Poverty In Atlanta Essay

In this topic, I will be exploring the combination of sociopolitical factors that contribute to poverty in a community, otherwise known as comparative disadvantage. I chose Atlanta, not only because I lived near the major city, but also because of its known high, poverty rates. In the past decade, poverty has increased and spread throughout Atlanta. Population and job growth have been occurring rapidly, but so has the urbanization of the city. Growing up near Atlanta, I found that the southern metro area had a vast increase in the distribution of poverty. I will be using “Social Explorer” to examine social characteristics of the city and analyze how those they shaped the city. In this assignment I will also include three maps associated with each characteristic of Atlanta.

The first map

The southern and inner parts of Atlanta were shown to be predominantly black while there were less black families in the southern and outer parts of the city. Racial segregation and Non-White poverty rates are conflated to contribute to concentrated disadvantage.

People living in the inner city are more susceptible to living in a destitute state. This is largely contributed to redlining. Redlining is when financial institutions prevent poorer communities from receiving financial assistance. Although it was outlawed, the practice is covertly practices and the effects remain. This is also where the first and third map overlap. When redlining was prominent, African American families and communities were frequently targeted by the financial institutions. I found that all three of the factors I included are heavily involved in concentrated disadvantage. Atlanta was found to have high rates of poverty, less high school graduates, and a high concentration of black people in the southern and inner city parts of Atlanta. It can be assumed that the northern and outer parts of the city is more affluent or better