1 Hill

McGuire Hill

Mr.King

English 1

18 October, 2018

ZERO POVERTY

“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man made and can be

removed by the actions of human beings.” -Nelson Mandela. Poverty is more than the lack of

income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and

malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and

exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making.(UN poverty definition)

The UN’s goals for poverty are as follows. By 2030 reduce the amount of people living

in poverty but at least half By 2030 ensure all men and women have equal rights to economic

resources as well as basic services, ownership and land control. By 2030 build the resilience of

the poor in vulnerable situations. Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of

sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and

predictable means for developing countries. Create sound policy frameworks at the national,

regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies,

to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication action protection due to conflict.

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The United Nations sustainable development goals choose zero poverty because so many

people all across the world live in extreme poverty and are struggling to find the most basic of

needs. Sometimes we as people who live in first world countries tend to think that poverty is

obsolete just because them and the majority of people around them are not in dire need of basic

resources. Poverty is still very much an issue in the US, In fact according to supplemental

poverty measure, the poverty rate was 13.9 percent in the united states of america (​Semega)​. It

gets even worse as you “zoom out” and look at the global perspective. Poverty is one of if not the

biggest issue in the world, Approximately 736 million people are living in poverty(Howton).

This may seem like a unbelievably high number but it may surprise you to know that just 25

years ago there were 1.85 billion people living in extreme poverty (Moore). Extreme poverty is

classified as living off of $1.90 USD. The decline in poverty can be attributed to the fact that

many people and organizations are doing something about poverty.

Organizations such as Soles4Souls help to get people out of poverty. Soles4Souls is a

non-profit whose main goal is to “wear out poverty” by creating sustainable jobs in 3rd world

countries by providing used shoes and clothes for the locals to sell. It is so important to create

jobs is because yes i can just throw a pair of shoes or a couple of bucks at someone who needs it

but what's gonna happen when that money is gone.Well they are back in the same predicament as

before. By creating jobs it gives them an outlet to make consistently make money for themselves.

It's also key that they make money themselves because they will cherish it more since its all

there’s. While organizations like Soles4Souls is wonderful it's not enough to get the hundreds of

millions of people out of poverty. There is still so much that can be done. If you are in the
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position to give just do it you will feel good about yourself while help more people than you can

count. Just remember that the more people who help the more powerful it is. If it's more

powerful the more likely the government is gonna do something about it, with government

assistance there are no limits on how many people can be help.

You may be saying well poverty isn't the most important issue in the world. You could

argue education is more important because you could teach them how to get themselves out of

their situation. But if they are sending their kids to school instead of work they lose even more

money (Luther). By solving poverty there isn’t gonna be as much financial discrimination thus

creating more opportunity they otherwise wouldn’t have if they didn’t have the financial means

to do so.

Im simply giving you facts, I can’t tell you how to think but I will leave you with this.

How do you like the world. Do you like being comfortable while others struggle or do you want

to see everyone living comfortably. The world would be a much better place if we could all just

stop being selfish and give a little to make the world just a little sunnier.
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Carolyn, Shaw. “What is poverty? p. 36 of the Boston Globe, 12 Jul. 1994,

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=13&sid=180f6b39-9c26-4aa2-a120-5eafc4d4c229%40

sessionmgr103&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGN1c3R1aWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4NDU1ODYxJnNpdGU

9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=9505021087&db=bth

Semega, Fontenot. “What Is the Current Poverty Rate in the United States?” UC Davis Center for Poverty

Research, Sept. 2017, poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states.

Howton, Elizabeth. “Overview.” World Bank, 24 Sept. 2018,

www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview.

“Goal 1: End Poverty in All Its Forms Everywhere - United Nations Sustainable Development.” United

Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/.

David, Luther. “New FBI Data Correlates City Crime to Income Inequality.” Zippia, 9 Jan. 2018,

www.zippia.com/advice/crime-income-inequality/.

Sullivan, Maureen. “Why Does It Seem That Everyone Gets A Free Lunch In School Except Your Kid?”

Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 31 Aug. 2015,

www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/08/31/why-does-it-seem-that-everyone-gets-a-free-lunch-in-

school-except-your-kid/#5244bc21102e.

Wes, Moore. “States of Vulnerability.” Vol. 191 Issue 4, p32-40. 9p. 14 Color Photographs, 5 Feb. 2018,

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=a5bbba1b-ae37-4d94-b477-8e54551f2e4a%40

sessionmgr4009&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGN1c3R1aWQmY3VzdGlkPXM4NDU1ODYxJnNpdG

U9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=127570169&db=bth