We at the African American Christian Foundation (AACF) are here to help our low income youth neighbors succeed in all areas of their lives. Many of our program participants have grown up in neighboring West Side Chicago as well as the South Side areas with a higher rate of gun violence than other areas in Chicagoland. Also within those demographics are struggling socioeconomic levels. The impact of growing up in areas with struggling socioeconomic levels as well as trauma from proximity to gun violence can affect young peoples’ ability to focus and learn in school. Many of our participants have struggled with staying in school and may need assistance with earning their high school diploma or passing the GED. 

Low economic levels as well as violence have a lasting effect on families as a whole. Many program participants grew up in single working parent households and may have had to get jobs from a young age to contribute to the household economics rather than focus on school work. Many of our participants have children of their own. And some of our participants are returning citizens with an incarceration record severely impacting their ability to secure employment. There are many barriers to success for a young person growing up in a struggling area, with a low income background. Some of these barriers include:

Growing up in a single working parent household

Young people who grew up with a single working parent often have less opportunities than those with both parents at home who lend a hand in their upbringing. A youth with a single working parent may at times begin to work early to help out with the household expenses. They may not have someone at home who can help them with their homework or make them a meal in the evening. They will need to learn to be self-sufficient early and may not have had important social-emotional needs met as they are growing. 

Growing up in a neighborhood of high crime 

Youths who grow up in a neighborhood of high crime and gun violence are impacted by the trauma of seeing their neighbors lose their lives, or also of being victims of gun violence themselves. Resulting trauma can impact their ability to focus and stay in school, maintain healthy, positive relationships, and make wise decisions for their futures. 

Being a young parent

Young people who become early parents may have difficulty focusing on schoolwork or staying in school while caring for an infant or toddler. If they don’t have help caring for their child while they are in school, they may end up dropping out of school to care for their child. If they have completed school they may need training for a job and will need to secure childcare, and that is challenging with no or low income. Being a young parent can be a very challenging situation when school needs to be completed and an income needs to be earned. 

Being a returning citizen

Those growing up in neighborhoods of high violence have a higher incidence of engaging in criminal activity themselves and a higher rate of incarceration. Unfortunately, many workplaces are discriminatory towards individuals with incarceration records. It can be a self-defeating spiral for a returning citizen with the struggle of gaining employment. There are organizations that assist returning citizens with securing employment. AACF is one of them.

How we can help

There are many things that can be done to assist low income youth to succeed in all areas of their lives. We can lend a helping hand with completing education in the form of tutoring or free assistance with passing the GED. One of the most important things an individual can do for themselves is gain an education. We can assist with higher education, entering into a junior college, trade school, or apprenticeship. For those growing up with the impact of trauma we can offer mental health support in the form of free counseling or group support. For young parents we can offer assistance with childcare, infant needs, and parenting skills. And for returning citizens we can place you in paid internships, work to hire situations where you can gain dignified employment.

How you can help

If you are interested in helping out our youth participants to complete their education or gain employment here are some volunteer opportunities for you:

Teacher Assistant Volunteers – Teacher Assistant Volunteers or tutors serve as teacher’s aides for the AACF CTC formal and fee-based classroom programs. They help set up the classroom, check in participants, and assist AACF clients with crafts and other fun activities.

Mentors – Mentors mentor youth program participants and assist case managers in guiding mentees to accomplish their individual development plans. Mentors may chaperone field trips with the youth program coordinator or perform worksite visits or school visits as needed, to maintain the relationship with a mentee.

If you are interested in learning about our other volunteer opportunities click here.

How the community can help

If you are a business owner or a manager of a business, please consider partnering with us to become a worksite. We will place youths in your worksite and we will cover their wages for a specified length of time. Our workforce development program participants receive case management and Support for Success as they travel along their journey towards building a stable income for themselves. We appreciate all of your help!

Click here If you are interested in becoming a worksite.

We believe that as a youth workforce development not for profit and as a community as a whole we can assist our low income youth neighbors to overcome any barrier to securing dignified work and attain financial stability. Reach out to us if you or someone you know is in need of a job, assistance with education or job training, or has other needs relating to being low income. We are here for you! Go to waitlist to join our programs.

Over the past 40 years, poverty among the inhabitants of U.S. inner cities has remained stubbornly resistant to public policy prescriptions. Government research has sought to explain urban poverty, with a wide variety of explanations put forward as the basis for policy and tending to look at the large picture. As a result, its conclusions generally argue that the poor are not much different from the rest of the population. Yet those of the lower income level comprise higher rates of black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), African American and Hispanic children continued to face the highest poverty rates—more than one-quarter (25.6%) of African Americans and more than one-fifth (20.9%) of Hispanics under age 18 lived below the poverty level in 2019. African American children were more than three times as likely to be in poverty as white children (8.3%). (EPI, September, 16, 2020).

