Week 4: Wealth Inequality and Human Services Looking out at your community, you may observe a wide stratum of socioeconomic conditions

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Week 4: Wealth Inequality and Human Services

Looking out at your community, you may observe a wide stratum of socioeconomic conditions. Perhaps you see a person experiencing homelessness asking for money by a highway on-ramp, or a person working three jobs in order to support themselves and their family, and then you may see new million-dollar condominiums being built. You may see differences in income between men and women and between White and minority racial/ethnic groups. How did these wealth disparities come to be?

This week, you explore this question as you engage with resources about wealth inequality and the racial wealth gap. You also examine wealth inequality in your own community and the implications for an HSPP. 

Learning Objectives

Students will:

· Define wealth inequality

· Explain how wealth inequality informs human services work

· Identify statistics related to income, unemployment, poverty, and homelessness in a community

· Explain the influence of race, ethnicity, and gender on wealth potential

· Explain the reasons for wealth inequality 

ALL REQUIRED VIDEOS FOR THE ASSIGNMENT SECTION ARE ON YOUTUBE THE LINKS ARE LISTED ABOVE.

Learning Resources

Poverty and Wealth Inequality

The Economist. (2018, October 16). Mapping poverty in America [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/5pUhViiNtxg

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes.

Politizane. (2012, November 20). Wealth inequality in America [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.

Gross, T. (Host). (2020, December 23). How COVID-19 became a “tremendous windfall” for the ultra rich. In Fresh Air. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/23/949578530/how-covid-19-became-a-tremendous-windfall-for-the-ultra-rich

Mooney, T. (2020, March 30). The disturbing history of tipping in the U.S.: “It’s literally a slave wage.” CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tipping-jobs-history-slave-wage-cbsn-originals-documentary/

The Racial Wealth Gap

McIntosh, K., Moss, E., Nunn, R., & Shambaugh, J. (2020, February 27). Up front: Examining the black-white wealth gap. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/27/examining-the-black-white-wealth-gap/

Northwestern University Institute for Policy Research. (2020, February 24). What drives Native American poverty? https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2020/redbird-what-drives-native-american-poverty.html

Robert Reich. (2019, December 3). How America created its shameful wealth gap [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9diZJks95Ko

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 7 minutes.

THIS IS DUE WEDNESDAY 9/22/2021

Discussion: Wealth Inequality and Human Services

According to The Economist (2018), three men hold the same wealth as the entire bottom half of the U.S. population (or 160 million people). As their wealth continues to grow, the divide widens between the rich and the poor. The United States is not alone in this phenomenon; in fact, wealth inequality appears to be increasing globally. But how does this information connect with and impact the delivery of human services?

For this Discussion, you watch two videos and respond with your ideas on wealth inequality and human services work.

To Prepare

· Review your course announcements for possible information related to this week’s Discussion and Assignment.

· Review this week’s Learning Resources on poverty and wealth inequality. Be sure to view The Economist (2018) “Mapping Poverty in America” and the Poltizane (2012) “Wealth Inequality in America” videos. 

By Day 4

Post your reaction to the videos and share how the information applies to the human services profession. Specifically, what is wealth inequality? How does wealth inequality contribute to human struggles and the need for services? How do you perceive the distribution of wealth in your own community?

By Day 6

Respond to at least one colleague by sharing an insight gained from reading their post.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

THIS IS DUE SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

MY COMMUNITY IS NORFOLK, VIRGINIA USA

Assignment: Wealth Inequality in Your Community

With every service user, there is a story behind their circumstances. Sometimes that story is about abuse and neglect; sometimes it is about mental or physical health issues; and other times it is about poverty. And elements of each story are the systems and policies that have shaped the service user’s life.

Imagine a service user entering the agency where you work. The woman looks defeated, and emotionally and physically spent. She talks about making too much money for food stamps yet struggling to feed her family. She talks about needing health insurance and affordable housing. The woman says, “No matter what I do, I can’t stay afloat. The system is rigged.”

For this Assignment, you take a closer look at wealth and poverty in your community and your life and then consider how wealth inequality is created. 

To Prepare

· Review this week’s Learning Resources on wealth inequality and the racial wealth gap. Pay close attention to the ways in which race, ethnicity, and gender affect wealth potential.

· Research your own community for unemployment rate, average family income, poverty rate, and homeless population.

By Day 7

Submit a 1- to 2-page paper in which you:

· Report on the unemployment rate, average family income, poverty rate, and homeless population in your community. How does each of these numbers compare to the national average?

· Explain how the Learning Resources have helped you see how some races, ethnicities, and genders are more impacted by wealth inequality than others.

· Why do these disparities exist? What are the structural or policy barriers that helped to create them?

· Explain the extent to which you have experienced wealth inequality and how this may inform your work as an HSPP.

Make sure to integrate and document ideas and concepts from the Learning Resources.