Blog 2; Post E: 'Poverty in Los Angeles' Presentation

Our class was divided in groups of 4-5 students, each group was assigned a city to research the poverty levels and present to the class the information that we had gathered.  My group was #4 and we researched the 'City of Angels', Los Angeles, California.

• We found that in the midst of the rich and famous, Los Angeles county houses about 40,149 documented homeless people (men, women and children) on the streets in any given day. Adding to the equation are the 'hidden homeless', the ones' who are unaccounted for (like those who are mobile and live in their cars), increasing the numbers by 1.9% for a total of 58,423 homeless people.
• According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) there are about 20 shelter sites in the LA county which provide only 4,779 beds each night for the 58,423 homeless!
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors 2012 Status Report on Hunger & Homelessness (Page 28) states that there is only 6% of unmet housing needs for the homeless.

http://usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2012/1219-report-HH.pdf   (2012 Mayors Report)
http://www.lahsa.org/year_round_shelter.asp   (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority)

Los Angeles contains factors beyond its control that prevents drastic improvement for services to its homeless population.  Unfortunately, the region is riddled with earthquakes which make it hard to build and maintain new structures. Most buildings are limited to zoning requirements and can only be of a certain height.  In comparison, the projects in Chicago have been known to be up to 15 floors high, while in Los Angeles, they can't go over 4 floors, thereby making mass housing nearly impossible. Over population of the area also contributes the problem of open space.  There is virtually no open space in Los Angeles, most of the land is claimed and there is no unincorporated space available.  The geographic space also causes a hardship on the city because it is mostly made up of hills and is surrounded by mountains.  The city is unable to build new structures for its homeless populations, whether it be shelters, permanent housing or health centers.  

Though the city can't build new space for the homeless, it can utilize the pre-existing buildings, particularly those in Kid Row.  Many of the buildings are run down and it would benefit the city by investing in the neighborhood.

As the saying goes "money makes the world go round" and to state the obvious, money is needed to operate services.  Most would say that more funding is needed, but I believe that there is money available, and the city needs to work with what it receives and reconstruct its priorities as to where the funding given by the Federal government is applied to.  

The good news is that Los Angeles is making improvements to better service the homeless population.  According to the new 2012 Mayors Report (Page 80), it has created more shelter sites and has greatly expanded its Permanent Supportive Housing more than any other city in the U.S. by including 10,911 permanent units and 5,982 transitional housing units.  Somehow they are getting the funding or at the very least redirecting money towards services for the homeless population.

http://usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2012/1219-report-HH.pdf   (2012 Mayors Report)

Blog 2, Post A: Shipler, Ch. 4: Migrant Workers

(My cousin Jerry, he's a migrant worker who lives in Washington and picks all the Washington apples that we American's enjoy.  He gets a meager wage, and sends most of his money back home to our family.)

For this post we are to discuss from Shipler's, 'The Working Poor', Chapter 4: how migrant workers are exploited and who benefits from their labor.

There is an array of individuals whom benefit from the labor of migrant workers.  The list starts from the beginning of the migrants' journey; from his family back home to the consumers who enjoy the product that the migrant worker has planted and picked.  The family of a migrant worker benefits the most because they receive anywhere from half to 3/4 of the money earned.  Migrant workers usually have one goal to coming to the U.S. and that is to make money to support their family back home to their native land.  They think that by sending money, it will help their family out of poverty or at the very least meet their daily needs to survive.  My personal opinion is for the families on the receiving end to invest in the money wisely so that they are able to support themselves instead of waiting each month for their loved one to keep sending them money to just spend.

Others who benefit from the migrants' journey include the coyote, the one who smuggles the worker and sometimes his/her spouse across the border.  Most people don't have the complete 'fee' to cross, making themselves indebted to the coyote with promises to pay with their earned labor wages.  Then the migrant must find work to send money to family back home and now to pay the coyote for his services.  In comes the 'contratista' or the contractor, the middle man who is in charge of acquiring workers for the farmers who require labor in their fields.  Without migrant workers, the farmers would not be able to meet the demands of its customers, the markets and corporations who purchase their product.  Lastly, it is us, the consumers of these products, who benefit from the labor of migrant workers, without them we would have no produce to eat, to survive.

Migrant workers are easily exploited because they aren't looked at as people, just temporary workers.  They are over-worked 12-14 hours a day, before sunrise till after sunset.  They are not offered benefits for working, such as health or workers comp.  They are paid per box of produce filled and how much they earn is based on how hard, fast and accurately they are willing to work.  Because they are not looked at as people with souls and feelings, they are treated as dispensable commodities.  They are housed in terrible conditions; like cattle, they are grouped and confined in a small space with hardly any heating and working plumbing.  They are made to sleep in unsanitary, in-humane conditions.  

The contractor's and farmer's exploit these migrant workers because they know that they have nowhere else to go and they (the workers) fear deportation.  Most migrant workers want only to work and don't want to cause any problems, they are aware that there are others in line to take their place in the field, so they work to the bone, they take the abuse, they live in shoddy conditions because this is the price they have to pay so that their families back home can eat and have clothes on their backs and medicine for their ailments.

