Executive Summary
Low-income families living in urban regions have always struggled to maintain their quality of life on a decent level. Often escalated poverty levels have led to higher costs of living and have increased competition for resource availability. Strains on available resources are attributed to overpopulation due to suburban to urban migration searching for jobs and quality life. Household income influences several social, economic, and financial factors that might negatively impact the education, health, and food sustainability of people in need. Low income also limits the access of families and their children to healthy products. Fast foods and lack of vegetables and fruits are among the main issues causing overweight, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and some chronic diseases. Setting healthy food behavior from childhood is essential for the general health of the population and profitable in terms of private clinics spending on disease treatments. It is with the interest of this paper to address issues that relate to resource availability for low to moderate income families in New York City. The paper discusses community and government organizations’ efforts to leverage the problem through articulation of central policies and policy proposals. Literature revue concerning resource availability on low to medium income families is given. Financial planning and implication of the study is also provided alongside recommendations that would foster positive outcomes of poverty levels in New York City.
Introduction
Low-income families living in urban regions have always struggled to maintain their quality of life on a decent level. Often escalated poverty levels have led to higher costs of living and have increased competition for resource availability. Strains on available resources are attributed to overpopulation due to suburban to urban migration searching for jobs and quality of life. Even though big city centers usually get adequate financing, low-income residents cannot afford access to the broad spectrum of possibilities their city provides. In New York, one of the largest cities in the US, the poverty level was estimated as 17.9%, significantly higher than in all the US: 10.5% (United States Census Bureau, 2019). High poverty level leads to a diversity of the society, influencing the economy and citizens’ quality of life. To raise a decent young generation population, society needs to keep affordable medicine, education, food, and other resources available according to the average salaries of humans in poverty.
Household income influences several social, economic, and financial factors that might negatively impact the education, health, and food sustainability of people in need. Within four years, Gennetian et al. (2018) monitored the educational characteristics of students from low-income families using the Opportunity New York City-Family Rewards study. The research authors figured these students experienced unpredictable changes from four to fifteen times higher or lower than their initial condition (Gennetian et l., 2018). Such results show that pupils from families with low household incomes struggle to keep a decent level of attendance and school outcomes. Social status such as class struggles between the rich and the poor influencing the personal progress of the young generation is a significant issue that can be solved by estimating resource availability to the poor segment of the New York population and the information spread towards them.
Low income also limits the access of families and their children to healthy products. Fast foods and lack of vegetables and fruits are among the main issues causing overweight, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and some chronic diseases. Setting healthy food behavior from childhood is essential for the general health of the population and clinics spending on disease treatments. Another influencing factor on dietary habits is the scale of New York, which has a short life and shortens time on proper food intake and cooking. Seguin et al. (2017) found that socioeconomically disadvantaged clusters have lower fruits, vegetables, and poorer diet quality. Providing decent quality food to children at schools and organizing programs that promote social-emotional growth to low-income families might reduce current and future health disparities.
As one of the solutions to the general issue, the government creates various programs offering help and support to families in need. Such organizations include, for instance, New York City’s Administration for Children Services, New York City’s Department of Education, New York City’s Housing Authority, and Child Care and Development Fund. It is essential to evaluate eligible services and functions to be aware of the current condition of low-income families and their access to the programs. Often, the central problem of limited resource availability lies in the data spread to the population, their comprehension of the possible help, and how they can get it.
Problem Definition
The main issue of this project is the problem of resource availability for low-income families in New York and their awareness about it. The large city population might not receive the information about available help for them due to the inadequate advertisement, other sources spreading data, and unbalanced requirements. Both public and the government should have appropriate communication allowing them to cooperate and function together. State finances should be planned for social advertisement and people’s education. In various conditions, a clear understanding of human rights will let New York citizens receive fast and efficient help from governmental organizations and community partners.
Research Goal
Researching the current situation of help provided to low-income families and their knowledge about it are the main concerns of this work. Getting a complete picture of the issue can help enhance the data spread to the individuals, estimate the provided help that needs the most improvement, and accomplish it.
