Megan Wence- final blog

The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky is a very powerful book when covering all of the bases on poverty. In the final pages of the book he brings up some important things that we can do to take action. The first one that really stood out to me was to out money aside when babies are born fore their future education costs. In Great Britain in the 90's they set up grants for women who had given birth as a universal social insurance system. It's said that this would help boost the economy because it would give the poor an opportunity to invest in secondary education, or in job training courses. Either would help them to improve their education, and to widen the opportunities to find a good paying job in order to support their families. Unfortunately, with all of the budget cuts this didn't last very long and ended in 2010. I did find it interesting that in San Francisco that they have a city funded account set up in their name to encourage the family to think about education for their children in the future. I think this is a great idea and something that should be happening every where. We all know the cost of education is expensive, so if we start putting a little bit away at a time without touching it, then it would make paying for education much easier. The only thing that I think is similar to something like this is the Gerber Grow Up plan. It's offered to all new parents, and to anyone who has children. It allows you to pick how much money you put in, and how much it will grow over the years. Once the child turns 18 you have the opportunity to take the money out, or to leave it in there and let the money accumulate more interest. I know families living in poverty make money stretch as far as they can, so something like this may or may not be a good idea if they are struggling at the moment to keep a roof over their heads. It's just a great idea to think about how expensive things continue to get, and if you can lock in a rate at a cheaper rate, you will save a lot of money in the long run.

Another thing that caught my attention was in 1919 North Dakota established a bank with 2 million dollars of seed money to stor up investments made from the local farmers. It's not making $270 million per year and controls assets of $4 billion. The bank then loans out money for student loans, weather related disasters, and to help the small businesses in the community. I think this is a great thing that they are doing out there. Not only did it start with the money made from the local farmers, but the money is being used to be put back into the community to improve the economy and to help grow the state. Unfortunately, in 2012 state banks had been proposed by state legislators and were ultimately shut down for being suspicious. As Abramsky states on page 264 near the bottom of the page, " state banks could play a powerful role in a national campaign to eradicate poverty and improve infrastructure. I think it's a shame that it seems like all of the programs that are being designed to help boost the economy, to help get people out of poverty, and to get them back on their feet are all being shut down. How do we expect this cycle to end, if the high up government officials aren't doing anything to help?

I like how it's said in the book that it might seem strange to wait so long to talk about schooling, and that education isn't less important than housing, jobs, drug treatment and the community. he brings up a very valid point when he says that stable economic environments tends to not have gangs, street violence, homelessness, hunger, or any of the things that families in poverty have to face. I agree with some of this, but these issues are going to be everywhere. We need teachers who can teach kids of all levels of learning abilities, schools must have appropriate materials to be able to teach, and teachers have to be passionate about what they are doing. Teaching isn't something that we go into for the money, we do it because we want to help others and make a difference. I think we can do this even with limited funding in schools, and find ways to be creative and make it fun for everyone. It would help to have the extra funding available and make the educational experience a good one. Kids don't realize at the time how important schooling and having an education is. We learn this much later in life. I think if the community is able to pull together and offer resources to the schools for supplies, mentors, tutors etc that it would really make a difference. I know I would reach out to local businesses where I live and teach for extra supplies and incentives for my students. If you don't ask, you will never know. Not only did it help out what I was doing with my students, but it gives the local businesses the attention and a sense of satisfaction knowing that they are helping also.