Poverty in the United States

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Mr. Sherry

English 11RH

Cicero-North Syracuse High School

ksherry@nscsd.org

INTRODUCTION:

In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family searches for the “American dream” in 1950s Chicago. As an African-American family, the Youngers find their escape from poverty to be difficult to say the least. Factors like race, lack of education, and limited job opportunities restrict them from realizing their full potential.

Today, poverty is no less an issue than it was 60 years ago. Not surprisingly, minorities in the United States are much more likely to live in poverty and the number continues to rise. Why does poverty continue to rise and what can be done to help eradicate this problem? What factors continue to make it more likely that minorities in the United States are more likely to live in poverty?

TASK:

In this webquest, you will study the causes and effects of poverty. Using the PPA process (found below), you will do the following:

(1) write a letter to your Congressman expressing your concern about this problem;

(2) create a public service poster enlightening people about the problem and encouraging them to get involved in solving this problem; and

(3) write a newspaper article exposing this problem to your readers.

PROCESS:

Use these steps to help understand your problem and to aid you in research for your letter to your Congressmen, the political advertisement, and the newspaper article.

1. Defining the Social Problem

2. Gathering Evidence of the Problem

3. Identifying the Causes of the Problem

4. Evaluating Existing Public Policies

5. Developing Public Policy Solutions

6. Selecting the Best Public Policy Solution

RESOURCES:

General Resources:

· Google

· Yahoo

· Ask

(Please limit your search to .edu or gov.)

Specific Resources:

· Poverty in America 2012 (The Nation)

· Defining the New Poor (NPR)

· Poverty in America Likely to Get Worse

· Portraits of Hunger Stories-Americans on Food Stamps (PBS video)

· Jeff Greenfield on Food Stamps and the American Safety Net (PBS article and video)

· The Grip of Poverty Spans Generations

· The State of Poverty in America

· Mismeasuring Poverty

· Nearly Half of Americans are Poor or Low-Income

· National Center for Children in Poverty

· Hunger and Poverty 2012 (World Hunger)

· US Poverty Rates (Washington Post)

· Poverty Guidelines 2012 (HHS)

· Census Statistics 2012 (.pdf)

· Census Statistics 2012-2 (.pdf)

· Census Statistics 2012-3 (.pdf)

· Census Statistics 2012-4 (.pdf)

· Syracuse Poverty Rates

· Poverty Rates in CNY

· Census Quick Facts-NY

EVALUATION:

There are links to the rubrics in each task. However, each rubric link is listed below as well.

· Letter to Congress Rubric

· Newspaper Article Rubric

· Public Service Poster Rubric

CONCLUSION:

The successful completion of this webquest should enlighten you to the growing and continued problem of poverty in the United States, and Syracuse specifically.