About This Research
The project will cooperate closely with community partners and support organizations, estimating their programs and statistics. Depending on how many citizens receive the help in basic needs especially food, further analysis on other factors such as financial wellbeing for middle and lower class families will be implemented. The primary benefit stands for the poor segment of the population; however, organizations and community partners can be interested in developing a better availability if the positive outcomes are described in detail. For instance, saving costs on health insurance, improving education level in the country, and, more down to earth, reducing poverty and their work amounts.
Current Policies
Various organizations are solving the central issue of the project, such as New York City’s Administration for Children Services, New York City’s Department of Education, New York City’s Housing Authority, New York City’s Human Resource Administration, and Child Care Development Fund. According to their programs’ implementation and the results of surveys, the main issues of the topic will be highlighted, and a possible solution for solving them will be proposed.
Draft of Policy Overview and Background
The social phenomenon of poverty has always been one of the most challenging aspects of social welfare in terms of policies introduced and measures taken to address the problem efficiently, for such a large and cosmopolitan city as New York, with an ethnically diverse population of 8,336,817 people (US Census Bureau, 2019). According to the latest data, the percentage of poverty in New York City constituted 17.9% of the population compared to the national rate of 11.4% (US Census Bureau, 2019). However, to address more comprehensive statistics, it would be reasonable to appeal to the “New York City Government Poverty Measure 2018” report issued by the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (2020), as its findings reveal more insights into the living standards in the NYC as contrasted to the rest of the country. Hence, as far as the poverty levels are concerned, the 2018 report revealed the 19.1% poverty rate with 41% of NYC residents living in near poverty (Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, 2020). Hence, while claiming a decrease in the overall statistics, such numbers still reveal that almost half of the NYC population is close to living below the poverty threshold.
For the sake of objectivity, the notion of poverty is defined by the US Census Bureau (2021) as the condition when the family’s income is lower than a threshold established for a certain number of family members. Considering the fact that the standard of living in NYC is considerably higher in terms of prices on vital goods, the poverty threshold for NYC is higher than that of the overall population, constituting $35,044 compared to $25,465 for an average US poverty unit outside New York (Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, 2020). Poverty unit, or family, stands for either a group of financially interdependent individuals who share food, housing, and other expenses or an individual who relies solely on one’s income.
The focus of the present project is placed on children’s poverty in NYC, with children’s poverty meaning “the share of children under age 18 who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level” (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2020, “Definitions” section). Hence, the discussion does not account for foster children who comprise a single poverty unit. In order to understand the issue of childhood poverty in the city, it is of paramount importance to define the family units that are prone to appear below the poverty threshold.
According to the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (2020), the primary characteristics contributing to one’s poverty status include educational attachment, employment, citizenship status, ethnicity, gender, and family composition. Thus, single female mothers with a child under 18 years of age who represent ethnic minorities are at the highest risk of finding themselves below the poverty threshold in New York (Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, 2020). As far as the ethnic background is concerned, poverty is the most widespread among the Hispanic population. A predominantly Hispanic Bronx neighborhood in NYC exposes the highest poverty rates in the city (ibid.). According to the data accumulated by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (2020), before the COVID-19 pandemic, children in poverty constituted 22% of the children population, or 372,000.
However, after the pandemic started, 325,000 more children appeared below or near the poverty threshold (Brundage & Ramos-Callan, 2020). As a result of increasing poverty rates, more families across the city face Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) allegations based on negligence. The latter stands for the family’s inability to secure the children’s proper nutrition, clothing, standard of living, and education. Hence, having considered the aforementioned data, it becomes evident that there currently exists a demand for assisting low-income families in terms of childcare in order for children to be socially secure and avoid being removed from their families and placed into foster care facilities. However, for the assistance to be meaningful, it is of paramount importance to pay attention to the demographic patterns of poverty as well as communicate with families directly on the matter of their concerns and awareness of the already existing poverty protection policies.
Literature Review
The widespread issue of child poverty has long been a focus of scientific research for scholars. Indeed, it has been evident for decades that experiencing poverty and the inability to meet basic needs for one’s well-being inevitably leads to irreversible mental and physical issues such as behavioral problems and chronic diseases. However, as Pollak and Wolfe (2020) outlined, the modern perception of child poverty should emphasize the neurobiological aspect of scholarly research that may help identify how experiencing poverty at a specific age and stage of a child’s cognitive development may impact one’s future. However, while developmental consequences of child poverty remain incomplete, it is still evident that the child’s predisposition to poverty leads to adverse effects and hence, shall be addressed and stopped.
