Monday, March 7, 2011

The "Hard Times Generation," a Personal Reflection

Last night’s 60 Minutes story on homeless children entitled “the hard times generation” seen here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/06/60minutes/main20038927.shtml struck a cord for our staff at United Way.

What these children are dealing with, hunger, poverty, lack of housing are issues that United Way is working hard to address in our local community through the Community Relief Fund. The fund provides emergency food, rent and utilities assistance to help children like those profiled in this story stay in safe homes, with the lights and heat on and food on the table.

Maria Rubio, United Way’s Diversity and Inclusion Director had the following personal emotions when she saw the story:

What makes this interesting for me is that the middle class is slowly disappearing. Unfortunately, millions of people grew up and/or have been living like this for generations because of similar circumstances (this idea of “the working poor”) like having to decide if they buy groceries or pay the light bill. Their children’s education suffers because the kids cannot concentrate in school and have to carry the burden of feeling responsible for their family’s situation. Eventually this leads to bad grades, absenteeism, and dropping out.

It’s really sad that these kids are learning what it’s like to live in poverty. I know that for me, growing up in a migrant farm worker family moving from town to town to harvest crops and living in labor camps, it didn’t seem as bad because I was with my 10 siblings and 2 parents. We learned to work hard from a very young age (5yrs old - before the child labor laws precluding children under 12 from being in the fields working). Like the boy in the video, I quit school during my senior year to work with my brother to help pay for the rent in Hillsboro after the labor camp closed for the winter. It’s hard to imagine that 40 years later, children from previously middle-class families are repeating this cycle.

I loved what the 10-year-old girl in the video said that because of going through this experience, she will understand what it’s like when she gets out of this situation and encounters others going through it. It’s a hard lesson, but one that will help her in the future.

It's frusterating to think how easily and in such great numbers people are being evicted and literally put out on the street. These families are the working poor, making more than $20,000 a year which is not enough to provide for a family of four but is above the federal poverty threshold for many government services so they’re on their own, struggling. If we could keep more people in their homes, children would maintain their self-esteem and do much better in school.

This story may have been based in Florida but our local community is dealing with the exact same problems. I firmly believe the work that United Way of the Columbia-Willamette does here in the Portland metro area can help solve these problems. Our community needs emergency funds to help people stay in their homes and pay their utilities and we’re working to do that through our Community Relief Fund. But we also need ongoing support that goes beyond emergency needs like mentoring, referrals, and funds for supportive programs, all things United Way provides for the community. 
Help us make a difference for our local families struggling, donate to United Way’s Community Relief Fund today.

Thank you,
Maria Rubio
Director, Diversity and Inclusion
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette

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