Employee Talent and Talent Resourcing-Free-Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Discuss about the Importance of Labor Market Analysis 2.Discuss about the Performance Criteria for measuring the effectiveness of Nice Ltd. Answers: Introduction Human Resource Planning is the process of identifying the current and the future demands regarding the workers availability and skills. It is the process of establishing a link between human resource management with the organization strategy. Several challenges such as high competitiveness in the organization in human resource management as well as ageing population and skill deficiency are significant challenges in the human resource planning process. In the present task, the human resource planning process in Nice Shop Ltd has been explored. It is a small scale company which is aware of the consumer bargaining power and implement innovative technologies to retain thee customers within the organization. In this regard, the report has conducted a labor market analysis which explores the demand and the supply of workforce in the grocery market. A performance criterion is also established which will be used for the recruitment of best candidates in the organization. 1.Importance of Labor Market Analysis Nice shop ltd. is a grocery store and with the changing preferences of consumer with the changing technology, it has become essential for the manager to make its labor also efficient. The labor should be able to match their skills with the changing business world. In this regard, it is important to analyze the skill of the labor first. Skills are an important asset for any business organization and in the global and dynamic business world; it becomes important to analyze the skill of the labor market. Another important consideration in this regard is to match the skill with the prevailing job. Nice Ltd, being a grocery store always has a direct interaction between the customers and the staff which makes it more important to hire workers who could interact with the customers and satisfy their needs (Klosters, 2014). The organization needs a large number of sales staff and employees. Although they need not possess high professional degree, their communication skills should be competitive and they should have high level negotiation skills to convert the lead into potential customers. A large number of talented individuals are available who meet the requirement criteria; however, their retention time in the organization is less. These people join the organization for a small duration, either to gain experience or while pursuing another degree. After a certain period of time, these people switch their jobs. The organization suffers from this situation as they have to work with new recruits who do not possess any training. As a result, the training and the development cost of the organization also increases substantially. According to a survey in the UK by CIPD, it has been observed that performance appraisal can be used to retain such employees (Chubb, Reilly and Brown, 2011). It also helps in determining the impact of workforce planning in an organization. Workforce planning is described as matching the required number of staff with the jobs available in the organization. Analyzing the labor market will help Nice shop Pvt. to access their future needs of the workforce. Many times HR managers tend to ignore the future as future is unpredictable and requires a lot of effort and thinking but this is not so as workforce planning will help the organization to tackle the unforeseen situations of the future because it will have the required workforce to handle the situation. There are three basic steps in the analysis of the labor market, which are internal supply of labor, external supply of labor and internal demand for labor. Firstly, the organization analyzes the internal demand of the labor. It explores the strategic direction of the organization and forecast the number of labor or workforce required for achieving the organizations aims. Secondly, the company analyzes the internal supply of the labor. It includes the evaluation of the current workforce in the organization, retention rate and the people who will be retiring from the organization. In the external supply of labor, the organization examines how it will address the strategic gaps in the workforce and recruit candidates from the job market. In order to analyze the labor market, there are various emerging software packages which help in conducting the analysis. People soft incorporation have evolved workforce planning application through which the organizations can maintain the count of their employees on the basis of their competencies and training, availability, comments made by the super visors on the performance of the employees, the location where workers are available. Another application designed by the company includes a tool which helps the organization in finding out the best employee for a particular project. However, not many organizations use such complicated software but keeping in mind the emerging problems in the labor market of the UK, it is advisable for the Nice pvt ltd to go for the use of such software (Sinclair, 2004). Nice Pvt ltd is going through ups and down and has also seen that the recruitment policies