Biggest causes of poverty in the Greater Lowell Area
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speak 1 question
1. What are the biggest causes of poverty in the Greater Lowell Area?
2. Who are the most vulnerable populations?
3. Are there service or funding solutions needed to address these issues?
4. How do people work to overcome poverty and its harmful effects?
5. What are the most significant impacts or changes to the community you have witnessed in the past 3 years? Examples: Covid impact, changes in population, industry, economy, social services, needs, etc.
6. What other information would you like to share about how we can strengthen the community and reduce poverty?
Transcript
Speaker 1
Thank you. So, uh, my first question will be, UM? What are the? Biggest UM cause of property in the greater Lowell area.
Speaker 2
Uhm, I would say there’s probably a few. One being definitely the housing situation in Lowell, so lack of affordable housing. And the fact that rents and you know mortgages are so expensive that people are spending 4050% of their income on housing which is not sustainable, which obviously leads to you know other situations and and poverty. So I would say that’s. That’s part of it. And then basically the another part would just be sort of systemic policies in place that make it difficult for people to overcome poverty. You know. So whether that’s you know the Cliff effect. With with welfare benefits, people getting public assistance and then they can’t make too much income and then they make too much income and they lose their benefits and it kind of just. It’s this awful cycle that keeps people in poverty.
Speaker 1
Interesting, do you think? Uhm so for in order for people since he’s talk about welfare and everything in order for people to gain access to welfare? What’s like, well, uhm? What would you say you have to like make in a year in order for you to be approved for welfare?
Speaker
Right?
Speaker 2
I don’t know. I mean I know they go by percentage of poverty. I think it’s 200% of poverty. The poverty levels that are listed so I don’t work directly. You know, with people applying so I don’t have an exact answer, but that’s my understanding, OK?
Speaker 1
Who are the most vulnerable population?
Speaker 2
I, I think again, there’s a few answers. One would that comes to mind lately would be, you know immigrants and refugees. So people fleeing from different countries. Uhm, you know Afghanistan. The Ukraine countries in Africa. So people who come to the city already under sort of very stressful dire circumstances. The the process of getting help in the city can be hard to understand, especially for people for whom English may not be their first language. It’s difficult for people for whom English is their first language, and then also sort of just the fear the fear of. Maybe not having the correct documents, not wanting to, you know, to get help because you’re afraid of what might happen, or just not sort of understanding everything and then just the the need. How many people are in need and you know, there’s just not enough sort of help and benefits to to go around. So I’d say refugees and then also homeless people dealing with homelessness or housing insecurity. Uhm 2 big populations that. Are definitely having a really difficult time.
Speaker 1
Uhm, are there service or funding solution need to address this these issues?
Speaker 2
I definitely think there is some services needed, so definitely affordable housing and I know the city of Lowell and CTI. And you know a bunch of organizations are involved in trying to figure out how to get more affordable housing units that it’s not sustainable to keep homeless people you know, in hotels for a long period of time. They can’t get other services that they need, so I definitely think funding around housing is a major issue. And that just ties up to so many other things. So you know, fuel assistance, food assistance. So yeah, I think that that funding around housing priorities both at the city level, state level, federal level was really important.
Speaker 1
Uhm, how do people work to overcome poverty? And it’s come home from harmful effects?
Speaker 2
Yeah, again, I think people you know trying to to really do their best, but oftentimes they find that again, like I mentioned before, getting getting a raise sometimes at their job, sometimes negatively affects them because it it makes them. You know that they make too much money. You know, in quotes to continue to receive housing assistance or fuel assistance, or SNAP or or, you know, WIC benefits. So I think that’s a definite difficult situation. I know there’s a lot of organizations trying to help people young people. Uhm, you know young people who are out of school get trades or whatever. So I think people are are trying and that right now it’s just not. It’s not an easy cycle, you know to to escape from for various reasons so.
Speaker 1
That’s really hard up. What aren’t the most significant impact or changes to the community you have witnessed in the past three years?
Speaker 2
Yeah, so coming from a healthcare perspective and and even though I don’t, I don’t work in direct care of patients. But definitely you know, the COVID-19 epidemic really showed us even more so. The disparities. People who can receive both healthcare and other resources you know, access to the vaccine. You know that was a huge eye opener around. Who has access to the vaccine? How do we reach people who don’t know how to go online and register for an appointment to get a vaccine? Either because they don’t have technology or they don’t? You know, speak English, so I would say that the pandemic definitely showed us. Definitely exacerbated the the problems we already knew were there, but both around housing, housing, access, isolation and how all of those things affect mental health. We’ve had a huge. You know, increase in people presenting to the hospital with behavioral health challenges. Some some that you know started during COVID some that got so much worse during COVID. Medical procedures that people you know either had to put off or did put off ’cause they were afraid to go. So I’d say that definitely COVID over the past few. Years, it seems crazy that it’s three years, but over the past few years that we’ve had, it really exacerbated issues in poverty, access, inequality, and equity throughout the area.
