`Head Start` (Poverty/Education Govt. Program) - Research

Running head : FIGTHING POVERTY IN AMERICA

Fighting Poverty in America

Student 's Name

Name of School

Name of Instructor

University Writing : Perceptions and Policy of Poverty in the US

Abstract

This research seeks to explore how the United States is addressing this societal issue through the government 's welfare reform program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF , and what are the factors that shape its policy and framework

This will also examine how the government 's program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF ) approaches to alleviation and /or

br resolution to poverty has any implication on Head Start and the role of government in encouraging income distribution and social change . This also seeks to explore the validity in the government 's policy that the only way out of poverty is by work

Introduction

The United States has always been looked up to , as one of the richest and powerful nations on earth , which is the reason that have attracted people from other countries , coming from various walks of life and races to come and work as immigrants in a land they considered as a land overflowing with milk and honey a land of opportunity to pursue the American dream

It was therefore really shocking to find that there are 37 million Americans in 2005 (NASW Communications , 2006 ) who are poor by official government standards , and that the poverty rates did not decline even when the economy as a whole was in a long recovery . What is more disturbing is that in the midst of the United States giving aid to other developing countries , and the billions of dollars it spent in the war in Iraq , it seems to fail to address the problems of poverty among its citizens

Although the United States government has not really overlook this issue but has set up various programs designed to fight poverty . Some of these programs are 1 ) social security , 2 ) temporary assistance for needy families (TANF , 3 ) the earned income tax credit (EITC , 4 ) medicaid , 5 medicare , 6 ) housing assistance , 7 ) minimum wage , 8 ) civil rights laws and 9 ) labor laws

However the successes of these programs could not be felt because of the weakness that lies in our current economic and social policies with regards to this societal issue . And as Krietemeyer (2006 ) rightly pointed out , we have the highest poverty rates compared to other Western industrialized nations , and one of the lowest spending rates in terms of programs aimed at reducing poverty (p . vi

Krietemeyer (2006 ) further reiterated that these weaknesses in our current economic and social policies falls into two broad categories 1 lack of livable wage jobs and 2 ) lack of adequate social welfare

It is therefore evident that if the United States face war against any nation , all its resources shall be used to fight and win the war . If this has been the political will of the government on poverty , we should have eradicated it from our midst , four decades ago (Armey , 2004 , when...