Scholars generally hold the opinion that despite the known consequences of child poverty, the US, as a developed country with unprecedentedly high child poverty rates, fails to invest enough time and effort to combat the issue. Thus, in a comparative study conducted by Cai and Smeeding (2020), the authors estimate that when compared to middle-income countries, US child support policies are less effective due to the fact that both scopes of the projects and their funding are incompatible with the poverty rates. For example, Shaefer et al. (2018) indicate that some national child support policies, including Child Tax Credit and tax exemption, are only available for families where parents have all-time access to employment, abandoning the majority of families below the poverty threshold consisting of a single parent.
Cantillon et al. (2017) present a similar argument, claiming that during the Great Recession in the US, emphasis was placed in order not to increase the poverty rates within the state while paying no attention to the increasing cases of extreme poverty or people living for less than $2 per day. Hence, such a precedent raises the question of whether reducing the number of families with income less than $35,000 outweighs the need to provide social security for those struggling to eat in terms of priority. One of the solutions proposed by Shaefer et al. (2018) included the introduction of an unconditional monthly child allowance.
On the other hand, the research conducted by Cuesta and Meyer (2018) discusses the opportunities to secure child support in case unconditional governmental funding is impossible. According to the authors, such a solution includes comprehensive policies on child support from non-resident parents (NRPs) or the parents who do not live with their children. Although already existing, these policies are currently extremely inefficient in the US, as a reasonable share of NRPs’ payments is withheld by the government and taxing policies (ibid.).
Most recently, scholars were urged to pay attention to the notion of child poverty in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, according to Van Lancker and Parolin (2020), school closures and education from home have presented a severe challenge for low-income families. Indeed, children have become rather constrained by their environment and inability to keep up with their studies without necessary equipment as well as unable to receive social benefits such as childcare and nutrition at school. As a result, the literature demonstrates that currently, the US is incapable of addressing the growing concern of child poverty efficiently, and the reconsideration of present policies is highly recommended.
Policy Proposals
Based on the data and scholarly evidence demonstrated above, a series of policy changes may be introduced. First, the current child allowance benefits such as the Child Tax Credit and tax exemption should be reconsidered in terms of payment frequency and eligibility. Indeed, a yearly incentive for working parents, while it alleviates the possible increase in child poverty rates, abandons the majority of families below the poverty threshold. Another suggestion concerns the expansion of extracurricular programs in order to assist families with very low income.
Third, it would be of paramount importance to enhance the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) so that children would receive proper nutrition even outside the school premises, as the ongoing pandemic limits the children’s access to education and food. Additionally, there is a strong need to implement policies such as Early Head Start and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for children aged five and older, as there is a gap in terms of social welfare for kids who are no longer considered young enough to enroll for such programs. Finally, it is necessary to create programs to assist single mothers, fathers, and immigrants as some of the most vulnerable social groups.
Policy Analysis Plan: Evaluative Criteria
Effectiveness
Effectiveness is the primary evaluative criterion that should be considered during policy assessment. It can be defined as a measure of the extent to which “an intervention is achieving or has achieved its objectives” (OECD, 2021, p. 52). The analysis of the policy effectiveness is beneficial for determining what factors contributed to the policy achieving or failing to achieve the planned results. In addition, it can help establish positive and negative unintended effects of policy implementation (OECD, 2021). In order to effectively evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed policy or policy change, it is critical to clearly understand and define the expected outcomes, aims, and objectives (OECD, 2021). Thus, when implementing policy changes to increase resource availability for low to moderate-income families in New York City, the effectiveness can be evaluated by assessing the distribution of resources across different groups.
