Poverty has stricken the country with thousands of inner city families facing dilemmas that contribute to their inability to reach a higher economic social status. Each year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issues updates for the U.S. Federal Poverty Measure. These updates report thresholds that determine eligibility for particular federal programs, and also is used to set an income measure which allows the National Census Bureau to estimate the percentage of the population who are indeed suffering from poverty (The 200 HHS Poverty Guidelines). These poverty-stricken homes have very few ways to escape the economic trap that they are in. Forty-two percent of all poor live in metropolitan areas of 300,000 or more (Harris 12). By examining the factors that affect the poverty within America's inner cities, one can easily see the economic damage that each can cause. Three major factors that affect poverty in the inner cities are the lack of educational and oc!

cupational opportunities to those who live in the communities, racial and economic segregation, and governmental ignorance and abandonment of the urban communities.

Over twenty percent of all children under age

The third and likely the most disturbing factor affecting inner city poverty is governmental ignorance and abandonment. Politics have entered a "suburban century in which candidates for national office can ignore urban America without paying a political price" (Schneider 1992). The cities have been abandoned. Neither party sees any value in making this issue part of their campaign. The number of congressional members who represent cities is declining while the number representing suburbs is increasing. The suburban congressional members may have some personal sympathy for the urban economic crisis, but have less motivation to vote for spending their constituents' tax dollars to alleviate these urban problems (Boger 80). "[T]hese politicians make entire careers out of protecting their constituents' from the spillover of urban social disorder (Barnes 1991). The consequences of inattention are seen everyday: growing poverty, homelessness, violent crime, and infant mortality;!

Underclass". American Journal of Sociology. 96:1990.

ctive institutions such as schools and local government offices, weaker informal networks like community outreach programs, and social milieus that discourage collective supervision and responsibility, as well (Quane et. Al, Ch.4). The residents in the racial ghettos are also significantly less healthy than most other Americans. They suffer from higher mortality rates, higher incidence of major diseases, and lower availability and utilization of medical services (Kerner 1968). To state this fact otherwise, the residents of these racial ghettos must overcome a number of factors that have subjected them to the poverty stricken areas of our inner cities. In order for one to work, one must be healthy, yet proper medical treatment cannot be obtained without economic stability that employment provides. The poverty cycle keeps these residents in their present economic state, and therefore contributes to the problem, causing future

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