More than three decades ago, it was discovered that a big percentage of people in the United States were living in abject poverty. This discovery prompted policy makers and other Americans to come up with federal programs and other initiatives from the private sectors to try to deal with the problem.
Many leaders who have taken over the mantle of leadership in the United States have not been committed towards eradicating poverty in the United States. However, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the Nation in 1964 and said that there was the need of an unconditional War on Poverty. In a bid to deal with this problem of poverty, a number of initiatives were started.
The first initiative that was taken to fight poverty is referred to as in This Affluent Society. In this initiative, President Lyndon decided to treat poverty as one of the problems that he was supposed to focus much on. In the State of the Union address which was delivered in 1964, he pronounced unconditional war on poverty.
After this declaration, he launched many initiatives intended at eradicating poverty forever. The strategies that were going to be used were not welfare or creating job opportunities but by rather increasing the opportunities for the poor people by providing them with sound education and training. This declaration was timely since it was during a period that the government was experiencing an admirable prosperity.
The economic and industrial well being that followed the First World War had made America one of the wealthiest nations in the world but not every American was enjoying the benefits of this economic well being. This initiative was effective in the fight against poverty because it left the poor empowered. By educating them and training them, they could secure good jobs that guaranteed them good pay. Without education and training, this was not possible and people were bound to remain in poverty.
The other initiative that was taken on the fight against poverty is the initiative dubbed My Brother’s Keeper. Most of the Americans who have been members of the American Welfare System that was established in 1968 by President Roosevelt in his endeavors of eliminating poverty have never benefited from the program.
A large number of Americans remained living below the poverty line. War on poverty has been focusing on education and training but there has been a crisis on welfare which has clearly showed that Americans were not satisfied with the system.
In response to the above mentioned crisis, The National Welfare rights Organization was formed to reduce the impact of the crisis. This is an effective initiative in the war against poverty because the crisis emanates from the fact that there is still a debate on the population living in poverty. When the welfare of the poor is looked at with great concern, then it would be possible to address the problem of poverty without bias.
Apart from the two initiatives discussed above, another important initiative that can be used in the war against poverty is to engage the poor in programs of fighting poverty. Community participation in anti-poverty programs is crucial in fighting poverty as it gives the community members a chance to embrace the programs and learn more. The programs equip the community members and enhance self reliance. A combination of these initiatives will result into remarkable decrease in poverty levels among American poor population.