By Damon Guinn
When you think of global poverty, the United States isn’t a country that usually comes to mind. The U.S. is the wealthiest nation in terms of gross domestic product, it’s a world leader in productivity, and it’s still considered the “Promised Land” for people of virtually every race, religion and background.
So why, then, are millions of Americans still struggling with poverty?
According to a report compiled by The Urban Institute, more than half the U.S. population experiences poverty before they reach age 65. The economic outlook is especially grim for African-Americans, Hispanics, households headed by women, and those with lower levels of education.
Among the hardest hit are single-mother households, like the majority of families participating in Children International’s sponsorship program in Little Rock, Arkansas. They become poorer at a rate of 15.7% a year, compared with just 2.8% for married-parent households. As a result, children from single-mother households are more likely to remain trapped in the cycle of poverty until something, or someone, intervenes.
Child poverty in the U.S. has been on the increase and is at a 10-year high, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 1994, Children International partnered with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) to launch its sole U.S. sponsorship agency. The site was selected, in part, because of the state’s extremely low poverty ranking and the impact poverty was having on children there. To this day, it continues to hover near the bottom of all indicators used to measure children’s well-being in areas like education, health and family structure.
A 2009 press release from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families indicated that one in four children under the age of 18 in Arkansas live in poverty. Added to that, the state ranks as 48th worst in the percentage of children living in poverty.
Children International’s sponsorship program in Little Rock is challenging that trend, though. With an emphasis on after-school programs, dental care, and material assistance for low-income households, sponsorship offers benecial incentives to children from predominantly single-parent households.
When we first began,” explains Cheryl Chapman, the agency director in Arkansas, “Children International worked with 300 children in two elementary schools...helping children with homework, tutoring and delivering core benefits. After-school programs were launched first because of the lack of funds available in our community and the need to offer a safe haven and quality programs for disadvantaged students.
“Over the years, we have expanded enrollment from 300 to 3,000, developed formal partnerships with seven elementary schools to target children who qualify for free and reduced lunch, created youth programs, and hired managers who oversee sponsorship relations, education, health, dental and family assistance.”
The agency’s after-school program has been perhaps the most effective means of closing the gap between poverty and academic performance (a link backed by notable studies like the Harvard Family Research Project). Its success is based on a solid relationship with the Little Rock Public School District. The school district provides the facilities, assists with transportation, and covers the salaries of certified teachers who tutor students in math and literacy, while Children International administers the program, coordinates activities like chess, dance, Taekwondo and gospel choir, and equips students with educational materials.
“We get four to five calls from elementary school principals each year asking if we are interested in adding a new school,” Cheryl attests.
Besides improved attendance rates and rising test scores, local school administrators are no doubt drawn to the benefits of the Future Smiles Dental Clinic, the only school-based dental clinic in Arkansas, which was established and is administered by Children International for children attending the agency’s partner schools.
Material benefits aside, sponsorship’s achievements in Arkansas are best measured by the accomplishments of its graduates, and Cheryl points to two outstanding youth in particular as proof.
Former sponsored youth Vakeyia is preparing to graduate college with honors, but she still finds time to volunteer with the Youth Program and mentor students in our College Prep Program.
“Vakeyia...” Cheryl offers as a perennial example, “in first grade, she began in our after-school program, and we were all touched by her determination and beautiful smile. She excelled in everything she did but always extended a hand to help her classmates.”
After winning several academic awards and racking up scholarships, Vakeyia is now a triple major in Biology, Criminal Justice and Spanish at UALR. She’ll soon be defending the thesis of her senior project by arguing that early intervention from organizations like Children International greatly lessens criminal or deviant activity among youth.
“Sponsorship allowed me to be a part of programs where I could discover my dreams and talents,” Vakeyia says.“I discovered my passion was about volunteering in my community and following a life of public service.”
“Volunteering is at the very core of our programs," vouches Cheryl. "Sponsored youth volunteer at local food shelters, animal shelters, neighborhood cleanups, and raise money for student scholarships. They have a heart and passion for helping others, and as a result, it is transforming their lives in very positive ways.
“When you see graduating seniors like Matthew, now a junior at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee, spend his summer doing a medical research project on cystic fibrosis and preparing for medical school, you are proud to be a part of his life,” Cheryl shares as a second example of outstanding youth.
Matthew, a former sponsored youth now on his way to medical school, is the grandson of an émigré from Trinidad and Tobago.
Raised by his immigrant grandfather from Trinidad and Tobago, Matthew’s achievements in life dispel the notion that economic disadvantages dictate a child’s ultimate course in life. Like so many other sponsored youth who capitalize on sponsorship programs, he embodies the American Dream.
And it’s that belief in the American Dream that makes sponsorship in the U.S. such a motivating force. It moves ordinary citizens to act on a sense of charity and the shared ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – so even the most disadvantaged members of society can experience the kind of independence that comes only with true freedom from poverty.
See our U.S. sponsorship program at work.
Photos provided by Greg Tobey of Children International and Kelly Quinn, a freelance photographer based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