Unfortunately, I believe there is no end to this cycle.  We need people to work the fields, so that we can eat and feed our own families.  No 'average' American is going to take a job that requires so much labor for pennies on the dollar.  No farmer is going to pay at the very least minimum wage to a worker to harvest the crops. The only thing we can do is to advocate for better working conditions for these workers.  We need to put a face to these workers, like my cousin Jerry.  He is a human, with feelings, with desires to provide a better life for his daughter.  He is only 27 but the lines on his face and the callouses on his hands show otherwise.

Shipler, D. (2005). The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Vintage Books

Blog #2, Post C: Review of Two Fellow Classmate's Blogs

This assignment entails me to critique 2 out of 23 fellow student's blogs. I randomly chose these two students because I cannot put a face to their names and it will be easier for me to critique  their blogs because I have no personal connection to them.  Hopefully they won't take it personally, this assignment is only for the purpose to suggest improvements to their blogs.

Student/ Blog Name: Jessica @ Justice395.wordpress.               
Read on 10/7/2013

• Esthetically speaking what I like about Jessica's blog is her choice of colors and format.  She chose colors that are easy on the eyes and appealing.  The format she chose also makes her blog easy to read, i.e. there is a flow to her posts.  
• What I would suggest to Jessica to improve her blog would be to connect direct links to the articles that she mentions on her posts.  I did notice one link, but the other posts did not include them, making it harder for the viewer to understand what her topic is about.  Also, in using the links, I would advice her to cite her sources.
• I would also suggest that she mentions the title of the book from our class and properly cite the information that she used from the book.
• There were a few grammar errors, which are one of my biggest pet peeves (which is why I'm seriously considering a career as a Copy Editor) such as using 'there' instead of 'their'.
• For Post D, we were to state what we thought should be the legal definition of poverty, instead Jessica gave a legal definition as defined by businessdictionary.com.  I would have loved to have read her opinion on that because she made a great statement based on her personal definition of poverty.
• Lastly, I would have liked to have read more of her personal thoughts and opinions with each post.  It appears that the work submitted met just the minimum requirement in terms of sustenance to her blog. 

Student/ Blog Name: Alex @ hh395.wordpress.                         
Read on 10/15/2013

• I enjoyed Alex's Blog.  He followed instructions as to the format requirements that the Professor requested.  He titled his post's accordingly and also gave more information as to what to expect to read on each post, i.e. 'Poverty in Illinois' and 'Definition of poverty' instead of leaving it plain like Blog 1, Post B, etc...
• Esthetically, I would only change the background color of the Blog, black is a great color, one of my personal favorites, but for me it puts a strain on the eye.
• I enjoyed the extra details that were included in the Blog such as videos and pictures.  It makes the Blog come to life and shows that he cares what he puts into it.
• The only other suggestion to better improve his Blog would be to break up his excessive paragraphs.  Ideally, paragraphs should be no more than 4 to 5 sentences and it gives the reader a break to process all that is being read.  A long paragraph could cause someone to just skim through it and not really absorb the information.
• Other than that Alex's Blog is a great example of a great Blog.

Blog 2, Post D: Service Project.

In keeping with our class curriculum for Hunger & Homelessness, as a student we are to be exposed to the subject matter via variety of perspectives.  Not only through class discussions, videos, research and this blog, but also through volunteer work with an at-risk population.  

This is were my service project comes in. With my professor's blessing, I propose to volunteer at the Common Food Pantry (http://commonpantry.org ) every Wednesday for five (5) weeks, starting Oct 9th for four (4) hours each day/time.  After speaking to Scott, the Program Director, I learned that I will be assisting with restocking of food items and will interact with clients during the food distribution hours, and they will also utilize my administrative skills in their office.

I learned that the Common Pantry has two food distribution sessions, one in the early afternoon (1pm) and one in the evening (6pm).  I will be of service in between those hours to help restock the shelves with food donations from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and from other vendors like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  The food pantry has a point's system for their clients: according to their website, "During the distribution, clients living within our service boundaries receive a well-rounded assortment of food items.  The first step is the shopping experience, where clients can choose items they prefer or are in specific need of by using “points.”  Points are allotted based on the number of individuals in the household."  Their mission statement further explains this point systems: "We strongly believe this unique shopping experience makes the Common Pantry special. It returns the human dignity of choice; something many of us take for granted when we visit our local grocery store."

I get really excited whenever the opportunity presents itself for me to be able to 'give back'.  I mentioned briefly in one of my earlier posts about my own situation when I found myself with my children in line at a food pantry in Rogers Park.  I knew from my early childhood, that food pantries existed; mine was located at my local church in Pilsen.  I never thought of it as shameful or needy because most of our neighbors were all in the same situation.  In my young eyes, it was just another local gathering of friends with an added bonus of leaving with bags of food.  Fast forward to my young adult years, and my perception had changed.  I stood in that line in Rogers Park with shame and need because I was unable to provide for my young children.  Thinking about it right now, I sympathize with my step-father and though he might have felt shame, I'm grateful that he had courage and put his pride aside to be able to accept the food and feed his children, instead of letting us go into starvation.  Because even with the government food from the pantries; the block of cheese, powder milk and cans of spaguetti-os, and with the school meals, there were still times that we went hungry.