00 a gallon, and rents increasing, along with the rising cost of food in America, it is fair to suggest that more people will be slipping down below the lower middle class into the world of poverty. It is very easy to see why the minimum wage did not increase for more than ten years; the Republican Party was in control of Congress from 1994 through 2007 (January). Republicans generally support business and not social programs, so it wasn't until the Democrats became the majority in Congress in 2007 that the minimum wage was bumped up. It will rise to $6.55 an hour in July 2008, then to $7.25 an hour in July 2009. But by 2009, what will $7.25 be worth? With inflation, it might not be worth much more than it is right now, and the working poor will continue to struggle to keep their kids fed and keep the household intact.

THREE: How can this problem best be addressed? Perhaps by identifying the greatest challenges to African-Americans in 2008, for starters. That question was put to several black leaders - "...Black America's keenest minds" - by writer Brentin Mock in the magazine Essence. Donna Brazile, a strategist in the Democratic Party said the "most appalling thing" she sees are the "inequities" and bad conditions in schools where black children attend classes. The per-pupil spending is a big problem; Brazile points out that in school districts serving mostly students of color, "states and localities spend on average $908 less per student and $825 less in districts serving poor students compared with what they spend in districts that are wealthy and white." Scholar Cornel West is quoted in the Essence article as saying the "greatest threat is poverty." He mentions that "nearly 25% of Blacks live in poverty," but only 8.2% of Whites (according to the 2006 U.S. Census data).

The president of Harlem Children's Zone, Geoffrey Canada, explains that because Black children are so often stuck in schools that are ill equipped to train them or teach them what they need to know, they are going to suffer. If people aren't prepared to "increase their skills to be able to compete on a higher level," he asserts, "They end up living on the margins of society...

The graduation rate (nationwide in the U.S.) for Black students who attend college is 42% (data from the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education) while the graduation rate for Caucasian students is 62%.
What is Barack Obama's plan? On his Web site (www.barackobama.com) hereminds visitors that he "fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless" in Chicago. His plan includes: "Expand access to jobs"; "Make work pay for all Americans"; "Strengthen families"; "Increase the supply of affordable housing"; "Tackle concentrated poverty" (Obama wants to establish 20 "Promise neighborhoods" like the Harlem Children's Zone; with early childhood education opportunities, youth violence prevention efforts, after-school activities, etc.).

John McCain has no category for "poverty" on his Web site; he has a "Human Dignity" category which includes "overturning Roe v. Wade"; outlawing gay marriage; protecting children from Internet pornography; but nothing about helping people out of poverty.

Hillary Clinton is calling for the "establishment of a cabinet-level position to fight poverty," according to the New York Times (Goodman, 2008). Her Web site calls for strong advocacy for schools, early education, adoption for abused and neglected children, among other proposals such as "kinship care" - meaningful support to households where grandparents and relatives are raising children.

Works Cited

Armour, Stephanie. "Minimum wage increase kicks in today." USA Today. 24 July 2007.

Retrieved April 14, 2008, at http://www.usatoday.com.

Brentin, Mock. "The Greatest challenges to African-Americans in 2008." Essence 38.8 (2007):

Dreier, Peter. "Poverty in the Suburbs." The Nation. 20 September 2004. Retrieved April 15, 2008 at http://www.thenation.com.

Goodman, Peter S. "From Welfare Shift in '96, a Reminder for Clinton." The New York Times

11 April 2008: Retrieved April 15, 2008, at http://www.nytimes.com.

Jones, David R. "The Urban Agenda."…