastic crap and electronics in your house, but Americans sure have a lot of stuff. People don’t know how to delay gratification and save up for something - To plan ahead. To know the difference between wants and needs.
We try to keep it simple and not own a lot of stuff. It’s a constant battle and we don’t always succeed. We finally broke down and got our 17-year-old a basic cell phone this year. It’s not a smart phone. A lot of “poor” kids have had a smart phone since Jr. High. That’s how poor America rolls, and that’s one of the reasons they don’t accumulate real wealth. BTW, our son was just elected student body president at his high school for next year, so not having a phone didn’t exactly kill his social life. [/quote]
My daughter is in 6th grade, and my wife and I refuse to get her a cell phone. I understand delayed gratification, but it is hard to teach a child that. My wife and I scrimped and saved for many years and now we are starting to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Mr. Puff should count himself a lucky man because there are not a lot of women like yourself. My wife is one such woman, and I love her deeply for it.
[/quote]
Hey Dmaddox, thank you so much. We’ve been very blessed. I’m glad you and your wife are on the same page with financial things, and raising your daughter. That’s huge.
About raising kids, teaching them to delay gratification is one of the most important life skills. It might be THE most important in terms of financial success or learning to have some grit/ the ability to endure and keep trying. Remember the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment?
This.
I taught for 6 months in a low income middle school and if you are someone who is able to properly manage time, responsibilities etc… your proficiency at delaying gratification is probably totally invisible to you. The degree to which academically unsuccessful and problem children lack this skill is staggering.