Efficiency
Efficiency is an evaluative criterion concerned with assessing the value of predicted outcomes. The measure can be defined as “the extent to which the intervention delivers, or is likely to deliver, results in an economic and timely way” (OECD, 2021, p. 58). The economic input can incorporate a broad range of resources, including financial and human resources utilized in policy implementation. The criterion allows evaluating whether the input of the proposed resources can be justified compared with projected costs. Efficiency evaluation is critical as it is often employed to illustrate the value of the suggested policy or policy change to invested stakeholders, including government agencies, various beneficiaries, and society as a whole (OECD, 2021). Thus, equity measures the befits and burdens of the proposed policy. It should be ensured that the suggested policy benefits the target communities without putting others at a disadvantage. Furthermore, policy-makers should guarantee that the financial investment into the project will not outweigh the outcomes.
Sustainability
Sustainability is an effective evaluative criterion for social policies as it aims to assess the policy’s ability to maintain its beneficial effects for the target community long term. Sustainability measure includes examining the financial, economic, social, institutional, and, in some cases, environmental capacities of the policy or system (OECD, 2019). Specifically, the criterion allows analyzing the resilience of the policy over time and evaluating potential risks to its implementation (OECD, 2019). For example, the evaluation of the financial sustainability of the policy can include the estimation of available resources and financial systems that can contribute to the policy application. In addition, the economic feasibility assessment can help determine the legitimacy of using federal and state resources for the proposed policy and its long-term sustainability, considering the current economic situation in the country.
Administrative Feasibility
Administrative feasibility is a criterion for evaluating the ease of implementation of the proposed policy or policy changes. The measure considers organizational preparedness and commitment to execute the proposed policy (Selamawit, 2021). Thus, administrative feasibility aims to assess the support shown to the intervention by the management of the involved organizations and their staff. Furthermore, the criterion measures whether the participating organizations have access to the required resources, including “staff, skills, money, training, expertise” (Selamawit, 2021, p. 15). Thus, administrative feasibility evaluates the capacity of the involved agencies to implement the proposed policy.
Political Feasibility
Political feasibility is a measure for assessing the current political environment in order to establish whether the proposed policy or substantial changes to existing policies will be accepted by the involved stakeholders, the target communities, and other citizens. For example, the political orientation of the citizens can significantly impact their formal and informal approval of the policy, with supporters of one political party being likely to disapprove of certain initiatives from the opposing party. Policy-makers should be aware of the region’s political climate where the policy is proposed to determine whether the political participants view the intervention as acceptable and appropriate (Selamawit, 2021). Thus, political feasibility shows whether the policy change is likely to be approved by the decision-makers and general public, including the target communities.
Research Methodology
Sources of Data
In order to evaluate the suggested policy alternatives, existing data and literature will be researched to discuss each of the proposals. Secondary data will be analyzed based on the criterion of family income, with persons from low to moderate-income families residing in New York City from different sources. Secondary data from New York City’s Administration for Children Services, Department of Education, Housing Authority, Human Resource Administration, and Child Care and Development Fund will be incorporated in the research dat. Each source will be evaluated according to credibility and reliability criterion of information and data required.
Data Collection
Data collection will be obtained from existing literature and reports from credible sources to gather relevant information about low to moderate-income families and resource accessibility in NYC. The sources will be sampled for credibility and reliability criteria to make a general hypothesis and conclusion. However, sources that highlight recent poverty levels in families that reside in New York will be considered and a range of five years, with the main focus being on available data from sources such as historical magazines and newspapers. It should be noted that the data sets on administrative feasibility will be accessed strictly from the existing literature of New York City’s Administration for Children Services, Child Care and Development Fund, and other relevant organizations.
Data Analysis
The collected data will be analyzed in order to determine resultant implications and appropriate enactment to the proposed policy changes with consideration to their effectiveness, efficacy, sustainability, and administrative and political feasibility. Data collected will be evaluated to reflect on policy changes that cater for middle and low income families. The evaluative criteria will be operationalized during this stage, with clear indicators assigned to each criterion to facilitate the research. For example, the measure of administrative feasibility will include the following indicators: beliefs about top management interest in policy change, the efficiency in each policy, and staff training and expertise. Several indicators describing the selected criteria will be identified and coded to analyze the received data.
