poverty

Recent economic events have shaken the confidence of many Americans with respect to their ability to achieve the “American dream.” “With rising numbers of home foreclosures, job cuts, and loss of savings, more Americans are encountering severe periods of economic risk and insecurity in their lives,” says Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., poverty expert and professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.

Women from Mahabo Village in Madagascar weaving baskets for the Blessing Basket Project.It might seem odd that college students in the middle of the United States could make a difference to a small village in a developing country halfway around the world, but that’s exactly what happened when five students from Washington University in St. Louis went to Madagascar. More…

The straightforward solution for many people living in poverty is building savings. For the 9 million disabled Americans living in poverty, the answer isn’t as simple. “The poverty rate among Americans with disabilities is nearly double that of persons without disabilities, and while there is a complex web of federal and state-based programs offering financial assistance to eligible persons with disabilities, policy rules often preclude the accumulation of assets, which are often key for exiting poverty,” says Michelle Putnam, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at Washington University. “”New research and public policies have the potential to help people with disabilities to have greater economic resources and become more integrated into their communities.” More …

Welfare to work leaves some out in the coldThe Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 dramatically changed the nation’s welfare rules. The act ended low-income families’ entitlement to cash assistance and changed the welfare program from a system of income support to one based on work. “Unfortunately, one of the consequences of this legislation is that a segment of welfare recipients, probably the most disadvantaged group, left or were forced to leave welfare without having the proper means to live,” says Yunju Nam, Ph.D., assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.

The conference will explore the many barriers to economic prosperity and well-being for America’s working poor.

The School of Law and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University will host the fifth annual access to equal justice conference, “Poverty, Wealth and the Working Poor: Clinical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. April 1 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The conference will explore the many barriers to economic prosperity and well-being for America’s working poor. Particular emphasis will be given to the interplay of race, gender, wealth, and power in regards to employment, welfare, housing, health care, education and the environment.

Although the focus of homeland security has been on reducing the threat of terrorism, the growing threat of poverty is rapidly undermining the nation’s economic vitality and has fueled rising disillusionment, says one of the nation’s leading scholars of poverty issues. “We need to wake up in America and realize that our homeland security is tied as much if not more to the fact that huge numbers of Americans are being left behind economically, and that as a result, the American Dream is quickly turning into an American nightmare,” says Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at Washington University in St. Louis.

Photo courtesy of Tom Paule PhotographyMarrying for love … and money.Becoming wealthy and creating a happy family are two key components to achieving the American Dream, but do marriage and children have any impact on your chances of becoming rich? “Marriage substantially increases a person’s likelihood of becoming affluent,” says Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of a study out this month that looks at earnings over the course of a person’s lifetime. “Having children, however, significantly lowers the probability of becoming wealthy for all people,” Rank adds.

A grant for $550,000 from the MacArthur Foundation will allow the MacArthur Network on the Family and the Economy to finish its long term research project which investigates the dynamics of family functioning and the well-being of children born to unmarried parents. Robert Pollak, Ph.D., Hernreich Distinguished Professor of Economics in arts & sciences and the John M. Olin School of Business, co-directs the Network, which brings together 13 scholars in economics, sociology, developmental psychology and public policy to advance understanding of the connections between families, labor markets and the economy as a whole.

Barbara Ehrenreich spent two years ‘walking the poverty line’ and her best-selling book, ‘Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America tells how tough the poor really have it.