Poverty In America: Its Effect On High School Pass rate In Syracuse

Wayne O'Connor with some of the students at Hillside Center

By Paul Shalala in Syracuse, New York

The city of Syracuse in northern New York state has one of the poorest communities in the whole of the United States of America.

According to latest statistics from the US Census Bureau and the Onondaga County, Syracuse grapples with poverty which is mainly concentrated in the south of the city where African-Americans and Hispanics live.

This poverty has had a lot of impact especially in the number of criminal activities and gang related violence in the area.

Just in the past three weeks, three people have been shot dead and several injured, forcing the county officials and the City’s Police Department to hold a press conference to assure residents of their safety.

Poverty has also not spared the education sector.

According to the US Census Bureau’s 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Profiles, Syracuse has a high school pass rate of 80.1% which is lower than the national pass rate currently standing at 86.3%.

The civil society has joined county and state education departments in fighting the drop in the pass rate.

According to Wayne O’Connor, the Executive Director of the privately run Hillside College and Career Center, poverty has had a great impact on the lower pass rate among high school students in the city.

“Each year we enrol 1,000 high school students who we mentor and teach in various subjects in order for them to pass the exams. These are pupils who suffer poverty and have behavioural attitudes. They are brought here by their parents or they may come by themselves,” said Mr O’Connor.

He adds that apart from helping the students pass the examinations, his non profit which has been giving the service to students for over nine years, also helps the students get jobs and make rights career choices.

Several volunteer teachers and mentors operate from the center and help the students, mainly from poor families, prepare for exams.

The Hillside College and Career Center has an annual budget of $350 million and it works with students and parents to ensure that the students adequately prepare for the exams.

“Among the students who pass through our center, 98% progress to colleges and universities. We also offer scholarships to deserving students who come from poverty stricken homes.”

Mr O’Connor told a group of Syracuse-based 2016 Mandela Washington fellows that pupils usually come to the center in the afternoon after their regular classes in their respective schools and get coached by the youth advocates.

He said at the center, the students are given food so that they can concentrate on their studies and have a free mind.

“Our calendar year starts in September and ends in June. We also offer sports so that the students are kept busy physically,” said Mr O’Connor.

As part of the institution’s plan to motivate the learners, twice a year it organises events where parents come to celebrate the success of their children who are crowned as School Ambassadors based on their achievements.

According to Hillside College and Career Center records, 75% of the students are African-Americans, 12% Hispanics and the remainder is Caucasians.

The center plans to increase the enrolment to 2,000 in the coming years to help increase the pass rate in the city.

Some of the center's former students have even been engaged as mentors for the current students.

Part of the students at the center are sponsored by the Central New York Community Foundation through scholarships.

The foundation, which currently has assets worth $172 million, spends huge sums of money in literacy programs to help reduce the low pass rate in Syracuse.

"Half of the students in Syracuse do not graduate to college and this maybe because of poverty. So as the foundation, we give grants to non profits for literacy, we also fund institutions like Hillside to ensure that our students graduate and grab future opportunities," said Central New York Community Foundation Director of Research and Community Initiatives Frank Ridzi.

Speaking when he addressed Syracuse-based 2016 Mandela Washington fellows visited his office, Mr Ridzi said 14.1% of the foundation's annual grants goes for scholarships for poor students through programs like Say Yes To Education.

On other initiative the foundation has funded over the years to help poor black students is the Saturday Academy which brings together African-American students on Saturdays to be mentored by teachers and improve their literacy.

A civil society organisation called 100 Men of Syracuse won the $100,000 grant to execute the project which so far is proving beneficial to the learners.   

Poverty In America: Generational Hunger In Cortland County

By Paul Shalala in Cortland, New York

A street in Cortland City

Cortland County is located in the northern part of New York state and its population is predominantly white.

It was initially inhabited by Native Americans whose numbers now make less than one percent of the total population.

According to the 2015 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, Cortland County has a total population of 48, 494 people and 94.9% of them are whites.

In terms of minorities, the US Census Bureau’s 2015 estimate states that African-Americans make up 1.9% while the remainder is shared by Native Americans and Hispanics.

The estimate further discloses that Cortland County has a poverty rate of 13.8% which is slightly below the national average of 14.8% but is one of the highest in the country.

And according to a 2015 report published by Seven Valleys Health Coalition entitled Cortland Counts: An assessment of Health and Well-Being in Cortland County, 20.7% of children live below the poverty line and 8.4% of them live under foster care.

Poverty here is mainly caused by unemployment which currently stands at 6.4%.

Cortland even beats the national average of unemployment which is 5.4%.

