Running head: GLOBAL ISSUE REPORT 1

Global Issues Report:

Colonias Poverty

Lianna Onate

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

November. 18, 2018

GLOBAL ISSUES REPORT 2

Abstract

This paper explains all the causes of poverty along with sources and data to prove it. The

causes of poverty and also the affects it has on people living in the colonias or anywhere else

involving poverty. How poverty rates in the United States and around the world have only

increased. There are many causes to why poverty has only increased throughout the world. One

being is, people tend to only talk or do something when something major happens, but later

ignore it. The second reason is because of families who do not have a father figure. Another

issue is that those living in poverty are not receiving help or services they need in order to get out

of poverty.
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Introduction

Poverty rates not only in the United States but also around the world have only increased

throughout the years. Although the question is “What has caused the increase in poverty?’, the

answer to this is many issues and societies behavior have caused poverty to grow within the

colonias. One of the reasons for the increase in poverty according to Young (2005), is that people

tend to only focus on the issue when something major happens, but once its “passed” they do not

do anything about it anymore, but poverty and the poor is something that has always been an

issue. According to Raspberry (2005), the reason behind the increase in poverty rates is because

of families who don’t have a father figure, he states that the absence of fathers in a family is a

major part of it. Another issue that is increasing poverty rates according to Pugh (2007), is that

those living in poverty are not receiving help or services. Poverty has increased due to many

different reasons, from the way societies behave and act upon it to the things people do and do

not do.

Discussion

According to Lesman and Slot (2014), many children in Europe have grown in poverty.

The places with the highest poverty rates in Europe are Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and

Bulgaria, it ranges from 30 to 42% (Lesman, Slot, 2014, pp.314-326.) Numbers show that young

children who grow up with many siblings in low income single parent families and also families

with an immigrant background are very high. Poverty has increased during recent decades and

economic crisis has had a great effect. This issue has affected many people due to multiple

reasons. Being there is not enough income to satisfy peoples basic need such as low-quality

housing, unsafe and polluted neighborhoods, reduced access to public health care and good

education. Poverty has an effect on preschool children because poverty in early childhood results
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in low academic achievement and poor mental health. In figure 2, it shows the amount of poverty

in each age group from young children to teenagers and adults. This issue in Europe connects to

UTEP, because there are also some students that live in an environment with poverty and

struggle on a day to day basis. UTEP also connects to this issue, because students who attend

UTEP from other states or countries that go through this global issue are offered counseling and

psychological services.

Poverty has increased due to how people have dealt and came about with the issue. Most

people seem to only care or only want to fix the issues regarding poverty only when something

major happens to society. According to Young (2005), poverty is preserved by many behaviors

and cannot be reduced with money, except in Shane Walker (2013), where Walker talks about

the POU water treatment provided by UTEP and NMSU. UTEP and NMSU have been on a

research project that is to help improve sustainability and environmental justice in colonias of the

Paso del Norte Region. This also helps identify environmental and technical water treatments to

better these communities. This project involves two main goals, one to study outcomes that can

sustain the point of use water treatment that fall into the U.S safe drinking water act rules, and

also show the implement of the POU water treatment systems. This is important, because it

proves that some people are doing things in order to help those in need.

The U.S anti-immigrant policy is one of the factors in the increase in poverty. According

to Oppenheimer (2007), poverty in America will continue to get worse without immigration

reform, although Raspberry (2005) thinks and states otherwise. The issues causing poverty are,

one being the economy is slowing down, second, the reform bill that would offer illegal

immigrants’ citizenship has broken down and will cause an increase in poorer Hispanic

immigrant, and third Bush administration will cause jobs to have to let go of undocumented
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workers (Oppenheimer, 2007, pp.85-87.) However according to Raspberry the increase of

poverty is due to the absence of fathers in a family because children don’t grow up with that

“father figure” (Raspberry, 2005, pp.82-84). This shows that even though an immigration reform

could help improve poverty a little bit, the absence of fathers in families is also what makes

poverty worse. Some may see that children with a single parent also grow up fine, but not having

a father figure has an impact on the children. Proof of this is shown in figure 1, where it shows

the difference in poverty rates between families with a father and families without one.

Nothing is being done to help decrease poverty rates or better the economy in the

colonias. According to Young (2005), people only focus on poverty issues when something

major happens and then later forget about it once another issue or major thing occur (Young,

2005, pp.88-90), however the Prospector (2002) shows differently. According to the Prospector

and Ortiz (2002), the Kellogg Health Clinics help those in need of medical assistance due to

poverty. This organization involves students from not only UTEP, but also Texas Tech health

science students. These students help provide those in need of medical assistance in the colonias

who cannot afford to pay for their physical health (Prospector, 2002, p.12.) This expresses the

idea that even though our society believes that nothing is being done in order to help people

living in poverty this shows that there is proof that there are people out there trying to make a

change even if it is something small or something big, something is being done.

