I added this draft to my portfolio to demonstrate that my topic sentences in this essay offered some level of argumentation but did not add flow to my essay. It was not until the in class demonstration of effective topic sentences that I was able to model logical topic sentences. 

Zulema Cuevas

Prof. Fischer

Writing 39C

11 November 2015

Solving the Effects of Child Poverty Through the Expansion of Housing Subsidies

Marcell is a 12-year old boy living in Camden, New Jersey with his grandmother. She is

struggling to provide the basic needs for Marcell with the minimal government support she

receives. Because of this, he is placed in an environment with high levels of crime, unemployment, and school dropout rates (Coen). Marcell is one of the astounding 15.5 million children living in poverty today (Bureau 14). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this number has remained stagnant for the past four years, meaning that there has been no change in the level of child poverty. Studies such as the one conducted by Sum and Fogg (1991) demonstrate the relationship between living in poverty and low academic performance (Lacour and Tissington 522). This is because, toxic stressors that are paired with living in poverty place the child at risk for brain development issues. These brain development issues result in disadvantages in their academic performance, in comparison to their affluent peers. Advocacy groups such as, The Children’s Defense Fund, believe that approaching the overall problem by increasing the minimum wage would help a child. A similar solution that was offered by President Barack Obama also aims to take children out of poverty through expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. An alternative approach made by the The Center for the Study of Social Policy is to directly influence the child’s education by increasing funding in Head Start Programs. Although these solutions will impact the poverty rate, the Child Defense Fund argues that the expansion of housing subsidies will be the most beneficial solution to a child’s education. Child poverty is detrimental to their educational achievement and requires urgent attention. Because housing costs are the heaviest economic burden of a family living in poverty, the increase in funding for housing voucher programs is the best solution because will provide the child with a better educational environment and also ultimately reduce the poverty rate.

Child Poverty is a persistent issue that is detrimental to a child’s brain development and thus impedes a child from academically succeeding. There is no doubt that child poverty is a problem in America. In fact, America has the second highest poverty rate among industrialized nations like Europe, Japan, and Canada. According to the Child Defense Fund, “more than 1 in 5 children under age 5 [are] living in poverty during the years of rapid brain development” (“Ending Child Poverty Now”).  In comparison to other age groups, Children under the age of 18 have the highest rate of poverty.  The field study of Epigenetics provides a biological interpretation on the effects of poverty on a child’s brain development. Scientists were able to discover that certain genes can be turned on and off based on environmental factors. (Chang). Because there are several environmental stressors that a child living in poverty experiences for a prolonged period of time, there are brain development issues. According to an article from the Center on Developing Child at Harvard University, a child suffers with toxic stress when they suffer with prolonged adversity for long period of times, like “accumulated economic burdens of economic hardship”. Toxic stress is known to increase stress-related diseases because it disrupts the brain development. (add input) Additionally, according to a report from a non-profit organization that helps disadvantaged students, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, “Children who read proficiently by the end of third grade are more likely to graduate from high school and to be economically successful in adulthood” (Early Reading Proficiency 1). However, the report further explains that children living in poverty are less likely to read proficiently. In fact, 80 percent of children living in poverty are below the proficiency in reading. Over the past decade, the gap between children living in poverty and their affluent peers increased by 20 percent in nearly every state. (Early Reading Proficiency 2). Poverty is a problem America can not afford to continuously ignore, especially when the future is at stake.

Past efforts to alleviate child poverty highlight that child poverty is not an easy problem to solve. In 1964, a shocking 22% of America’s population were living in poverty. President Lyndon B. Johnson needed to find a solution to this outbreak and decided to call a “War on Poverty” (Crooks 2). Subsequently, programs that provided school meals, food stamps, head start, and special supplemental programs for women were instilled to help alleviate the future of many children that were being deprived of food. The At last, the poverty rate drastically decreased from 22.1% to 12.16% from 1960 to 1970 (Crooks 2). But these programs to solve America’s problem were only momentarily successful. The poverty rate began to rise once again in 1970.  However, this time around, poverty began to target America’s children. In 1970, the poverty rate for children was 15.1% (Crooks 2). Fast forward 40 years, today there are a whopping 21.1% of children under 18 living in poverty (Bureau 14).

In order to win the continuous war on poverty, organizations have suggested that increasing the funding for Head Start Programs would directly help a child’s education. Organization such as, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, believe that Head Start programs would be a good investment because evidence reveals that there is a positive impact on children’s literacy and language (“Reducing Child Poverty” 19). The Head Start Act’s purpose is to “promote school readiness of low income children  by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development” (Ramey and Ramey). Proponents of this solution include a Child and Family studies Professor Susan H. Mayer from Georgetown University and Director of Child and Family studies at Georgetown university, Craig Ramey. In their research on the impact of Head Start on child poverty they discuss that providing the positive learning environment are essential to school readiness (Ramey and Ramey). A study published in the Congressional Digest highlights that there is a growing amount of evidence that suggests that suggests dissipation of cognitive impacts (“Head Start Impact Study).  Although, the impact of Head Start on children’s education levels, proponents of this solution are not looking at the bigger picture. Children’s educational achievement is being jeopardized because they are living in poverty. If children are taken out of poverty, there would be no need for stressing the significance of Head Start programs. Not only is it futile to solve the educational impact of poverty but the impact of Head Start is long term.

  Unlike Head Start programs that provide long term impacts to a child’s education, the Children’s Defense Fund argues that raising the minimum wage would solve the overall problem of child poverty. The Children’s Defense fund is a non profit organization that researches for appropriate policies and programs that advocate the well-being of children. This advocacy group is proposing for the  minimum wage to increase to $10.10. The minimum wage increase would help provide enough for families to meet their basic needs. This would evidently lower the poverty rate by 4 percent which would result in about 400,000 children moved out of poverty. However, in a the same report published by the Children’s Defense Fund they offer insight to the larger scale impacts of the minimum wage increase. The minimum wage would lead to job losses and increased taxes. (“Ending Child Poverty Now”). This solution does not

Similarly, an alternative short term solution would be the Earned Income Tax Credit would proposed by President Barack Obama would

Although these solutions do positively impact the poverty rate, increasing the funding for housing subsidies is the most beneficial solution that critics have proposed because it will allow to remove the economic burden of housing for families living in poverty. According to the Child Defense Fund, the solution that decreases the poverty rate the most is the expansion of housing subsidies. The Child Defense Fund is a non-profit advocacy program that aims to lift children out of poverty. Increasing housing subsidies would reduce the poverty rate by 20.8%. (Child Defense Fund). The reason that the increase in affordable housing would contribute largely to reducing child poverty is because housing is a huge economic burden for families living in poverty. According to the Institute for Research and Poverty, “Between 1991 and 2013, the percentage of renter households in America dedicating under 30 percent of their income to housing costs fell from 54 percent to 43 percent” (Desmond). However, the percentage of people dedicating more than half of their paycheck to rent costs rose from 21% to 30%  within this time frame (Desmond).

Although housing subsidies have been proven to positively impact the poverty rate, the current status of funding has not allowed to alleviate the poverty rate to it’s fullest potential.

Increasing funding for housing subsidies will decrease the poverty rate by 20.8% (“Ending Child Poverty Now”).