Community Solutions Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Community Solutions - Research Paper Example According to European standards, the categories of people who have been considered as poor have been â€Å"1. the long term unemployed and the young unemployed, 2. the elderly, 3, single parent families, 4. second generation migrants, 5. refugees and returning minors, 6. marginal groups- e.g. gypsies, travellers, homeless, 7. underpriveleged urban districts, 8. impoverished rural areas† (Cullen, 5). The American definition for 2011 is that â€Å"for a family of four including two adults and two children, total yearly income has to be below $22,350, to be called poor as is given in the US Department of Health and Human Services website. While addressing the issues that the poor people face, as members of the subculture of poverty, one major concern has always been the physical eradication of poverty and its negative manifestations which lives of the poor people miserable. Community development is universally accepted as the most effective method to address poverty and its prob lems. The community development program of 1980s in Ireland was a landmark in the history of the fight against poverty (Cullen, 11). Cullen, in his study on nine poverty elimination projects implemented in Ireland, has revisited the methods and strategies followed by various organizations and agencies who participated in these projects and has concluded that â€Å"community development is a process that deliberately activates, encourages and supports groups of people to participate in collective action in pursuit of common interests, and which contributes to social justice and equity† (Cullen, 11). During the John-Nixon era, in the US, â€Å"community action programs† were abundant and quite popular (Joseph, 49). Though they set the stage for the emergence of a welfare state, they were also criticized as capable of only peripherally addressing the issues of poverty (Patterson, 146). Notwithstanding these opposing viewpoints regarding community solutions to the subcultu re of poverty, the global intellectual discourses have always seen community solutions as the most viable way out (Cullen, Joseph, FAO and Gaiha). The best available community solution to the subculture of poverty will be to set up community level revolving funds partially sponsored by the government and partially by the industrial houses of the country. To raise the funds, the government will have to introduce a special tax of 0.1% of the profit, on the corporate companies, which have a profit margin above a fixed ceiling. These funds along with a government contribution will then be transferred to the local authorities to be utilized for ensuring a minimum of 200 days’ work for all those able-bodied persons who have been listed as poor. The form of work has to be fixed at local level, by the local administration in consultation with the community leaders, and according to the local resources available and prevailing local conditions and necessities. For example, if in a pla ce having water scarcity, the work has to be provided in water conservation activities, which can contribute to the local economy in a productive way. And the newly generated water could be given back into the community at a reasonable cost. Similarly, in an area where the major vocation is agriculture, work can be provided in community-level agro-processing industries. This solution will have to involve â€Å"massive commitments of Federal funds†