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Hi from the Saovish Army. You're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life.
Throughout this series, we've been discussing some of society's most difficult challenges through the eyes of ministry leaders serving on the front lines. Today we're focused on poverty and homelessness. From housing instability and mental health struggles to generational poverty, these challenges affect millions of families in our communities. If you'd like to learn more about Pathway of Hope or to find additional resources, check out the show notes for this episode for links and more information. Yeah, so I think.
Homelessness and poverty really don't stem from one thing. It's often multiple intersecting crisis that people are experiencing, whether that be unaffordable housing, trauma, mental health struggles, domestic violence. Medical debt. Job instability, generational poverty, where they're caught in those cycles and. much of what we've already been discussing just all can lead to poverty and homelessness or being at risk for homelessness.
And when you look at the statistics, there are thirty eight point 1.1 million Americans in poverty were below the poverty line, and millions of those are families with children. Um They've also found that children raised in poverty are 32 times more likely to remain in poverty, so there's a generational aspect to it. Um From since 2023, there's been a 39% rise in family homelessness. And so just that's a challenge that we're seeing across the board. Um And in the southern states, there is a higher rate of child poverty, which affects the Salvation Army's southern territory, but there's an 18%.
Um Child poverty rate in some of the deep South States, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, it's near 20%. And so, You know, that kind of gives you a picture of what we're facing in our country and just the challenges we face. A few other statistics that kind of show the scale of the problem. Is that one-third to one-half of children in poverty for a substantial part of childhood will be in poverty as adults? One in 10 American children spends at least half their childhood in poverty.
Yeah. And 42% of black children stay in the lowest income bracket. And so 42% of black Americans born into the lowest income category remained there as adults, compared to 17% of white Americans.
So that speaks to some structural inequality and that compounds the cycles of poverty that we're seeing. And often we think, when we think of poverty, we think of financial poverty, but it really is the absence of any of the following: financial, emotional, mental health, spiritual, physical. Support systems, role models, and hidden rules.
So, um, That comes from Ruby Payne's Framework for Understanding Poverty, which is a book that kind of. we look to to help understand the poverty crisis that we're in. And so it's not just about finances, it's all of those things combined, which kind of speaks to just the different topics that we've been discussing and how they all intersect in different ways. I mean, even just like very basically, just discussing just poverty in general, not even homelessness. I think I read that just within Atlanta, The average just studio apartment today is going for $1,300 a month.
And to be just financially stable, I think they suggest that your rent or your mortgage should be one week's worth of your income. And so you're looking at well over $4,000 a month to even just be in a small studio apartment in Atlanta. And so it's not hard to understand how difficult it is to even get to that level of financial stability to be able to be on your own. and, you know, be healthy and happy and eating good meals and stuff. It's it's pretty unattainable for a ton of people.
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Yes, I mean, there's a lot of misconceptions, but I think one is that it comes from someone's personal failure and that it's their fault, kind of back to that shame piece. But I think in reality, Families experiencing poverty or homelessness are hardworking. Their parents are trying to survive. Impossible situations. And so Maybe they were barely scraping by a living month to month, and then their car died.
And so now. They don't have a car, they can't get to work, they lose their job, and then you know it just kind of spirals, and so I think. Um that it's not just one thing that causes homelessness. I don't know if anyone else has other misconceptions they'd want to highlight. When you talked about there's not just one way poverty shows up, I I didn't think about that until now, actually.
I think also I wonder the lack of community and support because I remember losing my car. I me and my family had one, and I got someone hit me in the back on the way to work. Um, and totaled the car. And I had we had nothing. And I live what 35 minutes away from work.
Um, it's not a remote job. And so it was like, what do I do?
So Gratefully, I had community and family that could come alongside me to help me raise funds to get back on to get back on the street, to get a car, to get to work. But a lot of people don't have. that aspect. And so I think lack of community and support is a huge factor. But we just you shared the loneliness epidemic.
Yeah. And so that's it's a big part of it too. And I didn't think about it till till now.