of the past have not yielded such benefit, therefore, it is important for the company to con duct workforce planning with the help of such modern software. It would help the organization to match its requirements with the available workforce. Furthermore, the changing trend in the wage market has also made it compulsory for the organization to provide minimum wages to its workers and for this the organization needs to reform its policies and procedure with the help of effective HR skills. Performance Criteria for measuring the effectiveness of Nice Ltd There are different performance criteria for the HR activities conducted. For measuring the effectiveness of induction, firstly the newly recruited staff should be acquainted with the work environment. It is important because a comfortable and conducive environment motivates the employees. Another important criterion is to make them familiar with their peers and staff. It also affects the performance of employees because the people in the organization often interact and work together on certain projects. A comfortable acquisition will help the new recruit in carrying out his work effectively (Ndebele, 2013). Performance management can be measured against certain objective. The achievable objective should be the measuring criteria in Nice Pvt ltd. The achievable objectives can be the amount of sale done by the employees or the number of customer complaints effectively handled by the staff. The organization is a grocery store and its success depends upon the sale of its product and the availability of required goods at the time of purchase. Furthermore, performance management can be measured on the basis of SMART objectives. It stands for specific, measurable, achievable, reliability and time. Specific objectives are the criteria which state that the employee has achieved what is needed by him. Measurable objective stands for the activities of staff which can be measured in qualitative or quantitative terms. This can be done with the help of performance management tools. Furthermore, an achievable objective is those which are to be attained by the employee in near future. Reliable stands f or the roles which are challenging yet which has to be attained by the employee and time stands for timely attainment of objectives (Lawlor and Hornyak, 2012). The employee should be judged and ranked on the basis of objectives achieved. Important criteria for developing of staff are related to providing adequate training and development programs to the employees. Certain objectives should be kept which are to be attained by the employees at the end of his training and he should be judged on the basis of whether the employee is able to achieve the objectives or not. Nice Pvt ltd. could train the staff regarding handling complaints of the customers during purchasing and later could ask them to handle them on their own. Their activity could be judged and ranked accordingly. Along with this, it is also helpful in setting the wages of the employees. A better assessment of the objectives attained by the employees helps to develop a better HR programs. Before conducting development program it is essential to conduct individual assessment of the staff as it helps the manager in knowing the type of training required by an individual and about his strength and weakness. Another important criterion is to make an assessment abo ut the budget being required in the training program of Nice Pvt ltd. As per the new rule of National living wages, the retail industries are being affected and it has increased pressure on their wage system. Therefore, the assessment of budget requirement will let nice store to know about their budget constraints and plan their training and development activity accordingly. 2.Strategy developed to serve the strategic goal of Nice shop ltd The company requires staff person who would work with efficiency to uphold the product and service delivery of goods at the shop. For this purpose company should strategize to hire those people whose skill will go along with the work required in the organization. For this purpose, I would first ask about their existing skill and talent along with their experience of work. It would provide an insight into the kind of work that can be assigned to them if they are hired. Furthermore, I would also provide them a particular situation and ask them their views regarding the situation. It would reflect their presence of mind and this is important when the staff is involved in solving queries of the customers (Knight, 2015). Another strategy would be to analyze their constructive talent. All these strategies would serve as the strategic goal of Nice shop as through this interview the kind of staff recruited would be energetic, positive and would prove to be constructive for the organization. Moreover, their previous experience of work would also be analyzed as an experienced individual would be able to understand the work and the requirements of the customers easily. Current issues in People Resourcing and Talent Management for Nice shop ltd The current strategy would help in acquiring the talented employees for the shop. This is because recruitment would be based on matching the capability and talent of the individual with the job to be done. Furthermore, they