poverty in ohio
Did you know that in 2018, Ohio ranked 17th out of 50 states in regards to percentage of their population who had incomes below the poverty line (Source: Census Data/USDA)? This translates in real numbers to Ohio being the state with the 6th highest number of people in poverty — 1.568 million people. Of those, 31% are children under the age of 18.
For this discussion board, you will explore the role of poverty in everyday life, and consider how this might impact individuals of diverse backgrounds.
Use these resources in your discussion board:
Income and Poverty in the United States 2018 (opens as a PDF file)
The Ohio Poverty Report 2019 (opens as a PDF file)
SPENT: http://playspent.org/
Answer each of the following questions:
What city do you currently live in (or the closest city listed in the report)? Use the Ohio Poverty Report link above, and write down the city and the percentage of persons for whom poverty status was determined. Starting on page 71 of the report (pg 77-79 of the pdf itself, you can put the page number in the search button), look under “Ratio of Income to Poverty Level – Under 150%” column. Does this number surprise you? Why or why not? Do you think these numbers are different today (2020) than they were in 2018 when this data was collected?
Go to SPENT and click on “Accept the Challenge”. First, “Find a Job” and then make decisions about how to spend your money. Your balance is at the top left-hand side of the page. How many days did you last? What decisions do you wish you would have done differently? Why?
Think about how race, culture, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability/disability, or socioeconomic status may change the way people get jobs or spend money, particularly in light of prejudice/discrimination in society. Pick one status in that list and discuss this in detail. Use the “Income and Poverty in the United States 2018” report to identify rates of poverty across different groups to inform your discussion. If the group you’ve identified doesn’t have data in the report, why do you think it’s missing?
What are resources in each the city that you identified in question #1 that is available for individuals in poverty? Identify at least ONE organization, and give their website and mission here. Address how they specifically help individuals in poverty, particularly in your city (Google your zip code and “poverty resource” to start). Give specific details about the help they provide and how a person might access those resources.
