Project Space

Brenda Mendez

PAS 114B

Professor Broadous

22 March 2012

Welfare

            As we go on with our lives there seems to be a global social issue that never seems to storm down; poverty. According to A Global Issue, “Almost half the world , over 3 billion people, live on less than $2.50 a day.” As we embarked in a class project to go volunteer at a facility in which we  researched “space” I noticed how welfare plays a huge part in why poverty in the U.S isn’t coming down.  In most developed countries, welfare is largely provided by the government, in the U.S. Welfare can take a variety of forms, such as monetarypayments, subsidies and vouchers, health services, or housing for example, TANF, Food stamps, medical insurance, child care assistant and more. At the same time it can encourage people to simply reply on welfare and boost up U.S poverty. What I want to do is go beyond “space,” defining space as poverty is such a vague issue, but going further into as to a reason why it is occurring, for example welfare, I think is taking it a step further.

            To put ourselves and observe space more in person, we had to volunteer at a facility whether it was at a homeless shelter, senior center, or anything else like that. I unfortunately couldn’t volunteer, but I didn’t do some volunteering in High School at a homeless shelter. I just had to go back to my experience and analyze how it went. At first I helped out with serving food to the people. That day they were serving mashed potatoes with peas and chicken, such an ordinary meal to me, but to the homeless a lot more than I could ever see. I met this women named veronica who lived in Los Angeles since she was 18, now looking as if she was in her 40s. I asked her what happened to her so that she can end up homeless, but she wouldn’t explain. I met other kind people at the homeless shelter as well and every time I spoke to someone new I felt their pain and all the struggles they were going through. I noticed how much people like them appreciated everything that was being handed to them. Some were living off welfare and were trying to get back up on their feet, and others were also living off welfare was just taking advantage of the help. The people at the homeless shelter valued every inch of space they had under a roof. I took everything into consideration and like in every situation there is always a good and bad side to it, in this issue it was welfare.

             Welfare was established to help people in need.  This includes helping people who are unemployed, have a low income that qualifies, or other people who require assistance; most of these money resources come from the government agency or other program. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, “The need for welfare was great in the 1930's during the Great Depression. Millions of people were thrown out of their jobs, left with no other options.   Before the Great Depression, community charities helped the poor and needy.” Since then people that have lost jobs or have started to become homeless started depending in welfare. It’s a way to keep people on their feet and keep them hopeful that they soon will be able to find another job and get back on their feet. According to Constitutional Rights Foundation, “In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union address, he included that he planned on creating old-age insurance program, federal unemployment and benefits for dependent people and poor single mothers with children. Welfare finally became a federal responsibility under the Social Security Act on August 18, 1935.” There is even specific help for single women. All of it benefiting everyone that needs aid.

            On the other case according to Welfare Reforms, “The current system has not been good for children. In 1965 there were 3.3 million children on AFDC; by 1992, that had risen to over 9 million children despite the fact that the total number of children in this country has declined. Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services estimated if we do nothing, 12 million will be on AFDC in 10 years. Instead of working up, we find more and more children being trapped in a system and into dependency on welfare.  90 percent of the children on AFDC live without one of their parents. Only a fraction of welfare families are engaged in work.” Since welfare started providing for people, some decided to take advantage of that aid and live off it, and possibly taking the aid of those who truly need it. According to Crime, Policies, and Roots Causes, “Welfare is both a consequence and a cause of several conditions best described as social pathologies. These conditions include dependency, poverty, out-of-wedlock births, nonemployment, abortion, and violent crime.” It was created a people to depend on government and not work for themselves. The level of AFDC benefits relative to the average personal income in each state is the one condition that increases each of the six focus pathologies, with effects ranging from a weak effect on nonemployment to disturbingly strong effects on welfare dependency and illegitimacy.

            When I look back on the days I volunteered in High School, makes me understand space now in the sense that everyone takes their space and they can either appreciate well, or not. The homeless people value every inch that they get, and that is how everyone should be thinking.  I also happened to met a teenager that was my age and told me about his life story. Apparently he only lived with his mother who depended on welfare. He told me how he has been struggling his whole life and all that he wants to be is a normal teenager. I felt very bad for him.  

            Whether or not welfare plays a good role in our country is for you to decided. Although it does aid those in need of help, it has also made some take advantage of it and live off the government help.