Most of the poor people in this county live in Cortland City, the county’s headquarters and largest city.

Poverty in this county is not new.

According to official county records, civil society organisations have been fighting poverty in Cortland for over a century.

YWCA of Cortland, a not for profit organisation dedicated to fighting poverty and mentoring children from poor homes, even runs safe homes were children are fed and educated for free.

Civil society organisations, which include non profits like the Salvation Army and Catholic relief agencies, have even formed a Hunger Coalition in Cortland to pull their resources together and fight poverty as one team.

Sara Earl 

Sara Earl, the Program Director at YWCA of Cortland, has 30 years experience in working with children living in poverty in the city and she says the problem is generational.

“Poverty in Cortland is unique and generational. You have children who live in homes where there is poverty. Their parents lived with poverty and their grandparents also had poverty. So its generational,” said Ms Earl when she briefed Mandela Washington fellows who were on a tour of the city on Friday.

She said due to the high poverty levels, half of the school going children in the county receive free lunches at school.

“We run a scholarship for children with poverty and we also have one thousand children in our child care centers. We offer them with mentorship and once every week, volunteer parents come over to mentor and make the children feel loved.”

When asked which race is more affected by poverty, Ms Earl said Caucasians were worst affected since the population of minorities like African-Americans and Hispanics is very minimal.

But unemployment is not the only contributor to poverty in the county.

According to Ms Earl, there is also inadequate housing and many people who have no homes live in mobile trailers.

This situation has forced civil society organisations to form another coalition focusing on housing.

“We formed the housing coalition in order for us not to duplicate interventions. So we plan and agree how to intervene and work towards housing for all,” she said.

And according to the report Cortland Counts: An assessment of Health and Well-Being in Cortland County, 9.8% of the population in Cortland County live in mobile homes.

This shows that the county has a higher percent than the whole of New York state which has 2.4% and the national average of 6.4%. 

Poverty In America: Military Veterans, Health And Homelessness

By Paul Shalala in Syracuse, New York

The Syracuse VA Hospital

The United States is referred to as the land of opportunities, the land of plenty and the land of the free.

Americans pride themselves with so many inventions, an admirable system of governance and the largest economy.

With one of the modest and well funded militaries in the world, the US recruits thousands of people into its armed forces per year.

At the same time, thousands more are discharged due to age, injury or bad behavior.

Across the United States, millions of former soldiers (veterans) are re-integrated into society while others who cannot afford housing are kept by the federal government in some facilities.

"We currently have 21 million veterans from the various departments under the military," said Robert McLean, a Public Affairs Officer at the Syracuse Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital.

The hospital cares for former servicemen from the 13 counties of northern and western New York State.

Mr McLean, a former US Marine, says the Syracuse VA Hospital has an annual budget of $290 million, most of which goes towards paying of salaries for the 1, 700 employees.

The hospital offers various health services such as behavioral change, counselling, dental care, spine care, post traumatic stress, mental treatment and most illnesses connected with war.

Mr McLean, who recently took a group of 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows on a tour of the multi-story facility, revealed that a number of veterans who are homeless and poor are kept and cared for at the hospital.

"We are keeping a number of veterans as you can see. These are people who can not manage to feed themselves. We have a room where they watch TV, a room which is well decorated to reflect a military facility so that it can suit their previous life," said Mr McLean, pointing to a wall which has pictures of fighter jets, US flags and soldiers.

For poor soldiers who can not afford to be treated at expensive hospitals, VA hospitals is their home until the day they will breathe their last.

But for veterans who are poor but still energetic, the Department of Veterans Affairs has a program were they source for land and build houses for the former soldiers and resettle them.

During the tour, this blogger saw a number of resident veterans who were confined to wheelchairs but were actively moving around.

McLean briefing the Mandela Washington Fellows

The veterans have another open room where they play sports to keep them fit.

On an annual basis, an average of 47,000 veterans are treated at the Syracuse VA Hospital.

The Department of Veterans Affairs runs several of such hospitals across the US and offers these same services to veterans within the 50 states.

The department has an annual budget of $169 billion and according to Mr McLean, it is the second largest US Cabinet agency.

Apart from health care, the department also provides benefits to veterans, handles burials and runs cemeteries where veterans are buried.

Poverty In America: How The Church Is Feeding The Poor

By Paul Shalala in Syracuse, New York

John Stopper

It is real, it is there and people are going hungry every day in America.

Every time we think about the United States, we imagine a society where everyone has food, everyone drives and everyone is enjoying life.

But that is not the case, there is poverty in the United States of America.

But not everyone agrees that some people in the richest country in the world, go to bed on an empty stomach.

Even well known researchers and pundits deny that poverty exists in the country.