Speaker 1
Uhm, what other information, uhm? Would you like to share about like the property that Lowell like struggles with?
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think. You know, again, coming some kind of from, you know the hospital perspective and healthcare. Uhm, you know, seeing homeless people come who you know the there’s a lot of resources really great organizations trying to help homeless people, but the need is so great, both individual homelessness and families. So people who present. Come to the hospital with medical issues that perhaps if they had housing, if they had, you know, a secure place to live. Their medical conditions wouldn’t be as as advanced as they are as acute, so both breathing issues, you know, hypertension, heart issues if you don’t have a home. To relax and to eat and to be with people in. Then obviously your physical health is going to suffer so uhm, I definitely think that you know that that’s something that a lot of organizations are looking at trying to like. You know, combine. Homes as healthcare healthcare as home so I think there’s a lot more work to. Be done there. But definitely the effect that poverty has on. Can you afford insurance? Can you afford to go to the doctor? Can you afford to get a prescription? Uhm, it’s definitely. You know it has an effect on the Community’s physical health and mental health.
Speaker 1
Uhm, let’s say it darling. Somebody that’s working whatever but and, but they can’t afford certain things. How, how? Like the local community played a huge part helping these families or at need like ’cause like yet people suffer with like poverty but like. With health care like where some way guys help too.
Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think that you know, both. You know the hospital obviously doesn’t. You know, turn anyone away due to lack of insurance or lack of ability to pay. I think we have a great resource in the little Community Health Center in the city who’s working with, you know so many patients and providing access to people who may not come to the hospital again for whatever reason, so I think. You know, CTI with its programs, its housing programs, its rent assistance program, it’s young people. I think the city has a lot of support. In the greater little area. Has a lot of support, but the need always I don’t know seems. To sort of. Outpace the amount of support that’s there. I mean, we have partnerships throughout the city with different organizations. The city of Lowell CTI. Like I said, the Health Center mill city grows the food bank, so there’s a lot of resources. I think it’s both just trying to combine resources the best we can and to get the. Resources to people who. Can’t get to them, so whether that’s transportation we hear a lot of times. Well, I would go to the hospital or I’d go to my doctor’s appointment, but I don’t have transportation and I can’t afford to Uber up. So how do we sort of address those major issues that are going on to try? To help people.
Speaker 1
Come back to the population. Would you say like the most people that are targeted with this issue? It’s is a young adult adult or like what like what age group would you say is most like affected mostly.
Speaker 2
That’s an interesting question, and so I think I think kind of all age groups. I don’t know if I could say one more than the other. I mean, I definitely think that. Uhm, through you know the local schools and through CTI we’ve definitely seen a lot more in young people being either homeless or couch surfing or or having a lot of issues that maybe you know when you see a young person walking down the street and little going to school, you don’t think oh that that young person is homeless right? So a lot of that bringing to light. But definitely older, you know I don’t. Older and older population people who may be on a fixed income and COVID just made everything so much more expensive and you couldn’t get things in healthcare. So uhm. I think it’s kind of, you know, not an age specific issue, but those. I think the two groups that have stood out to me the most over the. Past, probably year or so.
Speaker 1
Uhm, can I ask? Like, uh, not like in a personal question but like just like your opinion, do you think since Colvet has a huge impact in like everywhere? Do you think, UM, our life going to go back to normal or it’s just going to keep getting worse and worse and worser?
Speaker 2
That’s such a good question, right? And I think again it is an opinion, right? ’cause I’m not. A scientist, so I don’t know. I I don’t think it will ever kind of go back to the way life was before COVID. We’ll always have COVID, right? So hopefully you know with all the medical advancements, we’ll never have it the way that we had before, right? When we didn’t have. Uhm, treatments and vaccines so, but I think that we’re going to see long term effects from it again, both economically behavioral health, how it really affected people. People who lost people you know to COVID people who used to go out and have you know social time with other groups. Who stayed in their home? You know, for a long time and and so I hope it’s not going to be worse and worse. But I don’t think it will ever. Actually, you know, go back to.
Speaker 1
In normal.
Speaker 2
Yeah, whatever normal was right at that time that we took for granted. I think so, but I think we definitely have a lot of strategies that we didn’t have before. Which makes me. Hopeful, but I think it’s going to take a while before some of these. Issues that, uhm, you know, we don’t necessarily think about that. Were kind of tide to the whole pandemic, and even what was going on before that. It’s going to be a while, I think before we kind of figure out the full impact. I mean that for the younger kids who didn’t go to school in person all that time, what? Is their social, you know social? Emotional level going to be so it’s interesting, but let’s be optimistic and say yes, we think it will get better, but will it ever be? You know, the way it was? I’m not sure.