So What role should the church play beyond temporary charity? Before we hit record, I was just kind of saying, you know, one of my own experiences. in a um a large church that I was a part of. We were in a pretty rough part of town and being there on staff pretty early on. woman knocked on the door and she just wanted some help with some gas money and I didn't know their policies or anything and I just happened to have cash on me and so I, you know, gave her twenty bucks and and prayed with her.
And uh when I got back inside I was kind of scolded, saying, you know, if you continue to give that woman money for gas every day, you're gonna go broke.
So we have to have some type of policy. What should the church be doing besides just giving someone twenty bucks for gas. That's not changing their life. Yeah. That's um A great question to ask.
And I think that the Salvation Army is positioned to Really? Break cycles of poverty, and that's what the goal of Pathway Hope is. And I think before Pathway of Hope started, what a lot of officers and social services employees were realizing that we were doing those band-aid approaches. We were doing food pantry, and we were helping with rent and utility assistance, and doing emergency housing, which are all great things, but They are band-aids. It's not.
Helping break the cycle. And so, what they were finding was the same families and individuals kept coming back over and over, year after year, and there wasn't really lasting change. And so, I think. The church should be providing that holistic care for families and going from just being transactional and giving a handout to being transformational and seeking to. Walk alongside these families.
And so, Pathway of Hope, our approach within the Salvation Army is. To have three pillars. And so it's case management, which is the social work side of it, the church integration. Having that community of care that's walking alongside and welcoming in families and people who are in crisis. And then community collaboration.
We can't do it by ourselves.
So partnering and working with other organizations that might help with workforce development or health care or mental health. And so having that three-pronged approach is really a holistic. way of working with people We really prioritize trauma informed care. And having a strengths-based approach.
So meeting them where they're at, letting them drive the goals, letting them look at where they want to end up and what they're working towards, and helping them get there. And so we're not. Rescuing people, but we're walking alongside them and helping them towards where they're. wanting to go. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation.
Uh We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. You don't need more discipline. You just need more of Jesus. If your mind won't slow down or you're feeling worn thin, Bible League International wants to send you ABIDE, a free 31-day prayer guide to help you draw close to God in as little as five minutes a day. Experience settled peace, lasting joy, and God's nearness.
Get your free copy of ABIDE Today. Text ABIDE to 94878. That's ABIDE to 94878. Can you give us like an example of just you know a family who goes into pathway of hope. What steps are they taking and maybe like a success story that you could share with us?
Yeah, um so I think It can look a lot of different ways, but one particular story, there was a. Married couple with kids who the husband had been in and out of prison and was having trouble finding a job. And the wife was having some medical issues, and so they were on the cusp of. Homelessness and getting evicted from their house. And so they came to the Salvation Army and worked with the case manager who was able to help her get her resume updated and find employment.
And then, um, Also, they were getting evicted, and so they had to find another housing option.
So, they were able to help with. getting them a new apartment and Provide rent assistance for a few months while she was. Saving up money with her new job. And then the husband was able to get some. Help with workforce development and get a technical skill so that he could get a job that worked for him.
And so, really, just walking alongside them in their goals and seeing them. Um start to thrive because You know, if they didn't have the support system from the core, from the case manager, they might have been on the streets because they might have fallen into actual homelessness. And then the cycle continues. But because of the resources and support from The case manager from the church, from the community partners, they were able to. Really get to a stable place to where now he's the husband's actually volunteering with the Salvation Army and helping to serve.
The wife's doing a lot better now that she's gotten through her medical issues. And so that's the goal: to just. Empower those families to overcome the obstacles that they're facing and provide the support that they need so that they can. Get towards self-sufficiency where they're not. you know, on the brink of Homelessness, or poverty.
It's interesting that now, a month ago, we had Barry Brown, who works with Correctional Ministries, and one of the things he was talking about is just. You know, maybe you made a mistake. Maybe you're wrongfully convicted. We have no idea what your story is. But then you get out of prison and now you can't get a job because no one will hire you.
Now you have fines to pay. You can't afford to pay because you can't get a job to pay for the fines. And now you're back to jail. Hey, that's all the time we have for today. Join us next week as we continue this conversation and wrap up our series with our roundtable guests.
Yeah. Uh Have a great week. And God bless. Hmm. Uh The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs.
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