Problems in Baltimore

Balti more(prenominal) is a port urban center that is fil direct with umteen popular tourist attractions such as its m enjoymentums, aquarium, and sports teams. It is in the like manner a urban center that has been on the decline for many classs. The abuse, drugs, and unemployment levels see every(prenominal) risen over the past two decades. Back in the Baltimore heyday, it was a booming city with richly levels of port traffic. Today so far, the ports are non seeing as much activity as in advance and that has led to an increase in unemployment and abuse. Could Baltimore be on the same path Camden, NJ was on booming port overtaken by crime and drugs?The television series The Wire was based in and on Baltimore. Created and written by a former journalist for the The Baltimore Sun, David Simon, each succession focuses on a disparate facet of the city the illegal drug trade, the sea port formation, the city government and bureaucracy, the tutortime system, and the print news media. The show tried to seduce a realistic vision of an American city through sincere characters. There are good cops visualized in the show, however many of the officers are incompetent, show excessive force, and are portrayed as having tender qualities.Some residents and city officials credit the series for increased scrutiny by the media on its government, schooling system, drug problem, and crime. It did shed light on the illegitimate drug use in the city and its cause on the note classs ability to grow in the fields of pedagogy and organization. In 2011, the U. S. enumerate Bureau reported that Baltimore County, MD had a population consisting of 65. 4% snow-clad and 26. 8% b lack/African American residents. The median household income in Baltimore County is $63,959.Broken down further, minority median income is $31,400 versus $57,048 for white/caucasian residents. crosswise the boorish, taxes and costs of goods and services is on the rise. It is very effortful for a family of quaternary to live on $31,000 a year without public housing assistant and welfare programs. The poorness statistics are very interesting. concord to the census data, 28% of Baltimore families with children under the senesce of 18 are living be small-scale the mendicancy level. That number increases to 40. % for female-headed families with no father present.The blame for poverty is an age-old interview which usually produces the same answers spicy taxes, barriers to occupational entry, and other economic doers. When you factor choice into the equation, the numbers change significantly. The poverty rate diminishes greatly for households that remove to marry and have children later in life, obtain a mellowed education, and stay of out jail. The poverty rate for married households with children under the age of 18 is 7. 4%.The answer seems simple obtain higher education and marry later in life. Cecelia Elena Rouse, an economist and Dean of the Wood row WilsonSchool of Public and international affairs at Princeton University, conducted focus groups in Baltimore City, MD. She was looking at income expectations to determine if there was a coefficient of correlation between expected income and college attendance. The precedent consisted of low-income minority high school seniors. She found that income expectations of low-income minority students are not so different from higher-income students.Low-income students are less able to turn their college plans into college attendance (Rouse 1314). The doc State Department of Education has reported that starting in 2007, city schools were beginning to show mature in its school reform fret graduation golf club were rising while dropout rates were decreasing. While progress has been made, more work and focus needs to be d nonpareil in the Baltimore education system. The non-attendance rate has been recognized as a problem among low income students. Poor students are four times more likely to be chronically absent than their peers.Problems standing in the way of good school attendance include inadequate transportation, unstable housing, lack of health care, high incidence of chronic illness, and poor nutrition and safety concerns (Chang 7). Baltimore is one of troika cities that have attempted to address the issue of absenteeism. The school districts and the fraternity have partnered in building a culture of attendance. Strategic grants and investments have championed to raise this possible. Franklin Square Elementary and Middle School is a successful dumbfound in Baltimore.Approximately 91% of its students receive free or reduced cost lunches and the class sizes are large, often 40 or more students in a class. Despite that, the school has one of the highest attendance rates in the city. There is an outreach program that holds students accountable and creates an environment of wanting to go to school. The school provides clean uniforms, dental care, after school activities, and free haircuts to service boost attendance (Chang 9). The question that needs to be answered is can the high school culture in Baltimore continue to cultivate this safe, nurturing environment such as the one created at the Franklin School.Upper elementary and high school students offer new problems that need to be addressed teen pregnancy, drug use, and gangs being three that stand out the most. In the early 1990s, a study was completed in Baltimore that center on teen mothers. It started in the late 1960s and followed