If any societal issue is steeped in myth and misunderstanding, it is poverty. Just walk down the street with someone who, when approached by a homeless man, shouts, “Get a job!” Or, hear someone spout rhetoric about how people who get public assistance are all moochers who “don’t want to work,” and you’ve witnessed prime examples of how misinformed many are about poverty and its causes.
It’s one thing to lose your job and suddenly face possible eviction if you don’t find a different one; it’s quite another to exist in a cycle of poverty surrounded by the factors likely to keep you there.
The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty reports that poverty will touch most Americans at some point during their lives. Its report (see jfp.ms/heartland) explains that the poor population is very diverse with a variety of triggers that can open a door to poverty. Some groups are more likely than others to encounter the triggers and go through the door. Many have a hard time leaving poverty once they enter it.
Those who are serious about ending poverty, and helping lift people out of it so that they can provide for themselves and their families, need to first study its causes and the factors that keep people mired in it. Put another way, before a homeless man can find a job that he can keep, some other things may need to change first. Same with a single mother on public assistance. What facts will help her break the cycle?
First, we must look at who lives in poverty and why. Then turn the page to figure out how to start helping them out of it.
The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.