For a snapshot of some of the contributors to current urban poverty in the nation, here are some quick views down the disaster memory lane: the decade of 1980 saw the crack epidemic sweep through poor inner city neighborhoods contributing to a population decline and resulting economic decline in those areas, still felt today. The 1990’s brought an economic boom, greatly benefiting the top 10 percent of income earners, but leaving the lowest fifth of income earners vastly behind. According to the New York Times (NYT): the net worth of families in the top 10 percent jumped 69 percent, to $833,600, in 2001, a 45% greater jump than that of lowest fifth of income earners’ 24% gain to $7,900. (NYT, January 23, 2003). The 2008 housing crisis created an economic depression affecting everyone; devastating those in the lower income levels.

Pre-COVID-19, in 2019, the median Black household earned just 61 cents for every dollar of income the median white household earned (up from 59 cents in 2018), while the median Hispanic household earned 74 cents (unchanged from 2018), according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI, September, 16, 2020). Currently the COVID-19 pandemic has created another economic recession, affecting BIPOC at higher rates than Whites. According to the Pew Research Center (PRC), 43% working African American adults have been laid off or taken a pay cut, 53% of Hispanic Americans compared to 38% of Whites. (PRC, September 24, 2020).

How we can help: since 1985 the African American Christian Foundation (AACF) has helped create employment opportunities for community residents regardless of race, color, or religious affiliation. It is our mission to train and assist low-income residents of Cook County, enable them to acquire skills, while actively fostering economic opportunity and communal stability. We focus on the empowerment of the most vulnerable of our inner city residents of Chicago, youth between the ages of 16-24 by providing crucial education, job training and placement, as well as economic and social support to insure our youth clients’ success and the ability to rise out of the cycle of low income poverty. And we adapt to changes in the world such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, currently offering an innovative Virtual Information Technology Internship, an intensive training course preparing participants for immediate work in IT, office administration, and customer service, delivered completely from a virtual classroom.

While many people may vary on their stance of how and why inner-city poverty persists, it is evident that until we empower our citizens with education and employment, poverty will never truly be defeated.

References

EPI (September, 16, 2020). Racial Disparities in Income and Poverty Remain Largely Unchanged Amid Strong Income Growth in 2019. https://www.epi.org/blog/racial-disparities-in-income-and-poverty-remain-largely-unchanged-amid-strong-income-growth-in-2019/

NYT (January, 23, 2003). Economic Inequality Grew in 90’s Boom, Fed Reports. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/23/business/economic-inequality-grew-in-90-s-boom-fed-reports.html#:~:text=Economic%20inequality%20increased%20markedly%20as,the%20Federal%20Reserve%20released%20today.&text=By%20contrast%2C%20the%20net%20worth,rose%2024%20percent%2C%20to%20%247%2C900.

PRC (September 24, 2020). Economic Fallout from COVID-19 Continues to Hit Lower-Income Americans the Hardest. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/09/24/economic-fallout-from-covid-19-continues-to-hit-lower-income-americans-the-hardest/

We know that the job market has been running strong in 2018. According to an article from the Chicago Tribune earlier in the year the number of job openings in the country exceeds the number of unemployed workers for the first time on record. Great news.

Nevertheless there are still many skilled workers who are unemployed and in need of immediate job placement. The unemployment rate in Chicago has been in a steady decline since recent years, currently at 4.5% according to the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), however, unfortunately Chicago has the slowest rate of job growth out of 12 of the largest metropolitan areas in America (US Department of Labor BLS, August 2018).

Why this is may very well have to do with Chicago’s steady decline in population with contributing factors of economic and racial gentrification. The economic gap within Chicago is growing and minorities are struggling more and more to survive in the city. What can be done about this increase in the disparity between income levels and minority populations within the city? We suggest more awareness about this growing issue with a focus on public policy. Luxury housing complexes can designate a certain number of units to lower income families and individuals. Employers can factor income versus living expenses and take care of valued employees. Minimum wage in Chicago will rise from $12/hour to $13/hour in 2019. But $13.05/hour was considered to be a living wage in 2016 with $26/hour considered to be a living wage for a person with a child, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.

Once again, public policy can play an important role in keeping wages equal to the rise in the cost of living. A timely reminder in this upcoming season of elections. Those of us affected by the economic gap and/or gentrification have a voice and we need to use it. It is our responsibility, to both ourselves and the greater community, to be informed about how public policy works and what we can do to affect change. We need to raise our voices to be and become a part of public policy so that all people can be represented and all needs can be met.