Current Programs Effective in Combating Poverty
Illinois, in the USA, has, for a long time, had most of its population living in poverty. Poverty was due to low income, residing refugees, high cost of education, and living, which leave most people miserable. State-wide efforts were therefore initiated throughout Illinois to protect the people from economic hardships and the impacts that resulted from the national recession. Some of the departments to help in this mission was the department of human services. Under the department, several programs were set up to help with the task, and they will be outlined in the paper and assessed if they significantly contributed to the reduction of people requesting assistance in the year 2013-2014.
To get assistance from the setup programs, one has to qualify by meeting set up criteria. The state of Illinois announced the elimination of assets tests that were to be used to see which people were eligible to receiving help from the programs such as Temporary assistance for needy families (TANF). Essential support was in terms of the poor people getting income supports, employment, access to healthcare, and get housing. It was projected that to successfully eliminating poverty in Illinois, all the barriers that caused poverty were overcome. Still, in the meanwhile, the programs were to play a significant role in the reduction.
Food for Families program set up to help families get food so that the tendency of living from hand to mouth reduced and the generated incomes would sustain the families. Illinois Department of Human Services offered TANF to offer assistance to needy families unable to support themselves for a given period. Child care assistance programs were set up to help see that children received quality care, and they y received a quality education, and this was to assist in the long run because most children would be self-sufficient. Children whose parents were not capable of taking care of them were taken in for foster care, and adoption and programs to provide resources for foster care were put up. Other programs to ensure that people in Illinois had access to vocational training, rehabilitation, and job training to help the majority of the Illinoisans become self-sufficient to aid in the war to curb poverty. Refugee settlement programs were to assist in quality care of children that were in the city unaccompanied, and this would help reduce the number of people without housing, and this was one of the objectives set in reducing poverty. Home visit programs were established to help improve the health status of children who were at risk in residential places. Geriatrics and people with disabilities were also lined up for assistance since they would not cater for themselves anymore.
All the programs lined up significantly helped reduce the number of people requesting assistance from the program. It is because some of the programs were purposed to increase people’s self-sufficiency, and with that, they can fend themselves and overcome poverty. So the plans are helping Illinois reduce the population that lives in poverty significantly, and continuation of the programs will see that poverty is successfully eliminated in the city.
In conclusion, people living in poverty have no access to quality healthcare, housing, food, and education, and programs were put in place to see that these basic needs were met. Self-sufficiency is a vital weapon in the war against poverty, and with the programs promoting it, a large number of people are capable of living a comfortable life. Therefore, the programs significantly helped in combating poverty in Illinois in the year 2013-2014, as the number of people asking for assistance from the programs reduced.