Poverty rates are increasing and those who are severely poor or suffering from poverty

are not receiving the help that they need, but the Prospector (2003) shows people are being

helped and that something is being done in order to decrease the amount of people in poverty

(Prospector, 2003, p.8.). According to Pugh (2007), the number of poor in America is increasing

and the poor do not get the services they need to escape poverty. On the other hand, according to
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the Prospector (2003) an organization made by the University of Texas at El Paso, The Christian

Fellowship, provides services to the El Paso community (Prospector, 2003, p.8.) This

organization helps people in poverty by providing them with clothing, food, toys and other things

for families that live in the colonias in Juarez. Although, many like to say that people ignore the

fact that there are people who are poor or suffering from poverty, this shows there are others out

there making organizations and providing families in poverty by giving out toys, clothing and

food.

Some causes of poverty depend on race, age, where a person lives and whether or not a

family has both parents or have a single parenting. According to Proctor (2007), poverty rates

vary by age, national origin, geographical location, marital status, and race (Proctor, 2007, pp.18-

24.). On the other hand, Young (2005) states that poverty rates increase due to cultural

behaviors. Young says that poverty is due to the way people and society react to it and what they

do in order to better the society or decrease the amount of poverty (Young, 2005, pp.88-90.)

Based on this it shows that in today’s society and those before, many didn’t think that separating

people by race made a difference, but it does, even a person’s values and beliefs can cause them

to live in poverty, it’s the way people react or act upon certain situations or life obstacles that can

keep them from falling into poverty.

People living in poverty in America are having to look for charities for help, because the

government is not addressing the problem. According to the Prospector (2003), the University of

Texas at El Paso provides an organization called The Christian Fellowship, which provides

services for those living in colonias in Juarez (Prospector, 2003, p.8). Another organization

according to the Prospector (2002) and Ortiz (2002), is the Kellogg Health Clinics where college

students from Texas Tech and the University of Texas at El Paso help out at the clinics, in order
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to help those living in poverty and needing medical and physical health assistance (Prospector,

Ortiz, 2002, p.12). However, according to Pugh (2007), the poor are not receiving services they

need in order to escape poverty, he says that those in poverty get ignored by the government and

society up until something major happens in the world (Pugh, 2007, pp.33-40). This expresses

the idea that everyone likes to give all the credit to the government, but it is not only the

government that helps with issues going around in the world but the people living in this world

that make a difference. There are organizations and services that are made by one or multiple

people that are trying to make a difference and a change to decrease these types of issues.

Race is a factor of poverty rates and racial discrimination is something that needs to be

addresses in order to find policies that will help end poverty. According to Jenkins (2007),

poverty rates for most communities of color increased. Poor people of color seem to have

increasingly more likely than whites to be living in high poverty neighborhoods with limited

resources and options. In a research it showed that Latino families were three times as likely as

low income white families to live in areas with high poverty (Jenkins, 2007, pp.73-81). On the

other hand, according to National Coalition for the Homeless (2008), increased poverty is caused

by declining job opportunities and disappearance of welfare (National Coalition for the

Homeless, 2008, pp.96-106.) This proves that racial discrimination is something that needs to be

talked about or addressed but it is something that has actually impacted many people and caused

consequences as well, not only poverty.

Education is important in trying to fight against poverty. According to Bernstein (2007),

education is only a partial cure for poverty. Improved education lowered family poverty by four

percentage points (Bernstein, 2007, pp.169-174). On the other hand, according to Jenkins (2007),

the cause of poverty is race. Colored people usually end up living in poverty than white people
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do due to the different cultural behaviors and different types of cultures (Jenkins, 2007, pp.73-

81). This shows and provides evidence that having an education does make a difference in how a

person ends up living, there is a better chance at a better life if someone receives the education

needed and knows how to go on from there.

Veterans returning from war that don’t receive the proper help or counseling can end up

living in poverty. According to Landau (2006), veterans that come back from war do not get the

support they need to transition back into the civilian life, resulting in poverty and homelessness.

Veterans are considered at risk because of poverty, lack of support from family and friends and

precarious living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing (Landau, 2006, pp.91-96).

This is one of the most important causes, because it shows that even veterans aren’t being

offered with any of these services they need. These are people who have served to fight for our

freedom and have seen and gone through more than what any of us have. By not getting the

proper help or resources needed to start a life after they come back causes them to end up in

poverty. An example is those who are homeless and are at every corner asking for any change

they can get most are veterans that have served.

A variety of things are needed in order to cut poverty. According to the Center for

American Progress (2007), the rise in poverty needs balanced approaches to bring the number of

poor Americans down again. There are 37 million Americans living below the poverty line and

millions more struggle daily to pay for basic needs or run out of savings when they lose their

jobs or face health problems (Center for American Progress, 2007, pp.141-149). Poverty makes

big costs on society. Although according to the Prospector (2003), there are organizations to help

better and decrease poverty (Prospector, 2003, p.8). This helps prove that those who think that
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poverty is caused by a specific thing that it isn’t caused by one thing but multiple bad habits that

us as a society have.