would also be provided with proper training and development once they are recruited so that their talent would be enhanced. At the time of the interview, all the aspects of training and development process should be clearly mentioned to the interviewee, so that he does not feel that his talent is being wasted. It also helps in resourcing people as the organization resources are well utilized through a proper recruitment process. It brings a pool of talented and hard working individual who would make judicious use of existing resources and would not create burden on the organization. Positive Results of the Process The positive effect of the job interview was that it leads to a pool of candidates and gave a good choice to the organization in terms of recruitment. Nice ltd could now select the most appropriate and talented personnel from the applicants and it do not have to make any adjustment regarding the selection. Another activity which went well is that the interview was structured one so there was no chaos and haphazard regarding the question (Macan, 2009). The interviewer was well acquainted with the answers and their inferences. An unstructured interview creates confusion for both. The interview process was well organized and timely managed. It was because the advertisement for the interview was done in a proper way. The job profile was very clear with their requirements and need which helped them in getting right pool of the candidates. Negative Outcomes of the Process There were certain activities during the interview process that did not go well like certain questions were not understood by many candidates due to their complexity level. It was first job interview for many interviewees and due to the complexity of questions; they were not able to answer it in a proper way. Another activity that did not go well was the number of questions. Too many questions were put to a single candidate who made them confuse and caution. Improvements The interview should not impose too many questions as it disturbs the interviewee mind and in spite of knowing the answer, he is not able to reflect it properly. Furthermore, focus should be on work which can be accomplished by the job holder. In order to avoid the wastage of time at the preliminary stage, application should be filtered and unsuitable application should be rejected. It would save time and energy while conducting the job interview (Ullah, 2010). Along with this individual score of the candidates should be marked separately so that in the end the highest scored candidate could be given the post. Key accountabilities of the candidates should be identified at the beginning so that proper time could be allocated to the desiring candidates. Curricular Vitae which provides the details of the interview should not only be scanned but it should be read properly as it would help the interviewee to know about the strength and weakness of the employees. An interview is a give and takes process where both the candidate and the interviewer exchange their ideas and viewpoints and successful candidates should be asked to give feedback so that the process could be improved in future. Conclusion It can be concluded that the human resource planning is a significant process of the human resource management. It forecasts the current and the future demands in the human resource management and design strategies to address them. It assures that the human resource capacity is sufficient to address the vision, mission and the business goals of the organization. In this regard, an analysis is conducted of the labor market in the country which will assist the organization examining the supply and the demand in the labor market in grocery industry. References Chubb,C., Reill, P and Brown, D.2011. Performance Management[Online]. Available at: https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/system/files/resources/files/mp90.pdf [Accessed on August 12, 2017] Kloster,D.2014 [Online]. Available at: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2014/WEF_GAC_Employment_MatchingSkillsLabourMarket_Report_2014.pdf [Accessed on August 12, 2017] Knight,R.2015. How to Conduct an Effective Job Interview[ Online]. Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/01/how-to-conduct-an-effective-job-interview [Accessed on August 12, 2017] Lawlor,K.B and Hornyak. 2012. SMART GOALS: How The Application Of Smart Goals Can Contribute To Achievement Of Student Learning Outcomes. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 39,pp. 259- 267 Macan, T.2015. the employment interview: A review of current studies and direction for future research. Human Resource Management Review 19 (2009),pp. 203- 218 Ndebele, C.2013. New Staff Perceptions on an Academic Staff Induction Programme at a South African University: Lessons for Educational Development[Online]. Available at: DownloadsDocumentsJSS-36-2-103-13-1517-Ndebele-C-Tx[1].pmd.pdf [Accessed on August 12, 2017] Sinclair,A. 2004. Workforce Planning: a literature review [Online]. Available at: https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/system/files/resources/files/mp37.pdf [Accessed on august 12, 2011] Ullah,M.2010. A Systematic Approach of Conducting Employee Selection Interview. International Journal of Business and Management 5(6), pp. 106-112

