3/1/18

POVERTY IN ALBUQUERQUE

INTRODUCTION
Poverty is an issue that has struck every corner of the world, effectin g every person, every
country and economy in one way or another. What is poverty? Poverty is “the state or
condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being
poor”. Wherever there is poverty, crime drugs and domestic violence follow.

For the period 2008–12—

 Persons in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8
per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons
in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000).
 Persons in poor households had a higher rate of violence involving a firearm
(3.5 per 1,000) compared to persons above the FPL (0.8–2.5 per 1,000).
 The overall pattern of poor persons having the highest rates of violent
victimization was consistent for both whites and blacks. However, the rate of
violent victimization for Hispanics did not vary across poverty levels.
 Poor Hispanics (25.3 per 1,000) had lower rates of violence compared to
poor whites (46.4 per 1,000) and poor blacks (43.4 per 1,000).
 Poor persons living in urban areas (43.9 per 1,000) had violent victimization
rates similar to poor persons living in rural areas (38.8 per 1,000).
 Poor urban blacks (51.3 per 1,000) had rates of violence similar to poor
urban whites (56.4 per
 1,000).
 POVERTY IN
ALBUQUERQUE

REASONING

Albuquerque, New Mexico continues to struggle with poverty and Datausa.io shows that it has a 20%
poverty rate with only a .32% growth rate and a median household income of $47,096. Compared to other
cities that is very low. PersueGOD.org lists reasons for poverty such as poor economy, lack of affordable
housing, substance abuse, lack of education and medical expenses. The American economy constantly goes
through ups and downs and whenever the downs come companies are forced to lay off their employee’s.
Also, according the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, a family will need to be earning the wage
of %15.37 an hour just to barely afford a two-bedroom home. Then, whenever people often are in a low
spot in life drugs and alcohol often take over their life and only financially affect them worse. Next,
education is a struggling factor for those who are already struggling financially and since they are unable to
afford the opportunity of college, it’s harder to climb out of the trap of poverty. And Finally, being
hospitalized, taking your kids or yourself to doctor starts to stack up and be expensive. Even with medical
insurance the bills still pile up and become to much.
 WHAT TO DO
Sports Teams- Whenever a professional sports team is added to a city it often has a positive impact
on the community. Indianapolis in the 1960’s was nicknamed “nap town” because the only thing to do there
was to nap. Often used as a place to pass through when traveling and fuel up, it meant almost nothing to
anyone. But, they built a race track to host the Indy 500 to attract tourists. Then, they built a basketball
stadium for a NBA franchise, a baseball stadium for a minor league team and in the 70’s the convinced the
Baltimore Colts to move their team Indianapolis. Now, the cities unemployment rate is lower than the
national average, annual downtown leisure attractions have increased by 84% and dozens of corporations
have moved there.

Vocational/Trade Schools- People are stuck in this mindset that college is the only way to set
yourself up for your success, but that isn’t true at all. A 4-year degree has downside such as only adding
$15,000 a year to the average person salary compared to someone who only have a high school diploma, the
average 4-year degree in America costs $127,000 and finally most people aren’t ready to put themselves
through the rigorous 4-years it takes to earn your degree. The great thing about a trade or vocational school
is that you enter the workforce 2 years ahead of a college student which only adds to being ahead for
promotions and an additional two years of income. Also, the average trade school only costs $33,000
compared to the $127,000 which is a $94,000 difference. Finally, you have a better chance of coming out of
trade school debt free because how cheap it is. Coming out of school not only relieves stress from your
future self constantly trying to pay it off but it gives you additional money to be able to treat yourself to
luxury good and put more money in your savings.

Tax Incentives/ Regulation Cuts- Cities often will encourage a big corporation to move to
their city by giving them tax cuts or downsize their regulations. People don’t like that a company will get
away with paying less but that money only goes back into the community through employment. If you are
able to get multiple corporations to come then that only means more jobs for the cities residence and other
companies will also follow the trend if they see many moving to one area. You will be providing your people
with jobs and a consistent income which will only raise people’s standards of living and clean up the streets
from homeless people loitering around because they have an opportunity to be hired and given a fresh start.
Conclusion- While Albuquerque isn’t the only city in the entire country who struggles with poverty, it
is at a disadvantage with being in one of the poorest states in the country. There have been plenty of cities
who have trail blazed the path to escaping that trap. Bringing things like sports teams, vocational school and
tax incentives are wonderful for steps to allow you citizens to live a better life.

Sources-
First statistic
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5137

https://datausa.io/profile/geo/albuquerque-nm/

https://www.citylab.com/life/2013/08/sports-teams-really-can-save-city/6479/

https://lifehacker.com/trade-school-might-be-a-better-choice-than-college-her-1484086007

https://lifehacker.com/trade-school-might-be-a-better-choice-than-college-her-1484086007