King Arthur Level Of Neglect

A little boy, Arthur, stood in the Millvale Elementary nurse’s office, his bare ankles exposed above his worn sneakers. His shirt hung on him like an oversized bag; the sleeves darkened from repeated wear. The stench of urine wafted off of his tiny body. The school nurse, Barb Demasi, remarked that she had never seen such a “level of neglect” as what was present in the Millvale school district, an impoverished region in an otherwise thriving Cincinnati. That level of neglect was not only shown in the school, but also traced back to the home. Arthur’s bedroom was bare, containing only a “dirty mattress with no bedding”. One adult in the house claimed disability; the other hadn’t held a job in months (Coolidge and Dufour). This is American poverty: …show more content…
Through the government, the poor will receive a lump sum in which to pay for basic necessities such as shelter and utilities. What most do not realize, however, is how much is given to the impoverished. On average, a family of four will receive “up to $900” in financial aid (“Welfare Payments”). With the cost of housing, food, heat, and water, that $900 will quickly deplete and disappear. Thus returns the notion of the government’s inefficiency, and its inability to provide a substantial amount for the poor. The indigent need jobs as a steady form of income, and government programs fail to “put people in the workforce” (Doar qtd. in Gillespie). Not self-sufficient, the poor need the American people to bring about change, as Figure 1 demonstrates. The government’s ideology is that food and giving will lift the needy out of a low place, but provides no way solid way to emerge. The free market, in association with the actions of the middle class, sees the solution to pulling the poor out through jobs as making a way for them to escape. The government leaves the destitute down below, while the free market provides hope and opportunity to better oneself*. One woman, Veronica Scott, took matters into her own hands to aid the homeless in Detroit. With so many living in the cold Michigan temperatures, she decided to form the Empowerment Plan, an organization and business that made heavy coats which transformed into sleeping bags for those on the streets. Her business solely employed the homeless in hopes to “create a better life for themselves and their families” (“The Empowerment Plan”). Hot Chicken Takeover, restaurant and food truck business, also decided to step in and help impoverished, but the company didn’t call it that. The restaurant, employing “40 people who are impoverished,