[SOLVED] Learning About Poverty
Learning About Povertyhttps://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelinesWhat does poverty look like, based on policy?1. Read the ASPE 2021 Poverty Guidelines2. Read the case two case studies at the end of this worksheet.a. Case 1: Sophie is a single woman. She is 35 years old, and although, previously married,she has no children, and limited education. She dropped out of community college withonly about a semester of credits. She didnt work while married, and has only been inthe labor force for the past three years. She has no savings, no significant supportsystem, and is trying to get out of shelter accommodations from a homeless shelter.Sophie has recently (last month) started a steady job at a fast food restaurant. She isworking the day shift, and making minimum wage. She gets scheduled for 30 hours eachweek. Sophie wants to get an apartment and support herself, but isnt sure that she canafford to do so. Currently she lives near the restaurant and walks to work, but if she getsan apartment she would have to find transportation. Sophie hasnt gone to a Dr in years,and has health issues that need to be addressed.b. Case 2: Jack and John have threechildren ages 1-5 years old. Jack works as an accountmanager for a local business, and has a salary of $45,000/year. They rent a house in asuburban area for $2200/month plus utilities, butnever seem to be able to make endsmeet. Jack has a bachelors degree and pays $500/month in student loan repayments.Jack is at the top of his pay scale in his company. John is a stay at home parent, and oneof the children has special needs. They have one car that Jack takes to work every dayand have a car payment of $400/month.3. Pick a case and develop a required spendinglist. Identify what the individual/family needs tospend money on, on a monthly basis.4. Search the internet to find out how much each of the required things that you indicated thefamily/individual needs cost each month in Buffalo, NY. (You can estimate groceries based onyour own grocery spending).5. Identify what the poverty guideline is for each individual/family.Determine what the differenceis between poverty and the income of the individual/family.6. How are each doing? What does life look like for them? Are they living in poverty?7. Read part 2 of each case.a. Sophie finds an apartment in Amherst. The shelter recommends that she not take itbecause it requires more than 50% of her income. She ignores this and moves to the apartment. It takes 90 minutes to get to work using the bus now, and Sophie becamefrequently late to work and her hours have been reduced to 20/week.b. Jack came down with what they thought was a cold, but ended up hospitalized withpneumonia. He didnt have enough sick leave and his company doesnt fall under theguidelines to require paid family leave. Jack took leave without pay for a month, but wasthen let go from his position when he could not return to work.8. What happens now?9. Search for support services in Buffalo, NY that might be able to help in this situation. Identifyone that you would want them to connect with, and explain how they may be able to help.Poverty and Public Policy SWK 301 Spring 202110. Summarize what you think the individual/family should do?a. Do you think it is possible for your idea to work/fix things?b. What do you think would have to change in order for your idea to work?11. Go to playspent.org and walk through a poverty simulation.a. What choices did you make?b. What did you start out with at the beginning of the month?c. What did you end up with at the end of the month?d. Did you do enough?e. What did you miss out on?f. What wasnt included that you would likely have paid for or wanted?12. Based on the case study and your experience with the poverty simulation, what is therelationship between minimum wage and poverty?You will submit a 2-3 page paper responding to the questions from this worksheet. Please organize yourpaper in a bulleted format, much like the list of requirements above.We are using the APA 7th edition for formatting. Include a cover page with your name on it.This is worth 10 points.General grading guidelines:To receive 10 points: Thoughtfully reflect on each of the requirements. Use complete sentences whenexplaining your thoughts/positions. Give details that show that you are critically thinking about theprocess of poverty in Buffalo, NY.To receive 5 points: Use short answers and incomplete sentences. Be vague in your responses. Skipsegments. Poor grammar and spelling.To receive 0 points: Miss turning in a completed assignment by the due date.*Please note, that grades will be awarded from 0-10 points, and can be any point value in between. Themore effort you put in, the higher your grade will likely be.
