A Look Into Inner City Poverty - 2020 Words

A Look Into Inner City Poverty Inner city distress in the American economy is not the only pressing issue facing the nation. Lack of businesses and jobs in most inner cities fuels a crushing cycle of poverty and crippling social problems like crime and drug abuse. As the condition of inner cities continue to worsen, debate on how to improve them through such measures as education, financial and technical assistance has continued to grow. The sad reality is that efforts from the past decades to address the causes of inner cities poverty have failed. Attempts to establish a sustainable economy through the creation of employment opportunities, wealth creation, and improved infrastructure (Kasarda, 4) have not worked. These efforts have failed†¦show more content†¦Private investment is based on self-interest and a genuine competitive advantage, and as such will then be sustaining in the long term, and is not dependent upon federal funding programs. There is need to develop an economic model that will begin on the premise that inner city businesses must be profitable and in a good position to compete on regional, national and international scale. Several issues have led to social problems in the inner city. Sub-standard educational opportunities, high rates of unemployment, high crime rates, broken families, and inadequate housing characterize most inner city neighborhoods. In the 19th century, the inner city was the central point for industrial activities, among which neighborhoods were established with rows of terraced houses for the industrial based, low-paid workers (Wilson, 14). In the latter half of the 20th century, factories in the inner city were closed and relocated to suburban locations causing decay and economic decline in the cities they left behind. This economic trend created many social problems including poverty through lack of employment. As this trend progressed those able to move and follow the suburban jobs left the inner city, creating pools of disadvantaged minorit ies in their wake subject to growing social problem. These social problems will be examined in this research as to how they contributed to the high rate of poverty in the inner city. There is high rate of poverty in the inner