Urban Politics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Urban Politics - Research Paper Example Poverty in the United States is seen to vary to a great degree depending on a number of factors; some of these factors include an individual’s education level, age, family living arrangements, area of residence and labor force attachment. Poverty is noted to generally be more highly concentrated in some areas as compared to others. This aspect is clearly demonstrated by the fact that poverty levels are found to be considerably higher in the center of cities as compared to a city’s suburban areas. In addition to this, poverty rates are also found to be about three times as high in the poorest states as compared to the least poor states. Of note is that it is normal for some neighborhoods to be characterized as having a higher concentration of poverty as compared to others. According to Gabe (2015), the incidence of poverty in central city areas is generally found to be considerably higher at 19.1% than that in suburban areas 11.1% within metropolitan areas. As at 2013, nonmetropolitan areas were recorded as having poverty rates averaging about 16.1%. A typical pattern in poverty rates in metropolitan areas is for the poverty rates to generally be highest in the center city areas. These high rates of poverty then proceed to gradually drop off as one moves towards the suburban areas before experiencing a subsequent increase with increasing distance from the core of the metropolitan area. Ever since President Lyndon Johnson first moved to declare a War on Poverty in the United States and the subsequent passage of the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act, the optimism that first surrounded these measures is noted to have rapidly faded over the years. Both the Federal and the State governments have over the years designed and implemented a number of policies designed to help to reducing poverty rates but these have been met with moderate success. The rather unwelcome corollary that has resulted from rural-urban