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Poverty is a growing issue across all parts of America, and it affects people of all ages. The problem is very evident among the youth, which can be seen throughout the student population at North Cobb High School. Many students live below the poverty line, and rely on free or reduced lunch, as it’s the only meal they may have all day. Some students even have to work instead of coming to school to help provide their family with enough income to pay the bills and keep their home. This poverty can be alleviated by careful city planning, community gardens, and the Green Living housing projects. These projects are a donation-based, communal living areas where poor teens can come to live with as minimal cost as possible.
This photograph is of homeless people in Atlanta. The poverty rate in America is 12.7%, and 18% for people 18 and under. When people are living below the poverty line, they sometimes become homeless. This is prominent in teens, where 40% of all teenagers in the US are homeless. However, the Green Living project offers a solution to this problem. After a teen gets out of foster care or turns 18, they can join the communal living space. This offers a protected space to live, and provides a solid foundation to get their lives on track to get a home of their own.
While trying to work the long shifts to help mom and dad pay the bills, or skipping a meal to save money, these teens commonly fall behind in their academic life as a result of their home life. The teen seen in the photograph here, is misusing her education time to make up for lost sleep and or simply from exhaustion. Teens who are forced to deal with poverty at home often see problems with their mental and physical health as well as their academics. With parents not monitoring their children’s eating habits, too stressed from poverty, teens frequently develop poor eating habits, hence not receiving the essential nutrition needed most importantly at this time. However, teens who will join Green Living will be able to live comfortably and burden free of any heavy payments. Payments for their home will be flexible according to what they can provide. Green Living will teach teens responsibility without being overwhelmed. It will also allow them to focus entirely on their health and education, helping them with their right to succeed in life.
This photograph illustrates a teen in poverty begging for money to buy food for himself. This could be for a multitude of reasons. One reason could be that he has no job, and has no money to buy food. Another common reason is that he could be not eating in order to provide enough food for his siblings. The Green Living project can help this issue by having communal gardens in the center of the building, providing food and establishing responsibility. There will also be a cafeteria, that utilizes a cafe card and food grown in the garden, and organically grown foods they can buy to help support the building.
Green Living homes will create a friendly community for impoverished teens. With access to extremely affordable living, teens will no longer suffer from any mental or physical health issues. They will have the opportunity to be stress free and only worry about problems people their age should have to worry about. Green Living hopes to take teen poverty down by ten percent within its first five years of operation. We wish to inspire the teens who will benefit from our facility to further ensure their fellow generation does not have to endure what they did. With this in mind, we dream that one day, Green Living will not be necessary and that every teen will be able to live a healthy life in their own family home.
In the future of Green Living’s operation, we hope to provide a home for teens getting out of foster care, to provide a safe haven while rehabilitating them to get them into the world independently. In order to do this, we would provide jobs in places like the cafeteria, and encourage them to get jobs at other places during their stay to decrease unemployment. With a shared garden and rent tailored to comfortable levels for them, it will teach responsibility while also preparing the young adults for life on their own. With all of these programs, Green Living hopes to soften the blow of economic depressions, while getting more of the youth as prepared as possible for the future to live productive lives and contribute to society.