World Hunger Essays - Health, Personal Life, Food And Drink, Hunger

World Hunger Every day an estimated 24,000 people die from hunger or hunger related causes. Three-fourths of these deaths are children under the age of five. One may wonder how this can be living in a country were it seems so much food is wasted everyday. Food restaurants and grocery stores throw away food every night before closing. Many Americans waste food every day within their own homes. With so much "left over" food in American how is it that an estimated 800 million people around the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition?1 Well, first we must define the word hunger. Hunger, in this case, is not just the rumbling in ones stomach that most of us feel if we have not eaten for a few hours. For this purpose, hunger is defined as "a condition resulting from chronic under-consumption of food and/or nutritious food products. It may be precipitated by an inability to obtain sufficient quantities of food to eat or a failure to consume adequate quantities of nutritious food products, regardless of the ability to obtain sufficient food supplies."2 The problem of world hunger is not that there is not enough food produced in the world. "World production of grain alone is over 1.5 billion tons, enough to supply the entire world population with two pounds a day."3 This grain combined the current production of other foods such as meat, fruits, vegetables, and nuts is enough to provide each adult and child on earth 3000 calories a day which is what the average American consumes.4 Americans are not the only ones who waste food. People all over the world are doing the very same thing. And the though it seems that America has too much food, we Americans have hungry people living right here in our own country. The world hunger problem lies within the changing environmental conditions, population, and most of all, poverty. This paper will discuss the causes, effects and possible solutions of world hunger. There are three major causes of world hunger, changing environment conditions, population, and poverty. The environment, of course, is the major element in the production of food in most countries across the globe. The environment in which one lives decides what types of food can be produced and how much of that food can be produced. The weather or climate in any particular environment can change and affect what people eat and how much of it they are able to eat. One change in the environment that adversely affects agriculture is soil erosion. "Some one-third of the world's cropland is loosing topsoil at a rate that undermines its future productivity."5 Topsoil is a major factor in growing most crops. It is the richest part of the soil and contains minerals and nutrients that most plants need for survival. Too much soil erosion begins a chain reaction leaving the land susceptible to drought. And as we all know, very little food can be grown on dry land. A drought not only affects plants, but as a result of lack of plants and water and in many cases extreme heat cattle are starved or die from thirst. This loss of organic matter in the land results in runoff after rainfall and increased runoff and rainfall allows for flooding. A flood, like the drought though they are opposite, wipes away crops or kills them because of the overabundance of water. People can attempt to produce food by planting and caring for their land and animals, but Mother Nature has the ultimate say and humans are unable to predict what she will do next. The next two causes of hunger we will discuss together because they coincide, population and the poor. Population is an issue not because there are too many mouths to feed, as was stated earlier, but because the hungry people of the world are the majority who have large families and continue to increase them, thus creating hungry children. "Poor people have large families for many reasons...Reasons of security for their old age. Reasons about additional help on the land. Reasons concerning the cultural preference for sons. Reasons related to the laws of inheritance. Reasons dictated by traditional religious behavior. And reasons of personal pride"6 These are all reasons why poor people all over the country continue to have large families generation after generation despite their economic condition. The majority of the hungry live and work in rural areas. Why are poor people affected so much by hunger? The answer would be seemingly simple, that they are just unable to afford