Potential Outcomes
It is expected that most of the programs will be positively evaluated in all the selected criteria. Expansion of extracurricular, childcare, and housing vouchers programs and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is estimated to be positively evaluated within the effectiveness, efficiency, and political feasibility measures. It is projected that the creation of programs aimed at assistance for single parents and immigrants living in New York will be positively assessed within all criteria. The expansion of the Early Head Start and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to children over the age of five is projected to be evaluated positively in terms of effectiveness and political feasibility. However, the program extension is likely to be negatively assessed regarding efficiency, sustainability, and administrative feasibility. It can be argued that the proposal to extend the scheme will not be positively evaluated due to the existence of other programs, for example, food vouchers, aimed at helping low-income families with children. Similarly, the Child Tax Credit and tax exemption are expected to be negatively evaluated in terms of payment but positively evaluated regarding eligibility.
Policy Analysis
As indicated previously, the research key area is resource availability for moderate-income families in New York City. Before this paper, an analysis plan gave a foundational element of what the analysis will cover as far as the capstone project is covered. The project’s evaluative criteria described in the previous assignment include effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, administrative feasibility, and political feasibility. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of the above key components regarding the resource availability and low-income communities in New York City.
Analysis of Major Issues and Policies
For the project to enlighten the community about the resource availability to the moderate-income group, there is a need to have effectiveness analyzed in terms of the possibility to meet the objectives. First, the policy of children benefits concerning the payment interval should be weighed on the feasibility to draw the resources closer. Child Tax Credit (CTC) means that the current tax liability should be reduced and the dollar-for-dollar by up to more than $2,000 for the children qualified for that (Courtin et al., 2020). When CTC is expanded, there will be significant impacts to the beneficiaries as the payments will increase the rate at which the group will have money around them every time. The administrative feasibility means that the government can assist in passing the policies into law. It is possible if the government and the community organizations lobby about the policy, it will be a law. Sustainability means the policies must have the extent to which vulnerable families have means of living and not surviving.
The principle of public administration that shall influence the drive of the above policy is equity and services. It is important to note that the community needs to be enlightened about the right to interrogate the current agencies related to community services about the resources guaranteed to them (OECD, 2019). Under transparency, having less punitive tax measures for the poverty-centric families in New York City means that the families shall rise to middle-income status with time. Therefore, effectiveness can be achieved. The quality of producing the desired effects to the New York people with low income is also important in analyzing the matter. In this case, the impact should not have been a liability to the community as that could deteriorate the matter (Courtin et al., 2020). It means that if CTC is executed, it should not affect the extent to which Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can be undertaken. It will be illogical to make the intervention imbalanced as it will harm the affected group on one end.
The Outcome
Making moderate families rise a step further will be one way to improve sustainability. For instance, if the community is aware that they have access to better education, quality food, and energy in their living areas, that can serve as the primary basis of improving sustainability. Sensitizing the community for the awareness of their need to be employed in better-paying jobs is also one way to increase sustainability. The current New York City income that can be said not to be sustainable is $68,720 in a family with at least two children (Hong, 2017). The low income can be added by enlightening the public members about opportunities that can bring more money to the table. Therefore, policies such as improving the lifestyle of single mothers and immigrants will be one way to create a sustainable life. Single mothers and immigrants can be empowered to be placed in jobs that generate income for sustainable living. For example, the US government can promise to offer scholarships to students who have skills in art to undertake studies sponsored by the states as they offer performances in relevant bodies.
Additionally, it is also possible to offer monetary incentives to families that have engaged in agricultural activities. Efficiency, in this case, shall come as there will be a linear flow of matters such as education, feeding programs, and empowerment that shall make the families comfortable. Enhancing SNAP will satisfy the basic needs of many households, and income shall be raised. About the measure, the affected groups can use their skills and talents to gain resources such as food, education, and training. Additionally, CTC intervention shall not only fight poverty, for that matter but also, improve the family’s social mobility statuses (Maag & Airi, 2020). For example, if a family benefits by $4,000 per child, there is a high possibility that the child will have a linear schooling program that will shape them into empowered people in society.
What the Outcome Means
As noted in the above section, the outcome of the policies has a revelation to the people of New York. The degree of ease of implementation for the policies to cushion the moderate families shall be determined by the collaborative base between the government and community agencies. For example, the New York City’s Administration for Children Services and New York City’s Human Resource Administration can combine powers to improve the policies suggested by the project and work on executing them towards bettering people’s lives (Matmir et al., 2017). In this case, the state government shall offer oversight through governance by the senatorial bodies. Thus, since the collaborative element is an established actor, it will be possible to address the resource availability to New York City individuals who have low income and facing socio-economic challenges.
