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Discussion 1 (a)Defining Poverty

Do you have an image of what it means to live in poverty? Perhaps your image is formed by depictions in literature, on television, or in political rhetoric. Perhaps you have a personal experience with trying to live below the poverty line. If you don’t have personal experiences trying to “get by” below the poverty line, do you know where the poverty line lies? For this Discussion, you will visit the Economic Policy Institute to understand what it might take to make ends meet in your own family.

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To Prepare

Visit the Economic Policy Institute websites listed in the Learning Resources. The EPI has developed a formula to determine what it takes for a family to “make ends meet,” taking into account family size and place of residence.

Begin by reading about the assumptions on which they base their calculations of a basic family budget.

Next, use their basic family budget calculator to find out what they would estimate it would cost your family size to live in your area.

• Describe the EPI’s estimation of what it costs your family to live in your area.
• Describe what you or your family would have to give up to live within the EPI’s budget.
• Explain how easy or hard it would be to give those things up.
• Determine if the definition of what constitutes poverty is realistic.
  • For example, is the poverty line too low? Is it too high? How would your life change, and is it plausible to maintain key aspects of your life when living below the poverty line?

  • Discussion 1(b) Escaping Poverty

    How do you work to prevent poverty as social workers? Many of your client populations and the communities you work with will be in poverty. Social insurance and personal responsibility are ways in which policymakers work toward preventing poverty. Developing a poverty threshold is a measure that policymakers use when working toward preventing poverty in the formulation of social welfare policies.For this Discussion, you examine limitations and problems with the poverty threshold and how these problems affect a person’s ability to escape poverty.

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    To Prepare

    Visit the Economic Policy Institute websites listed in the Learning Resources. The EPI has developed a formula to determine what it takes for a family to “make ends meet,” taking into account family size and place of residence.Begin by reading about the assumptions on which they base their calculations of a basic family budget.Next, use their basic family budget calculator to find out what they would estimate it would cost your family size to live in your area.Post

    • Describe two limitations and/or problems with the poverty threshold.
    • Explain how these problems affect a person’s ability to escape poverty.

    • Explain which estimate of poverty better aligns with your colleague’s stated ability to escape poverty: the EPI’s budget or DHHS poverty threshold.