Childhood Poverty

After reading The Crisis of Childhood Poverty it lead to think about how poverty can lead to lifelong learning disabilities, can be passed on from generation to generation, and can lead to lifelong emotional and physical health issues, http://www.childhoodpoverty.org. I wanted to learn more about how poverty can lead to these issues and one resource I came across was Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development http://www.rupri.org/Forms/WP06-05.pdf. This article has some very interesting theories about all of the above consequences of poverty. This paper states that most rural community development efforts is to relieve causes or symptoms of poverty, it makes a difference to which theory of poverty is believed to be responsible for the problem being addressed. This paper explore five competing theories,

1. Individual deficiencies-
2. Cultural belief systems that support subcultures in poverty
3. Political-economical distortions
4. Geographical disparities
5. Cumulative and circumstantial origins

This paper helps to understand the theories and shows how they shape different community development practices that address sources of poverty more effectively than comparing to one single theory. This resource also explores the relationship between individuals and their community in placing people in poverty, keeping them there, and potentially getting them out. This resource seems to support that idea that individuals are shaped by their community, and communities are a consequence shaped by their individual members.

Resources

Bradshaw, T. Rural Poverty Research Center. Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development, retrieved from, http://www.rupri.org/Forms/WP06-05.pdf, September 18, 2012.

CHIP-Knowledge of Tackeling Childhood Poverty. The Crisis of Childhood Poverty, Retrived from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/, on September 18, 2012.