Writing in Forbes magazine on October 3, 2015, Tim Worstall, a fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London said: “"Paul Theroux’s latest book is a travelogue across the Deep South. And in it, according to his introduction to it in the NY Times, he asserts that said Deep South has been impoverished by the capitalist plutocrats offshoring all the jobs. That this isn’t in fact how an economy works is easy enough to forgive, for many people hold the same, incorrect, opinion. However, the other part of Theroux’s argument, about the existence of poverty in America, is less easy to pass by. Simply because he is a well traveled man, he has seen real absolute poverty up front and personal. And he should indeed know that nothing like that at all actually exists in the United States."

However, the reality on the ground is that there is a silent minority of beggars, homeless people and those doing what Americans call ‘minimum wage jobs’ who cannot manage to support themselves.

According to a report entitled Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014 by the U.S. Census Bureau, 47 million people in the USA were living with poverty in 2014.

This means that the poverty rate for that year was at 15%.

The report further reveals that among those hard hit in 2014, people with disabilities accounted for 29% (4 million people) while 16% of women lived in poverty.

To get first hand information on poverty in America, this blogger decided to research and analyse the situation during his short stay in the country.

In the USA, Syracuse city is now ranked the highest metropolitan area with poverty among African-Americans and Hispanics.

The city is located northern part of New York state.

According to the 2015 estimate of the United States Census Bureau, out of a total population of 144, 142 of Syracuse, 35.1% live in poverty.

The report states that of that population, 56.% are whites, 29.5% are African-Americans while Hispanics make up 8.3% of the city.

According to an article published by syracuse.com on September 5, 2015, “"Syracuse is at the leading edge of a disturbing national trend in which the number of people living in extreme-poverty neighborhoods nearly doubled from 7.2 million in 2000 to 13.8 million in 2013, the highest on record."

“The trend reflects a sharp reversal from the progress reported in the 1990s, when the number of Americans living in such concentrated poverty fell by 25 percent by 2000.”

The article states that the data is based on a 2015 report by Paul Jargowsky, the Rutgers University-Camden professor who published the study with The Century Foundation.

Coincidentally, this blogger is in Syracuse for six weeks and is investigating and writing a number of stories on poverty in America.

At Syracuse University, there is a famous street where beggars and homeless people are found.

On Marshall Street, both white and black beggars are found and Police keep an eye on them because sometimes they can be aggressive in their pursuit.

The image projected by Hollywood movies and TV channels that there is no poverty in America is totally different from what one can see if they venture out of these big US cities.

Like many other small cities reliant on industries, Syracuse has seen several plants closing and people losing jobs over the years.

The town has recorded an increase in unemployment which has resulted in poverty increasing in the southern part of the town which is mainly inhabited by blacks (African-Americans).

In the northern part of the town is a growing community of mainly Asian and Hispanic immigrants and a small but increasing population of Congolese.

Syracuse Deputy Mayor Bill Ryan concedes that his city has one of the country's highest poverty levels and he blames the trend for the increase in crime and the abuse of drugs in the city.

Bill Ryan speaking at City Hall

Mr Ryan, who is also the City's Chief of Staff, says shootings in the city where three people lost their lives in the past three weeks are as a result of poverty and increase in gang activities.

"Because they live in poverty, these criminal gangs are now resorting to drugs and crimes. We are doing everything possible to ensure we find the people involved because in the area where these shootings happened, we never had such incidents," said Mr Ryan when he addressed Mandela Washington fellows who visited City Hall recently.

On Tuesday, this blogger joined other Syracuse University-based 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows to help in making sandwiches for poor people at the Bishop Harrison Center which is run by the Catholic Church.

The trip was arranged by the university to help the young African fellows appreciate the challenges Americans in poor communities face on a daily basis.

The center, which is located at the All Saints Parish of the Catholic Church, hosts volunteers who make sandwiches twice a week to feed poor people who cannot afford to buy food for themselves.

“"The sandwich program started in 1990 and we make one at least a thousand sandwiches per week to feed people in need. We make them here at All Saints but they are transported to Assumption Parish in the north where they are given to people who cannot afford to feed themselves,”" said John Stopher, a volunteer who coordinates the program.

Fellows making sandwich

A former science teacher, Mr Stopher says he works with mainly volunteers who give their time to help feed the homeless, poor and needy.

“"Per day, we feed about 500 with lunch and supper. People who receive our sandwiches are those who are unemployed, those who are doing minimum wage jobs and those who cannot manage to feed their families. Sometimes we even have parents coming with their children," he added.

