Girls and Poverty in the United States has a huge effect on women and their journey that they have yet to conquer. Socioeconomic status effects children’s access to a better education and ultimately leaves them without any opportunity to even take a class on women’s studies at a university level. It is recorded by the National Center for Children Poverty that low-income family’s percentage is at thirty-nine percent. “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems.”(Limpkin 24) Poverty also leads to poor health and mental health all together; and with that comes behavioral problems that will go unchallenged. The problem is not poverty at all it is more the pattern of the psyche to perpetually practice poverty’s mental mantras. On record found in a 1992 report by the AAUW; thirty-seven percent of female dropouts sights family issues as the culprit. Traditional gender roles also plays a part as girls assume responsibilities in order to contribute to the family. Compared to boys girls have an ingrained psychological pressure to become the caretakers. When family struggles surface, women are the ones that traditionally feel obligated to help. In recent statistics 63 percent of what is considered in the minority strata of the United States lives in poverty. This sets a bleak picture when considering the outcome of women and children.
I decided to take my Volunteering energy to Orlando’s Neighborhood Improvement Corporation because I wanted to work with an organization with a focus on poverty. ONIC’s focus is to build quality affordable homes, provide opportunities for working people to have safe and confortable housing, encourage quality neighborhoods and apartment communities through partnerships and sound management, and to analyze the needs for affordable and mixed-income housing in Central Florida. Their Mission is to be a leader in Central Florida in providing opportunities for housing that is safe, comfortable, affordable, and long lasting. Their vision is for healthy neighborhoods with quality affordable housing with a diversity of incomes and housing types. Since their inception in 1989, ONIC had developed, co-developed, or partnered in 20 communities in Central Florida representing a total of 2,490 residential units. ONIC is a full-service nonprofit housing development company specializing in rental housing, both new construction and rehabilitating. ONIC also established their Resident Service Program to coordinate enhanced asset building services to create support systems to increase their resident’s quality of life. The Resident Services Program offers a Learning Center (specializes in educational actives, literacy classes, homework help, tutoring and computer labs), Cultural Arts (ONIC works with Orlando Prodigy to coordinate after school activities that teach life coping skills), Financial, Wealth Building and Self-Sufficiency (financial literacy, homebuyers, education and referrals, income tax filling, banking, exposure and access to savings/asset building), Civic (leadership development and volunteerism), and finally Social Activities (Event planning, Appreciation activities, day trips, and multicultural event).
My Volunteer hours contributed to ONIC’s youth and development activities which are structured activities that exposes youth to creatively express. These activities encompass leisure activities, multi-cultural group sessions, and community building experiences, skill building, arts, crafts, discussions, games, and team work activities. As a volunteer I worked in several ONIC locations and helped the Resident Service Staff with their day to day activities with children. I participated and help coordinate activities and also helped with managerial tasks. The managerial tasks included notifying residents on the ONIC properties to participate in a financial seminar that would validate a 25 percent coupon off their next month’s rent. My journey with ONIC help me become aware of the many different ways to engage residents to help the overall success and growth of impoverish communities. ONIC not only has a vested interest in teaching sound money managing techniques to its residents but above all they are focuses in helping the residents children by providing summer and after school camps to help their children while their tenants are busy working and providing. ONIC’s involvement in their residences development helps their cause by educating and empowering their residents to use ONIC as a stepping stone out of poverty.
Poverty is a very important issue in girl studies because it deals with the overall health of women across the world. Girl Power is awareness and with awareness created purpose. It is essential for women in general to understand what is destroying their development into better humans with the ultimate goal in preserving our species. Without cultured women, human evolution will be left without women involvement. “Women and girls suffer disproportionately from the burden of extreme poverty; they make up 70 percent of the 1 billion people living on less than a dollar a day.” Also when “women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only 10 percent of the world’s income and own less than 1 percent of the world’s property.” (Lipkin 196) According to the humanitarian origination CARE; women and girls are increasingly at RISK for HIV and complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth. 850 Million People most of them women and children suffer from chronic malnutrition. CARE points out that one out of three women will be physically or sexually abuse at some point in their life. Believe it or not economic opportunities are really important in the development of girls. Without economic opportunities it leaves women in state of un-competitiveness which results in a lack of sense in value.
In my own way I would like to say that I helped in this cause by getting involved with ONIC in helping not only girls but women who make up the majority of single parent homes. I had the opportunity to work extensively with ONIC’s Boca Club property and it is interesting what I found. 41 percent of the residents work full time, 27 percent work part time, and 32 percent is either unemployed or receives some type of aid. Since this is a course on women studies I found out that 41 percent are single women in Boca Club and out of that, 65 percent are single mothers. Married couples make out 36 percent along with single dads make out 2 percent of the population. Out of the 41 percent of single women living, 41 percent have a full time job, and 86 percent of them have kids. 35 percent of single women in Boca Club have part time jobs and out of that 33 percent have kids. 35 percent of the single women have no jobs or are on assisted living and out of that 50 percent of them have kids. It is alarming to find that most of the residents in this low-income housing development are single mothers. It was good to know that I assisted their children while they went to work. It is pretty evident that ONIC does help women and contributes to the fighting issue of poverty and women. A program such as Sisters Hip-Hop helps impoverish girls become aware of their health, genetics, stress, and their transition into finer women-hood.
Coming from a male, who has taken on the brave task of signing up for a course like women studies. It is essential that women see fit to learn history so that their movement is more focused. I believe that women’s issues are inevitably humankind’s concern when we even look at it from an anthropological perspective. If women issues are not important then it serves as a large biological detachment for our species. Women issues go farther in depth when you begin to unravel the undercurrent of our specie’s psyche. It is a psychological battle that predates our time; the devaluation of women. It is even seen in modern bibles how women became the blame for deceiving men in the Garden of Eden. It is even wise to say in modern time; that women shouldn’t be trusted. This serves as faulty logical when you consider that back before patriarchal societies they were matriarchal societies that worshiped the great mother. The rift of change came with violence as men sought to punish women for being the ones favored by the Gods when you read ancient mythology. It was a fact that women where the ones more verse in the sciences and astronomy because the heavens mimic their biological cycle. It was in ancient mythology that women where the ones who were sought after by the luminaries and where more susceptible to change and learning. History is written by the victor and with that said women became the target of men. Looking at women in general it is essential that women are elevated back to their natural position therefore effecting a healthy transition of our species in the future. In conclusion poverty doesn’t only mean socio-biological and economical standard but more importantly history and education.