Okonkwos Fear-From Things Fall Apart Essays - Free Essays

Okonkwo's Fear-From Things Fall Apart Essays - Free Essays Okonkwo's Fear-From Things Fall Apart Okonkwos fear Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a story of a man whose life is dominated by his fears. There are many subtle themes throughout this book. One theme that cries out over the rest is Okonkwos, the main character, fear of weakness as seen through his childhood, his oldest son, and eventually his death. Since his childhood, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, In his day he (Unoka) was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow(p.4). By the standard of his clan, Unoka was a coward and squanderer. When he was a child, a boy called Okonkwos father an agbala. This word means woman as well as a man who has no title. His carelessness left numerous debts unpaid at his death. Ashamed of his father, Okonkwo worked hard and fought well to gain a reputation of high status and influence in his clan. He acquired three wives, one whom gave him his first son. Okonkwos first wife, whose name is never mentioned, gave birth to his first son, Nwoye. Okonkwo saw Nwoye weak and lazy from an early age. For this, Nwoye was beaten constantly. Okonkwo was highly demanding of his family because of his obsession not to be like his father. He mistook this behavior as masculinity. He wished his son were a promising, manly son like his friend Obierikas son, Maduka, who was also a great fighter. One night the town of Umuofia was told that someone in Mbaino had killed one of their daughters. The woman was Ugbeufi Udos wife. The blood price for the murder was a virgin and young man to Umuofia. The virgin was given to Ugbeufi Udo as his wife. They did not know what to do with the young boy, Ikemefuna. Okonkwo was asked on behalf of the clan to take care of the boy. Secretly, Okonkwo grew fond of Ikemefuna, Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy-inwardly of course. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger(p.28). Ik emefuna lived with Okonkwo and his family for three years until the time came when the Oracle said that Ikemefuna had to be killed. Okonkwo was warned not to have any part in killing the boy who called him father. He ignored this and upon returning sank into a deep depression which kindled the affliction inside of him. Not only the death of Ikemefuna, but also the accidental killing of Ogbeufi Ezeudus son, which gets Okonkwo and his family exiled for seven years, aides in his depression. To atone for the killing of his clansmens son, Okonkwo and his family were cast out of Umuofia and were forced to go live with his mothers clan in Mbanta. In their second year a group of six missionaries traveled to Mbanta and tried to persuade the people from their false gods of wood and stone to the one true God. They captured Nwoye and he later joined their congregation. When Okonkwo was informed of the news he strangled Nwoye in anger. He questioned how he could have fathered such a weak son. At the end of the seven-year exile, Okonkwo was able to return home. However, the church had taken over Umuofia also. Nothing was the same. Okonkwo refused to integrate with the new visitors. He thought that the clans failure to remove them was womanly. Almost happy again, Okonkwo began to accept the new Umuofia. Then the leaders of the clan, including Okonkwo, were taken for ransom by the church. Deeply angered by what was happening, Okonkwo killed one of the leaders at a meeting. The pacif ication of Okonkwos clan is what depressed him. He knew his clan would not go to war. This desire to act violently all goes back to his fathers lack of desire. In the end the violence settled on Okonkwo, when he hung himself. In conclusion, all these aspects: his childhood, his first son and Ikemefuna, and his death contribute in explaining Okonkwos fear of weakness. Okonkwos life was controlled by his fears. He valued the success of his family and the community with his own success. If Nwoye was weak it was because

Cigarette advertising essays

Cigarette advertising essays What are cigarette advertisements really selling you? When we look at cigarette advertising in todays society we see that it portrays smoking as a non-harmful addiction. If you spend some time looking through a magazine, I guarantee that you will stumble upon at least seven different cigarette ads from such popular companies as Camel to Marlboro. Each ad gives you a different perspective at each brands ideal image of cigarette smoking. Of course we all remember Joe Camel, the retired mascot for Camel cigarettes. Joe would be shown in many different ads all pimped out in his pink Cadillac with a sweet looking female camel in the passenger seat and he would always be smoking a cigarette. Since Joe was a cartoon and he showcased a badass image he was banned from Camel advertising for his appeal to young children. Since the loss of this cartoon pin-up the Camel Company has had to come up with some other ways to persuade you to buy their cigarettes. While I was flipping through an issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine looking for all the slamming ladies and also the article on how to keep my hair from frizzing up, I came across an ad for Camel cigarettes. What first caught my attention was the attractive woman in a fancy silver dress. She was standing on a stage and looked to be passionately singing into a microphone holding a cigarette in her hand, and they headlined the ad with the phrase Camel a pleasure to burn. When I saw all this, the sheer stupidity of this advertisement made me laugh. How could they show this women singing and smoking at the same time? Have you ever heard the coughing and wheezing of a smoker? No offense to anybody that smokes, but I doubt this woman could hold a note for more than fifteen seconds after smoking for a couple of years. What causes a person to buy Cigarettes such as Camel? Is it the pleasure they get after soothing their addiction with a nice smoke? Or is it the images that cigarette ...

