About Fighting Poverty in New York

Bronx community is on the northern part of New York City with a population of over one million. Based on the social-economic and political environment in the county the community faces severe financial conditions. Notably, in New York City, cost of living has been increasing in the recent past subjecting the residences to economic constraints, and increasing the poor population. The poverty condition among the Bronx is relatively high compared to other communities in New York City.  The fact that the cost of living in New York City is high and economic status among Bronx is low; a substantial portion of the population is poor. The objective of fighting poverty in New York involves various community service organizations affiliated to the federal government and non-profit organizations.

Bronx community is perceived differently from the rest of the communities in New York City.  The economic conditions, coupled with the widening gap between the affluent and the poor, highlight the level of discrimination. Poverty situation in Bronx highlights lack of development and limited resources to build a stable foundation for development. For instance, in the education sector, Bronx registers low percentage in individuals with basic education certificates. In addition, the community registers high unemployment numbers and those in labor force are only casual laborer. Also, the wage rate among the community is relatively low at increasing cost of living in New York City. Based on the increasing cost of living coupled with economic hostility experienced, it is evident that the community faces severe economic constraints.

Notably, Bronx growth strategy may involve establishing development structures to propel advancement and an education system that reflects the needs of the communities. Reforms in the education sector are necessary to improve operations and make the system accommodative and eradicate prejudices. Funds to improve education in Bronx fail to meet the core objectives of the funds because the affluent and middle class are the core beneficiaries of the programs. From this perspective, the system is discriminative on the poor especially in receiving funds disbursed to eradicate poverty based on education reforms and improvement. Markedly, diversity in Bronx County is high, and divisions along racial groups are evident. The divisions contribute to lack of harmony in core operations among the Bronx community.

The notion of poverty in New York is discussed in depth and is aimed at establishing measures of mitigating the situation. The high cost of living in New York can be mitigated through increasing wages and introducing working conditions like universal health care. The article, Bloomberg’s Undelivered Poverty Speech illustrates various measures introduced to mitigate poverty particularly among the Bronx community. The article challenges the established stereotype that the community tends to be unprivileged from the rest and receives limited support in eradicating poverty. However, more measures are required in mitigating the issue and National Association for the Advanced of Colored People (NAACP) is calling on presidential aspirants in the US to establish strategies in responding to the issue. The article, Who Will Save the Bronx evaluates poverty in Bronx through a survey that shows more that 40 percent of the population is under the low wage category. This concurs with high poverty rates attributed to the increasing cost of living and low wage rate. The issue of discrimination and mal-distribution of resources for the poor is evident in the article by Naison (2011) where needs for reforms in the education sector is necessary to boost development of Bronx community and introduce changes in the system to accommodate children from poor backgrounds.