Dear President,

     From my perspective minimum wage should be raised from $8 an hour, to $15 an hour. The reason why I’m fighting for this raise is because a lot of people that work at fast food restaurants are most likely to be single mothers, or just someone that is trying to get back on track. They can’t do that because the job that they have does not pay well enough. And when these single mothers or that someone that is in need to get back on track isn’t getting paid enough, they won’t be able to provide for their children or they won’t be able to live on that amount of money. “The simple truth is that working people cannot survive on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $8 an hour or $9 an hour,” as Bernie Sanders said recently. “If people work 40 hours a week, they deserve not to live in dire poverty.” These two sources are coming from the article by Tim Devaney (Hill.com), “Sanders to Push $15 Minimum Wage Bill.” 

     The reason being is because all of that money is going straight to bills and by the time they need to buy the things they need and they won’t be able to afford it. Getting payed minimum wage can lead a single mother or someone that is in need to get back on track to work multiple jobs because they either don’t have enough money for them or they need to provide for their family. This minimum wage is even harder, for those that work at a place and get paid $7.25 per hour, and they have no place to work because they don’t have a diploma or GED. I really think minimum wage should increase dramatically, because not only will people not be able to provide for their family or themselves but there is a possibility that they can lose their home due to not getting paid enough. 

      Not getting paid well enough can lead people to be homeless. Being homeless out in the streets can be very dangerous because your life is basically at risk. It’s even more scary an unsafe if a single mother is left with her children, because not only will they not have a comfortable place to sleep but the mother can get her children taken away by CPS if they find out that she doesn’t have a home to raise them in. Even for those that are a single household and they get kicked out of their home due to not paying their bills on time, they can end up living in the streets. Some homeless people tend to live in a shelter, if we have a lot of these that aren’t getting paid well enough then the shelter home will have a lot of these people. 

     It will probably effect the shelter home because they will probably need extra money to support for more of the new people coming in. “Americans were living in middle-income households, with 29% below that and 21% above. Income inequality adversely affects life expectancy.” This source is coming from the article, “Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?” This is another important reason why we should raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. It can help a lot of people in need, especially those that want to get back on track and they’re non high/school graduate.

   So, my message to you, our next president, we need to help struggling families in America by raising the minimum wage. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Brenda Gonzalez