Background
- Introduction
- Oxfam in the US
INTRODUCTION
Poverty in the US is as stark and real as poverty in many developing countries. Both the conditions and the causes are much like those Oxfam works to alleviate around the world.
For more than a decade, Oxfam America's US program has focused on the rural poor. In every census between 1960 and 2000, rural counties have constituted 95 percent of those labeled "persistently poor." Many states with high poverty rates, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi, have large (more than 40 percent) rural populations.
Targeting rural groups in the Southeast, the Southwest, the Central Valley of California, and the agricultural heartland, the US program addresses two specific factors that perpetuate poverty:
- Racism—Racism exerts a powerful hold over the US economy. Data from the 2000 US census illustrates the disproportionately high poverty rates among several US ethnic groups:
- Immigration and globalization—As globalization destroys rural livelihoods in Mexico, Guatemala, and beyond, immigrants seeking survival in the US place a heavy burden on rural communities. Competition for limited jobs has heightened tensions among ethnic groups and jeopardized the rights of all workers to fair treatment and a living wage.
Even as Oxfam seeks to understand the global systems driving immigration patterns, it strives to protect immigrant rights. Facing enormous legal, language, and cultural barriers, immigrants are among the most vulnerable populations in the US.