Toy Drive Challenge

Why we do what do for Children in Poverty?

We will continue to stand by that our children represent our future generations; we want to make sure they are provided with a better life then ourselves. At Children’s Poverty Alliance, we care enough to challenge and face humanity because there is persistently high number of children living in poverty. If we take a minute to review the realistic facts children living in poverty or on the edge of becoming in poverty in North America consists of the populations of Toronto, Mexico City, New York City, Los Angles, Las Vegas, Honolulu onoluluhand Chicago.

When we neglect to care about our children, we have nearly 1 in 5 children are living in families with incomes below the poverty line. Children disproportionately experience poverty in the U.S., while only comprising 24 percent of the total population in the U.S., they make up over 34 percent of the population living in poverty. We are talking about over 25 million children, think about that for a moment. Poverty in the United States consists of lack of basic needs, such as food, housing, education, and financial stability.

In Canada, the results are just as devastating, children and youth under 18 are particularly vulnerable to conditions of poverty. The statistics outline risk factors and the realities of youth poverty in Canada, where 1.3 million children live in conditions of poverty (that is 1 in 5). While 1 in 2 Status First Nations children lives in poverty. As 8% (371,840) of children in British Columbia live in poverty with children under the age of 6 representing an even higher poverty rate of 20.1% (934,248) (both are higher than the national average of 18.5% (859,880)). 1 in 5 (20%) (186,506) Edmontonian children (under the age of 18) live in poverty, which increases to 1 in 3 children in single-parent families. 40% of Indigenous children in Canada live in poverty, and 60% of Indigenous children on reserves live in poverty. More than one-third of food bank users across Canada were children in 2016 and about 1 in 7 of those using shelters in Canada are children.

In Mexico, a quarter (25%) about 15 million of Mexican children live in poverty. These children are confronted with numerous difficulties with regards to upholding their rights. They have difficulty accessing basic education, healthcare, and housing.

Poverty is a particularly serious problem for children, who suffer negative effects for the rest of their lives after living in poverty for even a short time. Yet children continue to be cast aside and there is no universal strategy or dialogue to address child poverty.

We need an individual commitment to cut the child poverty rate and reduce racial and ethnic disparities. A valuable example would be to establish a national child poverty target and then implemented a mixture of policies including investments for children, measures to make work pay, and efforts to increase financial resources for families.

In the end, our goal is to break the cycle of poverty. With your help, we will make this happen.