The government can pass the CTC, SNAP, and other policies as laws that shall govern the implementation of resource mobilization to the people of New York City. There is a high possibility that the effectiveness of the policy shall enhance the financial security of the affected groups in New York. Thus, the basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing, and school supplies will be raised, and the vulnerable groups shall have a notable advantage compared to the current measures (Hong, 2017). Therefore, the effectiveness shall improve the lifestyle of low-income people in New York City and make the project a successful undertaking.
Recommendations
Implications of the Results
The policy implications of the results for the project mean that the people affected by the problem shall have resources close to them, and they shall also receive support from community agencies and the state government. First, the desired results mean that the families shall receive a tax exemption of more than $3,000 per household. The families having monetary challenges will access necessities such as food (Hong, 2017). When families have food and basic requirements such as shelter and clothing, there is a possibility of expansion in stratification and mobility factors in life. For the case of resource availability, the moderate-income families in New York will know various aspects on how to grab opportunities that can bring income and improve the living standards.
The Effectiveness
Out of the solutions suggested, the SNAP policy is notably effective in terms of desired results. The reason is that the New York individuals with poverty issues will exchange what they have for what they need. For instance, if one has skills to offer, they can be given resources to improve their skills (OECD, 2019). If people are comfortable with exchange programs for resources, they will have improved lives and sustainable living styles. It is important to note that families living with financial challenges in New York must be ready to be offered solutions willingly and in a cooperative manner.
The Course of Action from the Results
The results support several courses of action that should be taken. First, there is a need for a collaborative base between the state government of New York and the community organizations in place. Additionally, the analysis results drive the parties involved to have an intense push towards changing the traits that contribute to poverty (OECD, 2019). Additionally, there is a need to have legal intervention through governmental actions that will shape the implementation of some policies. Therefore, the policies lead to a conclusive result that can end the resource availability challenge to the New York people.
Implementation and Financial Plan
As follows from the assessment of programs currently operating in the field of administrative search for a solution to the problem of child poverty and lack of resources in the city, the interaction between them can lead to contradictions. The most logical solution seems to be the search for a consensus between the above city projects, focused on the joint organization of the implemented goals. Evaluation of charitable and auxiliary government projects, such as Mental Hygiene or Child Tax Credit, aimed at reducing child poverty seems ambiguous from the standpoint of effectiveness.
Actions
It seems that the organization of the research apparatus at the level of a separate entity would make special sense in designing a solution to a problem. Currently, programs and charitable foundations function separately, filling certain niches in solving the various problems of child poverty. At the same time, the support plan for low-income social groups should concern all poor segments of the population; that is, in no case should the marginalized segments of the population be overlooked. The idea of sustainability in America is periodically criticized for striving to create an ideal or improved picture that does not reflect the low social status of, for example, migrant children (Boldermo & Odegaard, 2019).
Consequently, a project that claims to be inclusive within the city should create a scientific structure so inclusive that it would also cover unofficially residing minorities. At the moment, the support structures for the poor still have these blind spots, in which entire social groups are ignored that do not have the right and the ability to speak out.
Thus, a specific organization will be engaged in uniting the efforts of other projects in order to comprehensively stimulate the poor with food, financial concessions, and education. Only in this way will it be possible to fully evaluate the efforts invested in the project and increase the number of real achievements. The same group should carry out the evaluation of the result of this program, but with the involvement of independent experts. It is also important that attention is drawn to the project of the poor at the beginning of its start so that families are ready to accept help and know where to turn at the moment the project starts.
Resources
A positive assessment of the performance of these programs has already been presented, although it revealed fragmentary shortcomings. However, the scientific group of researchers of the proposed fund should achieve, as a result, not only access to statistical information but also the opportunity to participate in the mutual coordination of these groups. Only in this way can a project to overcome child poverty demonstrate itself as effective and as realistically assessed in precise criteria. The main problem of overcoming lack of resources and poverty in New York is represented by the fragmentation of actions of each of the groups, which is also exacerbated by the limited scope of action (Strumbos et al., 2018).