Speaker 1
Do you think I’m one thing? Oh wait, uhm. Do you think if we have if we have we if we have like a lot of resources, you think it will help? Like seems to commute a bit like in a better way, or there’s some stuff that low is missing in order for it to be like to improve.
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think we definitely do have a lot of the pieces throughout the city, and I think there always can be better coordination because through no fault. I think of people zone you get caught up in your own world and your own organization and what you know you’re focused on. I think there’s a lot of excitement around different initiatives that might come to the city, so the Blue Zones initiative is about the. Well-being movement in Lowell. Not sure if you’re familiar with that sort of a new, UM? A new concept and a partnership that may come to this city which kind of helps people build on what we already have. So build on a lot of the great programs and kind of tie them together. I know that you know the hospital. The Health Center is really kind of thinking about you know community’s health, and trying to reach out more that way. So I, I think that you know. A lot of the pieces. There are some of its funding, like you said before, so trying to get more funding from grants, federal government, whatever to address the problems. And I really. I mean, affordable housing is just the number one. I think issue that a lot of things will fall into place if you have affordable housing. You know you can get. Medical help you can get, you know financial help. Hopefully you can get help if you’re suffering with a substance, use disorder or a mental health disorder. So, but I think that’s a tough. It’s a tough thing, because if there’s no units to buy to house people, you know there’s only so much land. So where do you build these so? But I do think that there’s a lot of. Excitement to move forward in this city. And a lot of resources as well.
Speaker 1
Uhm, since you say, like uhm like immigrants, people do do things too like struggle getting resources. Where are some? What do you guys do as a part of Lowell to help the immigrant people find these resources? Find these places in order for them to to have, like a better life in some way.
Speaker 2
Yeah, great question and I think that again the pandemic kind of showed us that we needed to do more work in these areas. You know? So as an example, we you know the great Little Health Alliance little general. Work together to make specific days at our vaccination clinics so that people from the community who for whatever reason may not schedule an appointment to come for a vaccine they were afraid they were afraid they were gonna have to show documents they were afraid no one was going to speak their language. We all worked together to, you know, to alleviate those fears and say come to the clinic. On this day, don’t show us any documentation. There’ll be someone there who speaks your language. You can get, you know all your questions answered. So I think that you know health care, access and understanding the health care how it works. As something that you know will all be focusing on in the healthcare community, greater low health alliance is working on a navigation video, so people from different cultures who speak different languages explain like OK. This is why you go to the hospital or This is why you go to the urgent care and this is what you need. So I think that stuff is. Really going to be helpful moving forward for sure.
Speaker 1
That’s good, ’cause for example my dad. He he’s not. He doesn’t live here permanently. He lives back home in Haiti and. I came here and then like because I didn’t ask any documents. He was able to like receive the COVID vaccine so that that’s a great way like I feel like it is helping immigrants. It is helpful too. Too like they are taking care of themselves and they are also like because they’re getting vaccinated even though they immigrant. It’s a community also.
Speaker 2
Absolutely yeah. And I mean it’s a valid fear of people, right? I mean, if you don’t have, you know you came here for whatever reason fleeing for whatever reason you don’t have, you know, I mean proper documents, whatever that means. You’re you’re afraid to go. To a, you know, a bureaucracy or a place like a hospital, so we really, you know wanted to be sure. To say, don’t you know, tell us who you are ’cause we have to keep track of how many people get a vaccination, but we’re not going to ask you for, you know your birth certificate or whatever that, yeah, so let’s let’s do that and. Be part of the community, so that’s that’s a great story to hear. So thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 1
It’s like I didn’t know. Also one thing I didn’t know. I didn’t know. UM Hospital Hospital will turn you away without insurance like, even though you don’t have insurance, they will still. They’ll still treat you individuals useful afterwards. ’cause like I.
Speaker 2
Yeah, and for some for some people like they qualify for what you know what we kind of late kind of call free care. It’s not free because it costs the hospital, but if people come and they don’t have resources and they don’t have insurance, they don’t get turned away and you know, we. Get to sort of. Sort of. Write off some losses, but that’s you, know fine to write off losses when you know we’re helping people in the community, so.
Speaker 1
Thank you so much for answering all my questions and thank you for taking your time. Uh, my hope you have a wonderful day.
Speaker 2
My pleasure was really nice talking to you and I’m sure I’ll see you again at some some meetings. Around the city yes yellow alright? Take care bye bye.
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