UCLA Statistics About Poverty Questions

1. Identify and summarize a key point about poverty in the US raised in one (or more) of the readings and/or videos in this module. This may include important facts/statistics OR common beliefs/stereotypes about poverty and people living in poverty.
2. Analyze the significance of the key point you chose. Did it challenge your thoughts about or attitudes toward poverty? How does it support or contradict the notion of the “American Dream,” which claims that anyone can become economically successful through hard work? You may also want bring in ideas you’ve learned in other classes (like sociology or anthropology) and/or personal observations.

Reading: “Working-Poor-in-America-report-Oxfam-America”by Oxfam America

Reading: “More poor kids in more poor places- children increasingly live where poverty persists” by Marybeth J. Mattingly, Kenneth M. Johnson, & Andrew Schaefer

Reading: “Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Answer to Poverty. They’re Not” by Matthew Desmond

Reading: “8 Million Americans Slipped Into Poverty Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic, New Study Says” by Stefan Sykes