Mr Stopher, who gave a 30 minutes briefing to the visiting Mandela Washington Fellows, said he has a heart for volunteering and his Catholic faith has helped him spend a lot of time helping the needy since he retired.

“"I no longer work and I have a pension. I now volunteer here at the center. I also volunteer for the blood bank and the Red Cross. This spirit of volunteering is very common in our city and we have a couple of people coming down here to help out with sandwiches every week.”"

In the past 26 years the program has been running, church members and food companies have sustained the sandwich program by donating food stuffs to feed the needy.

When the meals are ready, those in need are fed irrespective of their religious affiliation and are not obliged to be registered.

“"We feed whoever shows up at our window. We do not care where they come from or which church they go to……. Usually we receive a huge number of people towards the end of the month when pay cheques run out,"” said Mr Stopper.

Schedule of meals at the Samaritan Center

Another church-run feeding program is the Samaritan Center, a former church building which is now the only hope for hundreds of people who cannot to feed themselves.

The center was established by seven local churches and it receives donations of funds and food stuffs from restaurants and several other donors.

It offers breakfast and supper to between 150 and 400 people on a daily basis.

According to officials at the Samaritan Center, about 150,000 meals were saved last year.

Most of the people fed are African-Americans but there is also a significant number of white people who receive the meals.

Just a few kilometers away from the Samaritan Center is the headquarters of the Salvation Army, another religious center where poor people are housed and fed for free.

The place offers free lodging for individuals and families who have been evicted or are homeless.

They are fed, given life skills and helped to get jobs.

On average, the homeless are given shelter for 20 days and there after they are expected to find a job or a new home.

"We are located in the southern part of Syracuse because this is where poverty is. We serve over 38,000 people through 41 separate programs, catering different groups of people," said Andrew Sabbaghzadeh, Resource Development Director at the Salvation Army Syracuse Headquarters.

Mr Sabbaghzadeh talking to Mandela Washington fellows

He said Salvation Army was working hard to fit into the US federal government's plan to eradicate poverty by 2022.

"Syracuse is nationally recognised because of its poverty. We are doing our best to cater for the poor through our programs."

The Salvation Army, which has been operating in Syracuse for over 100 years, has an annual budget of $20 million funded by grants from the federal and state governments as well as donors.

According to Salvation Army Onondaga County Chief Executive Officer Major Karla Clark, most of the money is raised during Christmas parties. 

"Despite being a church, the Salvation Army serves people of all races and religious faiths. Nobody is required to be a church member in order to receive our services," said Major Clark when she addressed visiting 2016 Mandela Washington fellows at her office.

Apart from offering shelter and food to the homeless, the church also runs the Therapy program which is aimed at helping youths break away from gangs and find alternatives like jobs and education to reduce the levels of violence in the city.

Syracuse is estimated to have over 100 gangs.

Apart from these church run initiatives, poor people in Syracuse, a town which falls under Onondaga County, have two other options of having a meal.

Firstly, the Onondanga County provides food and other supplies through a program called the Food Bank.

Here, those in need are registered by the county administration and queue up at centers to receive their meals.

According to Stopper, the Food Bank in a county benefits from US Federal funding.

Food banks operate like warehouses where food stuffs are collected and stored before being distributed to NGOs and food pantries which give food to the needy.

Secondly, the needy also receive meals from several centers called Pantries where free meals are issued at no cost.

The pantries survive on generosity from donors and other well wishers to feed thousands of people in Syracuse.

Apart from receiving donated food supplies, the pantries also buy cheap food stuffs from the local Food Banks.

Agriculture Liberates Thousands From Poverty, Claims Zambian Government Official

  By Paul Shalala in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Agriculture Deputy Minister Greyford Monde (below) says thousands of women and youths have been liberated from poverty through government's deliberate policy of encouraging people to venture into agriculture.

Mr Monde says through the Farmer Input Support Programme -FISP and the Citizen's Economic Empowerment Commission -CEEC Funds, government has deliberately helped women and youths to be empowered and thereby helping them move out of poverty.

He adds that women and youths are an integral part of government's development agenda and the thousands who have been liberated from poverty have been economically empowered to be self reliant.

The Itezhi-Tezhi Member of Parliament said this when he appeared on a panel discussion at the on-going Joint Conference of Ministers of Agriculture which is taking place at the African Union Headquarters.

Mr Monde says the Zambian government has also come up with a deliberate policy that encourages college graduates to venture into agriculture at a tender age.

He says entering agriculture when one has retired from employment is not productive as one's energy would have already been lost.

The two day Joint Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture which opened this morning, has attracted ministers from all African countries.

Mr MONDE is representing the Zambia government together with Local Government Deputy Minister Nicholas Mwale.