According to Raspberry (2005), families who do not have their fathers in their lives when

growing up are more likely to live in poverty (Raspberry, 2005, pp.82-84). As mentioned earlier

in this discussion, when Raspberry stated that poverty was caused due to the absence in fathers,

figure one proves this. In figure one, it shows data between married couple families and female

headed households that end up living in poverty from 2001-2011. According to Lesman and Slot

(2014), they state that this issue has affected many people from different ages, especially in

younger children usually in preschool, because of low education achievement and poor mental

health. This is proved in figure two (pp.314-326.) In this figure, it shows different age groups in

poverty and proves that young children from age six and below are the ones who suffer most

from poverty than any other age group.

Conclusion

The increase of poverty rates in the colonias have been caused by many environmental

issues and society behaviors. This issue hasn’t only affected those in the United States but

around the world as well. Poverty is an issue that has only seems to get worse throughout the

years, it is being caused by multiple things, and it is not something that can be fixed with money

or a specific solution. The increase in poverty rates, according to Young (2005), Pugh (2007),

and Raspberry (2005), is caused by the absence in fathers in a family, along with few services

being, and due to the way people react and act upon the issue on poverty in colonias. Young

(2005) mentions that the reasons behind poverty is preserved by societies behaviors and cannot

be reduced or fixed with just money (Young, 2005, pp.88-90). Pugh (2007) says that poverty

rates are not decreasing due to the fact that there isn’t any organizations or services being
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provided for those living in poverty (Pugh, 2007, pp.33-40). Raspberry (2005) states that the

cause behind poverty is due to the absence of fathers in a family, children that grow with only

one parent are those that most likely end up living in poverty because they don’t grow up with a

father figure (Raspberry, 2005, pp.82-84).

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References

ASPE Human Services Policy Staff. (2012).Information on Poverty and Income Statistics: A

Summary of 2012 Current Population Survey Data. (2017, February 21). Retrieved from

http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/12/PovertyAndIncomeEst/ib.shtml

Bernstein, J. (2007). Education Is an Important Part of a Strategy to Combat Poverty. In Poverty

and Homelessness(pp. 169-174). Christine Nasso

Cuddy, E., Venator, J., & Reeves, R. V. (2016, October 26). In a land of dollars: Deep poverty

and its consequences. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/in-a-land-of-

dollars-deep-poverty-and-its-consequences/

Dr. W. Shane. (2013). POU water treatment services for improving sustainability and

environmental justice in colonias of the Paso del Norte region. Retrieved from

cids.utep.edu/wtfc.htm

El Paso Prospector. (2003). UTEP students make time to help the needy. (p. 8). Retrieved

from https://theprospector.newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-prospector/2003-11-26/page-8/

Jenkins, A. (2007). Racial Discrimination Contributes to the Problem of Poverty. In Poverty and

Homelessness(pp. 73-81). Christine Nasso.

Landau, S. (2006). Lack of Support Leads War Veterans into Poverty and Homelessness.

In Poverty and Homelessness(pp. 91-96). Christine Nasso.

National Coalation for the Homeless. (2008). Homelessness Is Caused by Poverty and a Lack of

Affordable Housing. In Poverty and Homelessness(pp. 96-106). Christine Nasso.

Oppenheimer, A. (n.d). U.S Anti-immigrant Policy Increases Poverty. In Poverty and

Homelessness (pp.85-87). Christine Nasso.

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Ortiz, M. (2002). Kellogg health clinics celebrate 10th anniversary. El Paso Prospector, pp. 12.

Retrieved from http://theprospector.newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-prospector/2002-08-

28/page-12/

Proctor, Bernadette D. “Poverty: An Overview.” Poverty and Homelessness, pp. 18–24.

Christine Nasso.

Pugh, T. (2007). Severe Poverty Is on the Rise in America. In Poverty and Homelessness(pp. 33-

40). Christine Nasso.

Raspberry, W. The Absence of Fathers Causes Poverty. In Poverty and Homelessness(pp. 82-

84). Christine Nasso.

The Center for American Progress. (2007). A Variety of Approaches Are Needed to Cut Poverty.

In Poverty and Homelessness(pp. 141-149). Christine Nasso.

Young, Cathy. “Culture Contributes to the Cycle of Poverty.” Poverty and Homelessness,

Christine Nasso, 2009, pp.88-90

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Figures

Figure 1. This data table shows the difference in children that grow up with both parents

and children that grow up with only one parent. In this graph it is showing how children with

both parents have a lower chance of living in poverty than children that grow up with only one

parent, and how much it affects those with only one parent. This helps prove what is mentioned

earlier in the discussion, there is a huge difference between children who grow up with both

parents then those who only grow up with one parent.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; ASEP Issue Brief: Information on

Poverty and Income Statistics. September 12,

2012 http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/12/PovertyAndIncomeEst/ib.shtml
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Figure 2. This graph shows how children younger than six years old suffer more from

poverty than any other age group. It also shows the rate of poverty by each age group and how

deep they are affected by poverty. This helps prove what is mentioned in the discussion.

Younger children are the ones who are mainly affected and grow to live in poverty.

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