Mr. Males
American History
The War on Poverty During his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented the idea of the War on Poverty. The War on Poverty was made in order to counteract the nationwide poverty rate of over twenty percent. Johnson said in his speech, “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America… Our aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” The War on Poverty was part of Johnson’s Great Society Program and would fight poverty by increasing the education, health, housing and economic opportunities for the poor people in the United Sates. The War on Poverty was the greatest …show more content…
One such program was the Job Corps. The Job Corps provided work, education, and training to people ages sixteen to twenty-one. The National Youth Corps, another program under the Economic Opportunity Act, was very similar to the Job Corps, and offered work and training to people ages sixteen to twenty-one that come from poor families and neighborhoods. For students who came from poor homes and therefore needed to work part time, but still wanted to study, the Work Study program provided them with grants to colleges. The Adult Basic Education provided education to adults over the age of eighteen who were not able to read or write English and therefore had a hard time finding …show more content…
It recruited and selected volunteers and then trained them to fight poverty. The volunteers help out low-income communities by offering a year of full time volunteer work. For example, the VISTA set up and organized tutors to benefit those from poor communities. In addition, the VISTA provided more job opportunities for people who wanted to join and help the War on Poverty. Besides for the eleven programs that the Office of Economic Opportunity controlled, the Economic Opportunity Act acknowledged that there were already existent organizations that help poverty stricken families. It therefore made an Economic Opportunity Council that will be able to direct the organizations.
Another aspect of the War on Poverty was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This Act was made in order to bridge the education gap and skills between children from low-income homes and those from high-income homes, by providing the low-income students with the same standards of education. The Act also provided instructional materials to public and private school students, to help them