An open call is required as an intellectual resource for implementing such a project, which would attract sociologists, economists, doctors, educators, and anthropologists concerned about this problem. A collaborative approach of scientists is sensible to neutralize logical and practical address of existing problem in search for a solution to low and middle income families.
The project, combined with the search for financial influences, obtaining data from other projects with their consent for analysis, should take approximately three months. Within this limited period of time, a collaboration of scientists should prepare an effective plan to organize the work of charitable foundations and administrative institutions in sequence. It also requires the preparation of a program to educate and improve the skills of low-income families, which implies informing them about earning opportunities and budgeting (Tyagi et al., 2021).
Therefore, additional resources that this intellectual project will need are volunteers working with the project with their consent and approval. Volunteers can be extremely helpful in actively spreading awareness about the project, which will attract the attention of a large number of people. The work of advertisers, SMMs, and psychologists are required in order for the information not only to reach the target audience but also to be perceived as a real opportunity to help, not demeaning.
Financial Plan
The organization and support of such a research fund would require financial influence from each of the projects concerned. The preparation of an effective project with an eloquent presentation can interest foundations and projects, in part precisely because it is a charitable donation. Creating an organized group of intellectuals capable of developing strategies for finding interaction between funds and projects seems to be financially effective due to the task itself. The main goal of this fund will be to find the maximum financial products so that the problem of hunger is eliminated consistently and economically.
It is understood that by contributing to the project and adequately distributing the total budget, it will be possible to develop the most cost-effective and one-time project to coordinate the investors’ work. Due to the fact that the project does not imply the implementation of initiatives but only their coordination, the project budget can be estimated based on the higher-than-standard salaries of enthusiastic employees. It is also necessary to estimate the costs of computer equipment and the organization of coordinated office space.
In general, approximately 10-15 specialists are required from various fields, but one way or another related to the main problem posed. Upon completion of the project, each of the project participants receives a fixed amount of $ 40,000, the organization of a working office and equipment should cost approximately $100,000. Thus, the implementation of the project will require $550,000, including the cost of an independent expert assessment ($10,000) and dissemination of information about the project’s activities ($40,000 for SMM and volunteers).
As a result, the project is potentially ready to pay off since the coordinated action within a short time frame could help overcome the problem of poverty in a certain percentage of families. Evaluating the proposed project in terms of potential long-term poverty reduction need governmental and community based organizations’ subsidies.
It can be a fund that exists on a state initiative based on the federal budget. However, it seems that the federal level would raise the issue of poverty throughout the country and require excessive funding. In the case of bringing the project to the state scale, the project could no longer be evaluated or comprehended. This project can receive financial support from the city administration, but the most important thing is to achieve interaction of this headquarters with city projects to reduce poverty. Only in this way will the project have financial security and propose plans that will be heard and implemented.
Organizing a collective fundraising campaign, drawing attention from charitable foundations, could also contribute to the implementation of the project. The organization can be described as non-profit. It is required to arrange its work so that if the specified amount is exceeded, the money will be returned to the depositors, taking into account the fact that the result of the project will require financial investments not directed inside this headquarters.
Summary
Weaknesses
Even though the report has qualitatively provided the required information on the research topic, some weaknesses were encountered during the study period. The report lacked validity in the use of variables from original author among low-income families in New York. Resource availability on low-income families in New York is a broad topic that needs to be addressed from a broader dimension. The report dwelt on primary measures of the first researcher hence inconvenience of controlling sample information collected. Besides, the report did not focus on a particular basis, such as gender, age group, and social identity. In most scenarios, socio-economic hindrances afflict different groups in different degrees. This report did not thus fully focus on the most affected population as the target population. Low income is a factor that affects children and parental genders in different ways.
Besides, the degrees of affliction vary from different aspects, such as age gaps and the nature of families. The young population is affected differently by low income in the cases of orphanage studies, while young adolescents and youths might suffer unemployment and orphanage. For this reason, the report did not highlight the exact population of interest and entirely focused on generalizability. Thus, the report is subject to bias of controlling sample data from original author to validate research data.
