The documentary “Nouveau Poor: Immigrant Poverty” is an excellent documentary that showcases the struggles that face many legal and illegal immigrants that reside in America. Poverty is an epidemic among immigrants, thus is 2001 nearly 1 in six immigrants were living in poverty (“Nouveau”, 2011). For many immigrants, they lack the required skills to become productive citizens in Americans. Education is primarily the number one reason these immigrants find themselves in poverty; in addition, having little understanding of English often creates a barrier in the working force. Nearly 43% of immigrants live on less than seven dollars an hour. Because they cannot speak English well, immigrants are often paid much lower wages for jobs that would
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Many immigrants that come to America live with two to three families in suburban areas because they want their children to be well educated. One man in the film talked about how he worked nearly eighty hours a week to get through college; in addition, he discusses that he felt prejudice and racism while attending college (“Nouveau”, 2011). Lack of educational opportunities for immigrants is a concern for the social work profession because we believe that all people should be treated equally. Social workers have a history of helping immigrants. For instance, Jane Addams is one of the most notable social workers to help assist immigrant’s families (Byers, Cummins, and Pedrick, 2011). Adams started the Hull house in the late 1800’s to assist European immigrants with things like education, daycare, and employment opportunities (Byers, Cummins, and Pedrick, 2011). The Hull House was a huge success because it didn’t discriminate against anyone, thus any individual that needed help could get the help they needed. There are many local agencies that help assist immigrants with education opportunities; however, there is so much more that could be done. Social workers in schools that are located in impoverished areas could advocate for classes geared towards immigrant students to help with things like learning English. The number one thing that many of the immigrants complained about in the video was …show more content…
There are many things that are done locally to ensure that immigrants that are living in poverty have access to available resources; however, there is so much more that needs to be done. With the newly elected president, it will certainly be harder for immigrants both documented and undocumented, to receive the help that her or she may need. It is up to social workers at the maco-level to put pressure on these government officials to make changes and policies to help better the life for immigrants that enter America. Nobody should feel like they are left behind because they come to America for a better life. Nobody legal or illegal, should be forced to work over 70 hours a week making six dollars an hour. We need to help these immigrants coming into America acquire the skills to make the productive citizens working with mainstream America. This documentary is vital to the social work profession because it showcases how poverty is a vital issue for documented and undocumented citizens living in the United States, thus it is vital that the social work profession continues to advocate for these people because they are certainly being
Many immigrants that come to America live with two to three families in suburban areas because they want their children to be well educated. One man in the film talked about how he worked nearly eighty hours a week to get through college; in addition, he discusses that he felt prejudice and racism while attending college (“Nouveau”, 2011). Lack of educational opportunities for immigrants is a concern for the social work profession because we believe that all people should be treated equally. Social workers have a history of helping immigrants. For instance, Jane Addams is one of the most notable social workers to help assist immigrant’s families (Byers, Cummins, and Pedrick, 2011). Adams started the Hull house in the late 1800’s to assist European immigrants with things like education, daycare, and employment opportunities (Byers, Cummins, and Pedrick, 2011). The Hull House was a huge success because it didn’t discriminate against anyone, thus any individual that needed help could get the help they needed. There are many local agencies that help assist immigrants with education opportunities; however, there is so much more that could be done. Social workers in schools that are located in impoverished areas could advocate for classes geared towards immigrant students to help with things like learning English. The number one thing that many of the immigrants complained about in the video was …show more content…
There are many things that are done locally to ensure that immigrants that are living in poverty have access to available resources; however, there is so much more that needs to be done. With the newly elected president, it will certainly be harder for immigrants both documented and undocumented, to receive the help that her or she may need. It is up to social workers at the maco-level to put pressure on these government officials to make changes and policies to help better the life for immigrants that enter America. Nobody should feel like they are left behind because they come to America for a better life. Nobody legal or illegal, should be forced to work over 70 hours a week making six dollars an hour. We need to help these immigrants coming into America acquire the skills to make the productive citizens working with mainstream America. This documentary is vital to the social work profession because it showcases how poverty is a vital issue for documented and undocumented citizens living in the United States, thus it is vital that the social work profession continues to advocate for these people because they are certainly being