This week, November 12 – 20, is National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/projects...Something that most people do not realize, is that 1/4th of the children in this country live in poverty, and there are 1.3 million children that are homeless.
Most people only see the beggars on the street corners when they think of the homeless. They don't realize that 1/4th of the homeless are veterans, or that 40% of the homeless are families.
"The typical homeless family is headed by a single mother, usually in her late twenties. She has with her two or three young children, typically preschoolers."
"More than 90 percent of sheltered and low-income mothers have experienced physical and sexual assault over their lifespan."
"Homelessness results from the combined effects of extreme poverty, lack of affordable housing, decreasing government supports, the challenge of raising children alone, domestic violence, and fractured social supports."
"The experience of homelessness results in a loss of community, routines, possessions, privacy, and security. Children, mothers, and families who live in shelters need to make significant adjustments to shelter living and are confronted by other problems, such as the need to reestablish a home, interpersonal difficulties, mental and physical problems, and child-related difficulties such as illness."
"Homelessness also makes families more vulnerable to other forms of trauma such as physical and sexual assault, witnessing violence, or abrupt separation. The stress related to these risks comes in addition to the stress resulting from homelessness itself and can impede recovery due to ongoing traumatic reminders and challenges."
Children bear the brunt of homelessness.
"Homeless children are sick at twice the rate of other children. They suffer twice as many ear infections, have four times the rate of asthma, and have five times more diarrhea and stomach problems."
"Homeless children go hungry twice as often as nonhomeless children."
" More than one-fifth of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems serious enough to require professional care, but less than one-third receive any treatment."
"Homeless children are twice as likely to repeat a grade compared to nonhomeless children."
" Homeless children have twice the rate of learning disabilities and three times the rate of
emotional and behavioral problems of nonhomeless children."
"Half of school-age homeless children experience anxiety, depression, or withdrawal compared to 18 percent of nonhomeless children."
"By the time homeless children are eight years old, one in three has a major mental disorder. "
http://www.nctsn.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/p...The children are the future of the nation. We often hear that our schools systems are substandard and that we are rated 26th among developed nations in education.
http://www.miamiurbanleague.org/2010/12/...What we don't often hear is why.
Our school systems are inherently unequal because most of the funding comes from property taxes. Areas that have high poverty inevitably have poorer schools and lower paid teachers. Because of the negative consequences of high poverty, children in those areas require additional aid and we should be spending much more in high poverty areas to compensate. Any teacher can do well in affluent schools with motivated students and parents that are involved. It takes exceptional teachers to handle all of the harsh conditions and the trauma and stress of the children that are homeless or living in poverty. We need to pay these teachers much more to attract them to the poor neighborhoods. The US is also ranked 26th in how much we pay our teachers.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/0...The Republicans have been waging war on the poor for years. They have continuously tried to kill child nutrition programs.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/02/re...They have made steep cuts to food safety and child nutrition programs.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/201...This year they celebrated National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week by passing legislation that unraveled school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year, including limiting the use of potatoes and putting new restrictions on sodium. The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable. This is the direct result of lobbying by the Pizza, Potato, and Salt Lobbies.
http://www.foxnews.com/topics/health/med...This is a good example of how corporate interests have bribed our lawmakers to pass laws that harm the nation. This is what the Occupy movement is all about – the future of the nation.