Poverty, Minimum Wage, and Food Insecurity

In class we discussed some of the difficulties faced by people living in poverty or at low wages in the United States. 

Minimum Wage Increase:

As you noticed when you made your budgets for a minimum wage earning household, the current minimum wage of $8/hour is not a living wage for San Diego.  Below are some links about the controversies surrounding raising the minimum wage.

Here is a debate that aired recently on the local NPR station, KPBS.

Here is a video of Elizabeth Warren talking to business owners about the repercussions of raising the minimum wage.

Food Insecurity

l1 in 6 Americans including17 million children live in food insecure households (2011) 

lFood Insecurity means not having access (at times) to sufficient amounts of food for a healthy active life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.

You can learn more about Food Insecurity HERE.

Watch a Clip from the Documentary "A Place at the Table"

lThe HFFI (Healthy Food Financing Initiative) working group defines a food desert as a low-income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store: 

1. To qualify as a "low-income community," a census tract must have either: 1) a poverty rate of 20 percent or higher, OR 2) a median family income at or below 80 percent of the area's median family income;

 

2. To qualify as a "low-access community," at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of the census tract's population must reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles). 

You can access an interactive map of food deserts in the United States here. 

One proposed solution to food deserts is to make more fresh fruit and vegetables available by arranging for Farmer's Markets.  For the best results these Farmer's Markets need to be able to take EBT/SNAP (food stamps) this requires a change in infrastructure and technology.

You can see a list of Farmer's Markets in San Diego, including which take SNAP here.

This change is part of the First Lady Michelle Obama's efforts in the "Let's Move" Campaign. 

Urban Farming and Gardening

Another attempt to help increase access to fresh produce, and to help with environmental concerns is the move toward growing your own food.  This can take the form of gardening in your backyard, on a patio in containers, or in shared lots.  Some communities even have rogue gardening where the local community has taken over empty or open lots and used them for gardening.

Watch this preview of a documentary about urban gardening in Los Angeles.

Some projects of note in San Diego:

http://www.sandiegoroots.org/index.php

http://www.victorygardenssandiego.com/

http://urban-gardening.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/san_diego/

http://sdsustainable.org/event/organic-urban-gardening-101-2/

Assignment 2: Understanding Class in the United States

Part 1: PlaySpent

Go to the Play Spent website and play through the simulation at least once.

Part 2: Develop a Budget and Living Wage estimation

 Using the resources handed out in class (and any others you might find on your own) complete your budget making worksheet (handed out in section).  While you work through your budget keep in mind the following:

 Some facts to think about…

• In 2012, 49.0 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 33.1 million adults and 15.9 million children. Reference here
• The National Poverty Level threshold in 2011 for a Family of 4 was $22,350 
• The Average cost of having your appendix removed without insurance is $9,931 – does not include emergency room visit 
• Average cost of emergency room visit with no test or scans for a minor problem is $769 - $1423  
• Average cost of emergency room visit if life threatening (not counting surgery or overnight stay in hospital), includes imaging tests $9,931 

 Part 3: Compare your estimated living wage to the one developed by the folks over at MIT 

Bring your Budget and Estimated Living Wage worksheet to class with you on Monday.  

Additional Resources for Budget Creation: 

Healthcare cost - you may use this calculator to find out how much it might cost your imaginary family to have insurance through the Affordable Care act:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/30/226456791/how-much-will-obamacare-cost-me-try-our-calculator