two hundred fifty teenage mothers who gave birth during that time. In 1988, the first natural of the teenage mothers were in their teen years and the sample statistics showed 37% had dropped out of school, 46% had completed high school, and 17% went on to higher education.This study concluded there was a direct correlation to the number of years the father was present, high maternal education aspirations, a few(prenominal) years on welfare, high preschool cognitive ability, attendance in preschool, and no grade failure in elementary school and continued education beyond high school (Brooks-Gunn 278). In its fourth season, The Wire foc employ on the education system in Baltimore. A first year middle school math teacher, who was a former police detective, struggles to associate with his students. Many of these students were schooled in drug dealing and gang activities.He came to the actualization that in order to get them to learn, he had to trick them into learning. The fourth season of The Wire focused on the social conditions that cripple the Baltimore education system fragmented families, declining neighborhoods with few legitimate jobs, indifferent city leaders, and a lack of educational resources. Even the students who want to learn face enormous obstacles, one of the biggest being the Baltimore education system compared to others in the country, is far behind. The Wire portrayed the problems plaguing the stude nts and teachers.It is a pattern that allow for continue to be repeated multiplication after generation until the city, state, and federal governments make a commitment to reconstruct it. According to the FBI crime statistics released in 2011, Baltimore is the fifth deadliest city in the country and the seventh most dangerous in overall violent crime despite its lowest homicide rate since the 1980s. It has taken decades of poverty, disinvestment in the community, and a ecumenical sense of hopelessness for Baltimore to become known as such a violent city.Arresting and prosecuting criminals is a crucial step in combating crime, however reinvestment into the community by federal, state, and local governments is also needed to turn the city into a safe, prosperous environment. There is a long-standing theory that suggests that teens are more likely to use heroin, crack, and/or cocaine if they have first used alcohol or marijuana, the latter which is preceded by alcohol and tobacco. In a study that was conducted in Baltimore, the median age for first drug use (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana) was 14 years of ago and first heroin, crack, and cocaine use was 17 years of age (Curry 441).Parental drug use was a determine factor in predicting childhood drug users and also peer enamor (Curry 442). There needs to be continued focus on educating and rehabilitating the upstart drug users before they begin exploring with injection drug use. The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators adherence was launched in 2002 to establish a way of understanding the changing neighborhoods and whole tone of life within the city. Forty outcome indicators were developed in order to measure progress and to hold the city leadership accountable (Bembry 97).A study was conducted comparing five US cities, Baltimore being one of them, and the effects of federal spending on the cities over time. Two health checks were taken, half-dozen years apart and looked at hardship factors poverty, unempl oyment, dependency, housing built before 1939, percentage without a high school diploma, and the crime rate (Parker 1844). In each city, there was significant progress over the span of vi years which show that federal spending, or any spending at the federal, state, and/or local levels, can help revitalize the community.In hard economic times, there is more need for government funds to help the community as unemployment rates are high. High unemployment creates desperation which spurs crime. According to the Census Bureau, in 2011 one in four Baltimore residents lives in poverty leaving more than 37% of Baltimores children live in poverty. Being born into poverty is a good marker for being poor throughout life and creates an entire host of problems high school dropouts, high crime rates, high poverty rates.Similar to various historical periods in history, being born into poverty creates a high predisposition for remaining in poverty. Federal, state, and local programs have created positive change and effects in cities like Baltimore where crime and poverty are some of the highest in the country. However during difficult economic times, government spending is difficult to procure and if it is being fatigued incorrectly or ineffectually it is not reaching as many people as it could. Rebuilding a city that has been mired in poverty is a difficult task with high costs.History shows us that initiating change while children are young and reinforcing that change can comfort growth within a community. In Baltimore, urban planners are attempt to rebuild communities with a mix of lower and middle income families. They feel this will improve the chances of residents maintaining their homes, patronizing local business, going on to post high school education, and keeping their neighborhoods safe. Despite ominous statistics, Baltimore has shown some improvement through programs implemented by the government. A dedication by leaders and the community will be key in the rebuilding of Baltimore.