Dear Future President,

When people hear the word poverty, they think of poor and helpless people. But many of them forget how many children are living in poverty. “About one in five American kids are poor, according to Census Bureau data.” Child/teen poverty is growing at an extreme rate and this is a major problem. The government needs to take immediate action to change this predicament for the future.

One reason why the government should tackle child/teen poverty is because of the alarming number of these children living like this. It is outrageous, and there needs to be quick action taken by our government. These children have almost nothing in their lives and with the help of the government they may be able to have something to be happy about. “More than 66,000 of the nearly 127,000 children in New York City were born into poverty.” (New York Times). This shows only one city, and after reading about this, I realized how many kids are living in poverty throughout the world.

In addition the government needs to get involved because the amount of money these child/teens in poverty have. Many of them do not have enough money to buy the basic needs necessary to live, and this poses a significant problem. “As of 2011, 3.55 million live on less than $2 a day, according to a paper from the researchers at the University of Michigan and Harvard University.” The evidence shows that government needs to step in and provide these kids with money to buy nutritious food, clothes, and other daily basic needs to live life.

The final explanation of why the government should take action upon this problem is because poverty affects the future of these kids. They are living on less than $2 a day and this poses a very bleak future for them. Many times the neighborhoods these kids are growing up in are crime ridden and unsafe. An article from CNN Wire states the following, “I can’t think child poverty- - with its nasty outcomes, like prison time, low educational achievement and poor health - - is inevitable.” This demonstrates that these kids, who are living in these conditions, will have a very rough future ahead of them and without immediate help the problem will not be solved and therefore their futures are affected.

In conclusion, child/teen poverty is an enormous problem that without the help of the government, it will not go away anytime soon. There are many solutions for this problem, but the best solution would be a “poverty house”. A poverty house would be a place where all families living with financial difficulty, would live and prosper. The house would be set up like a dorm, including a grand kitchen for all families to eat, a living room to watch TV and play games, and each room would have a bathroom and beds. These homes would provide families with food, clothing and other daily essentials. It would also provide a variety of jobs to help these families prosper. This is an all around good solution for society, and would benefit the child/teen poverty dilemma. These kids could interact with other kids in the same predicament and have an opportunity to be provided a quality education. These poverty houses should be in every city, no matter how big or small. The government could finally conquer this enormous challenge. As president, you need to find the resources to build these homes and guarantee that each and every city in the United States will provide this to the poor

Sincerely,

Brendan W