The Relationship Between Education And Poverty In Milwaukee

The Connection Between Education and Poverty in Milwaukee

In 2015, 43.1 million people lived in Poverty USA, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means the poverty rate for 2015 was 13.5%. What is more surprising is the fact that in 2015, 14.5 million kids (19.7% of all children) lived in Poverty USA. Taking a closer at Milwaukee, 29% of the city’s residents are impoverished, leaving Milwaukee as the nation's fifth most impoverished big city. Among children 18 and under, the poverty rate was 42.1%. A poor education system has resulted in only about 6 in 10 students graduating high school in four years. Many researchers have found that a lack of education is one of the biggest factors that leads to the high rates of poverty seen in Milwaukee.

One of the main causes of poverty is unemployment as it creates a lack of financial stability, leading to a downwards spiral in social mobility and eventually poverty. Lack of a regular income leads to the inability to be able to maintain the basic needs, including fundamental provisions such as eating healthy foods, buying into health care and providing adequate heating for the home. While there are many types of poverty, the reasons behind poverty are always a lack of money. It is possible to live in poverty even with employment. A low paid worker may suffer much the same hardships. Another factor that causes poverty is ethnic divisions, conflicts, and discrimination. Plenty of economic research indicates that social tensions stemming from religious, ethnic, and racial divisions are frequent causes of poverty too. A city health assessment states that the Milwaukee metropolitan area is “the most racially segregated” in the U.S. and the fifth poorest city in the country. Poverty is concentrated especially among the city’s African-American population, where 40% are at or below the poverty line. Data has also shown that high rents may also caused poverty. Longstanding conventional wisdom recommends that you pay about 30% of your income toward rent or your mortgage. But the reality is more like 75% or 80%. That does not leaves enough money for food, health care, clothing and transportation. It also leaves these

Milwaukee could use various strategies suggested by researchers to actually help the impoverished residents of Milwaukee and to teach the community about poverty. Many government officials know that creating wealth, not expanding government, fights poverty. When citizens accumulate wealth, they invest. Investment is the fuel that creates new businesses, new businesses create jobs and jobs allow citizens to escape poverty. Many say that the problem isn’t find solutions; the problem is talking those solutions to scale. In the 2010- 2011 school year, United Way of Greater Milwaukee invested $307,000 in programs that teach children to read, which reached over 1,500 children. Of those, more than 93% showed signs of improvement in literacy skills. If this solution was to scaled up, $1 million could reach over 5,000 children to ensure that they are reading at grade level which would be an early predictor of whether a child will graduate from high school and go on to lead a successful life. Sheriff David A. Clarke of Milwaukee has also said that little actions can help end poverty, too. He has said that he encourages people to strengthen their family formation, actively stay involved in the education of their children, become an engaged parent, join a church, adopt a more mainstream lifestyle, take any job they can find for now while remaking themselves