I was unimpressed with this chapter.  To be frank I’ve been unimpressed with a large portion of the CQ reader, because it has seemed to conform to many of the party lines in its analysis, while not providing true innovative thought, which I was hoping it would.

While reading this chapter, I was appalled to learn of the proposals to solve the problem of urban poverty, the first always being better paying jobs. Furthermore, it is discussed that big business and the wealthy should intervene, and that federal housing may be able to solve the problem.  Quite frankly, I am of the belief that all these solutions would simply relocate the problem, or temporarily solve it. In my mind, the beginning to the road to real progress on the alleviation of urban poverty begins with the public schooling system, and the inconsistency with funding.  Anyone who feigns surprise when they hear of the one sidedness when it comes to funding for public schooling within the City should simply take a short trip to Brownsville-East New York,  or visit Clinton H.S. in the Bronx, and realize that there are real issues that many people seem to be ignoring.  A good friend of mine who I work with, born in raised in Brownsville, is the victim of this disparity of funding.  At 22 years old, I can vouch for his intelligence, but further vouch for his lack of education which has resulted in his caddying and working at a fast food restaurant as his chosen career paths.  And to some extent it is a shame, in that his brother is graduating with a bachelor in Accounting this year, while his educational past has led to a lack of prospects for his own future.  These types of narrative, of which I a personally aware of numerous, are the beginning of the issue with Urban Poverty in my mind.

I did think that the “Promise Zones” hold potential, but that the federal and state funds should be provided even more so to the public schools within these areas, to ensure students are given ample attention and materials in order to ensure that their needs are met.  If it is unclear, I am a believer that education is the key to a future of opportunity, and once funds are already being allocated, we must make sure that they are allocated to areas which would have true benefits for entire communities as well as individuals, not to mention America as a country, far into the future.