When
Poverty Enters our Communities
Ms.
Carsioni
Introduction
Poverty is becoming a real issue in America. Even though we live in one of the world’s wealthiest countries there are over 50 million Americans that struggle to put food in their mouths each day. This issue is not due to the lack of food in our country but rather to the prevalence of poverty that has been hitting many homes throughout the nation. Think back to the character Georgina in How to Steal a Dog and how poverty affected her and her family throughout the story. This story was a perfect depiction of poverty in America and the affects it has on the lives of the people around those in poverty. Make sure to think about this story and how you felt while you read it while doing your research and writing your article.
Task
As American citizens your group task is to help stop the problem of poverty in The United States, specifically in New York City. Your group will be researching poverty in a neighborhood of your choice and find out what has been done throughout the city to deal with this issue. Your job will be to identify the cause of why so many American’s are falling into the poverty category and the effects it has on the families of those people. Your group will also investigate the current policies and proposed policies, utilizing the Public Policy Analyst to create a new policy to implement in your community to prevent poverty. You will present your findings to the class along with writing a newspaper article address the above directions.
Your Group Will:
• Complete the Public Analyst Worksheet (explained in the process)
• Create a campaign to prevent poverty in New York City. You can do this by creating a poster or designing a pamphlet. Your campaign must include.
1. A title
2. Your findings on poverty in New York City
3. A new policy that your group has developed to prevent the spread of poverty and how to help individuals that are currently living in poverty
4. A 5-minute presentation of your findings and the poster or pamphlet.
· Create a newspaper article that will raise awareness of poverty in New York. Use statistics and facts to support your case and make possible recommendations to help fix this issue.
Process
You will be working in groups of four as reporters for the New York Times covering a “Real life: I’m an American and I’m poor” topic. You will be investigating the reasons and conditions of poverty in the city of your choice within New York State. It is your group’s job to create a policy that will correct this social problem. You will present your findings to the class. Your job is going to be hard and you may come across some findings that might be upsetting, but remember that your investigation and recommendations to this matter might just save the lives of someone in your community. Good Luck with this project!
Included in this investigation each group will be required to complete the following Public Policy Analyst worksheets in order to help you with your project.
1. Defining the social problem
What is the problem that you plan on addressing?
2. Gather evidence of the problem
How do we know that this is a problem?
3. Identify that causes of the problem
What are the causes of this problem that you plan on addressing?
4. Identify and evaluate the existing public policy
What policies already exist on your problem?
5. Developing public policy solutions
What new public policy do you want to create?
6. Selecting the best policy solution
Decide with your group the best policy to use for the problem
• Your group will use these worksheets as a resource for completing the task assignment.
• You will use your research to create a poster or pamphlet to address the problems of poverty in New York.
• Prepare a five-minute oral presentation describing the new public policies accompanied by a poster or pamphlet. In your presentation you should also outline the problem, present data to support the evidence of your problem, and the details of your recommendation to help solve the problem.
Resources for poverty in New York
· http://www.nyscommunityaction.org/poverty_reports.cfm?location=nystate§ion=2011
· http://www.nyscaaonline.org/
· http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/publications/docs/gis/12ma009att.pdf
· http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36000.html
· http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/map-detail.aspx?state=New-York
· http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/08/opinion/l-poverty-prevention-265788.html
· http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/ending-child-poverty/
· http://guidesliness.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-york-poverty-statistics-in-young.html
· http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/07_02_04.pdf
· http://www.robinhood.org/programs
· http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html
· http://www.bread.org/institute/papers/briefing-paper-6.pdf
Rubric
|
CATEGORY |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Identifies facts |
Student accurately presents at least 5 facts in the
article. |
Student accurately presents 4 facts in the article. |
Student accurately presents 3 facts in the article. |
Student has difficulty presenting facts in an
article. |
|
follows PPA |
Follows the PPA precisely as directed |
Follows the PPA but has a hard time following one or
two of the steps. |
Follows the PPA but has a hard time with three or
four of the steps. |
Follows the PPA but has a hard time with more then four of the steps. Or does not follow the steps of
the PPA. |
|
Relates Graphics
to Text |
Student accurately explains how their poster/
pamphlet is related to the social issue, and comes
up with a reasonable solution to solve the issue. |
Student accurately explains how their poster/pamphlet
is related to the social issue and attempts to come up with a reasonable
solution. |
Student accurately explains how some their poster/
pamphlets are related to the text. No or weak solution. |
Student has difficulty relating poster/pamphlet to
their topic and staying on task. |
|
oral presentation |
Students are clear, knowledgeable, and confident in
their presentation. |
Students are clear and knowledgeable in their
presentation. |
Students are knowledgeable in their topic but do not
have a strong presentation |
Students have a difficult time portraying their
topics and do not have a strong hold of the information. |
Conclusion
Thank you for completing this project and brainstorming such great ideas for the prevention of poverty in New York. I hope that you enjoyed working with the PPA and that you use this model on future projects.
Standards
Text Types and Purposes
1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
c. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).
d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
Production and Distribution of Writing
7. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
Comprehension and Collaboration
1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
b. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
c. Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others.
d. Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of info.