Experiencing poverty isn’t good for a students’ education… this might sound obvious but poverty and education are treated as two entirely separate issues all too often—they’re not. Poverty is a complex issue, but education is an easy way for you to get involved and help your community with this issue. Here are nine reasons why poverty and education need to be in the same conversation:

1. Work and Family

Youth experiencing poverty are more likely to be absent or leave school entirely because they often must work or care for family members.

 

2. Dropout Rates

Students from low-income families are seven times more likely to drop out than those from families with higher incomes.

 

3. Diplomas
29% of people experiencing poverty don’t have a high school diploma

 

 

 

4. Learning Disabilities
18% of children living below or near the poverty line have learning disabilities

 

 

 

5. Vocabulary
By the age of four, children from low-income households hear 32 million fewer spoken words than their higher-income peers.

 

 

6. SAT Scores
The gap in SAT scores between wealthy and low-income students has grown by 42% in the last two decades.

 

 

7. Volunteers Make a Difference
After-school and computer programs have proven to improve reading and math results at elementary schools with high poverty rates.

 

 

8. Incarceration
50% of incarcerated adults don’t have a high school or equivalent degree—incarceration is a major contributor to poverty.

 

 

9. Parent’s Education
82% of children whose parents that don’t have a high school degree live in low-income families.

 

 

Cycles of poverty aren’t good for you, the people experiencing it, or anyone. Solutions are fun and so is teaching kids. If you’d like to get involved with something wildly successful at resolving the issues you just read about, you can volunteer with us or here’s five ways you can get involved with afterschool programs in your community.