The unavailability of data sources is a drawback experienced in the report during data collection. Extracting rich data from credible sources is a significant part of compiling a report and drawing hypothetical conclusions. However, accessing the required data can become costly depending on the means of data extraction. This report’s mode of collecting data involved online research and consultative analysis of existing information and data from relevant sources had limitations.
For instance, some sources did not give sufficient information since they were not credible. On the other hand, other sources required confidentiality affirmation from original publishers who require payments and subscription. Other sources had information that had been subjected to biases in editing and exaggeration from online users. For this reason, the reported weaknesses mostly lay in the modes of accessing and collecting data from the target sources. Thus, information and data presented in this report can easily be subject to exaggeration and editing bias from owners.
Information contained in the report is narrow concerning data presentation and research questions. It has narrowly explained the question of low-income families with a focus on child welfare. Low income is a social and economic factor that cuts across children, youths, and parents. Thus, a focus on children only promotes research that covers a broader impact of financial constraints experienced by the governmental states worldwide. Besides, the research has not employed theories that better cover the impacts of low income on families in New York related to other parts of the world. For this reason, the report might only have provided narrow information because numbers can become biased in telling their stories without the support of narratives. Therefore, theories related to low-income conditions worldwide, such as behavioral, structural, and political, will provide expansive information in the report.
Trade-offs
The problem of low-income among many middle and low income families in New York is a problem whose solution is within the government, community organization, and non-governmental organizations. All key stakeholders, governmental organizations, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) take the front in initiating fair trade-offs that can salvage poverty levels caused by low-income levels. Community organizations and the state government of New York need to collaborate to elevate traits that pull the most vulnerable from poverty. Strategies that shall serve as a lasting remedy to low income and poverty conditions among the people of New York should include adequate resource availability. People affected by the problem should have resources close to them, and they should also receive support from community agencies and the state government.
Besides, the New York government should ensure that affected families receive a tax exemption of more than $3,000 per household. Families that experience monetary challenges are also supposed to access necessities such as food with equitable interventions. Thus, in the case of resource availability, the moderate families in New York can quickly diversify aspects of grabbing opportunities that can bring income and improve living standards.
Conclusion
Resource availability on low-income families is a question that has become subject to debate not only in New York but the entire world today. Resource availability is enumerated in the nature and extent to which families and different target groups can easily access their basic needs without constraints. For individuals to access significant resources, a sustainable source of income is a requirement. Unfortunately, many families have continued to languish under low-income statuses in the world today. As a result, the problem of resource scarcity is a governmental matter that needs to be addressed through remedial actions that will salvage affected families.
Addressing the question of resource availability and low income is a question of concern that will majorly benefit the marginalized groups. Children in marginalized families that experience financial and monetary constraints and resource availability shall greatly benefit from incentives set to save the situation. This work is of great importance as it is set remedies to atrocities experienced by low-income families in accessing necessary resources and basic needs. The report further gives light on the role expected to be played by governmental, NGOs, and community organizations in promoting financial plans such as tax exemptions from low-income families.
Therefore, this is plausible to initiate strategic financial initiatives and plans by community and governmental organizations to remedy the problem of resource availability on low-income families. From the recommendation section of this report, families that experience monetary and financial constraints will have to receive the assistance that will readily lift their socio-economic status in New York.
Among the initiatives, this paper will broadly achieve in the long run include temporary assistance in nutrition programs. These programs comprise supplemental nutrition for needy families, medical resources, and supplemental special food programs for children, women, and infants in low-income families. Many studies have always dealt with remedial actions in providing basic needs such as food and shelter; however, this report will be significant to address ways of creating employment opportunities.
Generally, addressing the issue of resource availability on low-income families and creating possible initiative solutions is equally important to political, social, and economic stands. The nation’s dependency ratio will decrease when every individual from low income is made productive through access to resources; hence, economic growth. People will politically maintain peaceful cohesion and implementation of agendas that favor the good of every citizen and equal representation. A reduced socio-economic gap will draw a boundary that becomes subject to exploitation in the community. Therefore, this report is important to address the question of resource availability for low to moderate-income families in New York City from economic, political, and social perspectives.
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