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 65

Marketing - Essay Example A SWOT analysis of the project illustrates that the availability of resources as defined by the budget will allow an investment on the project a success and able to meet goals. Additionally a marketing plan will allow the market to be aware of the service and interested in using it. In addition, there are opportunities in the market for future expansion. However the internal environment within the organization such as corporate culture and management strategies would determine the success of the project. There is a need for conducting an elaborate market research so that the willingness of the market to purchase, their needs and financial capabilities can be determined so that accurate objectives and goals of marketing and implementing the project can be designed. The marketing strategies will involve a competitive approach where technology is employed in achieving effective marketing communication for the mobile mammogram service. More importantly the 4 Ps as market variables will b e analyzed so that they would be implemented effectively in ensuring success of the marketing process for the mobile mammogram service within the target

Poetry Explication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Poetry Explication - Essay Example The fact that it is "smudged" and written in "erasable ink" (2) says a good deal about the students feelings on the topic. The confession, of course, is the students desire to be effortlessly beautiful, and the poem makes us complicit in this confession, asking "isnt it strange / how we want it, despite all we know?" (3-4). Here the sense is one of compassion for the student, and also a vague sense of embarrassment to be caught in the same trap of wanting beauty even while knowing that it is not that easy or important, or even realistic. The imagery used while comparing the narrators daily life to the photos of models builds on this idea, making it clear that the photos are fantasies through descriptions of models as "cobalt-eyed, hair puddling / like cognac" (5-6), or in one case as "curved and light-drenched, more like a beach / than the beach" (7-8). Through these images, the ideal of beauty is shown to be completely unrealistic, and removed from any sort of achievable goal, while at the same time also being something that is just naturally desirable. The poem asks us who has not wanted to be beautiful, and shows us why we want to, at the same time. This is compared to the boring, every-day, and cheap life of the narrators reality. For instance, now her daydreams are limited to seeing a magazine "in the checkout line" (11), which nonetheless inspires in her "the old pull, flare / of the pilgrims twin flames, desire and faith (13-14). Here, the poem compares fashion magazines to religion, which inspire readers to believe in them and want what they show, even though the narrator should know better. The narrators childhood is presented similarly, how she went "from store to store" (15) buying "polyester satin, / machine-made lace, petunia- and Easter egg-colored" (16-17). The cheapness of the materials she can afford is contrasted to the fancy clothing of the models in the photos she admired, described as an "angel inside

Effects of Poverty on Children Essay Example for Free

Effects of Poverty on Children Essay The nation’s economic crisis has deeply affected the lives of millions of Americans. Skyrocketing foreclosures and job layoffs have pulled the rug out from under many families, particularly those living in low-income communities. Deepening poverty is inextricably linked with rising levels of homelessness and food insecurity/hunger for many Americans and children are particularly affected by these conditions. Find out below a summary of the myriad effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and youth. Various volunteer opportunities and resources have also been listed that provide information and tools on ways to fight poverty in America. What are the current poverty and unemployment rates for Americans? The ongoing economic crisis has negatively affected the livelihoods of millions of Americans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2013), the unemployment rate is 7.9 percent as of January 2013. Despite the data showing an increase of only 0.1 percent from December 2012, the unemployment rate is still high by all accounts, having doubled since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. * U.S. Census Bureau data shows that the U.S. poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent (46.2 million) in 2010, an increase from 14.3 percent (approximately 43.6 million) in 2009 and the highest level since 1993. In 2008, 13.2 percent (39.8 million) Americans lived in relative poverty. * In 2000, the poverty rate for individuals was 12.2 percent and for families was 9.3 percent. * In 2010, the poverty threshold, or poverty line, was $22,314 for a family of four. * Over 15 percent of the population fell below this threshold in 2010. * The percentage of people in deep poverty was 13.5 percent of all Blacks and 10.9 percent of all Hispanics, compared to 5.8 percent of Asians and 4.3 percent of Whites. * While non-Hispanic Whites still constitute the largest single group of Americans living in poverty, ethnic minority groups are overrepresented (27.4 percent African American; 28.4 percent American Indian and Alaskan Native; 26.6 percent Hispanic, and 12.1 percent Asian and Pacific Islander compared with 9.9 percent non-Hispanic White). * These disparities are associated with the historical marginalization of ethnic minority groups and entrenched barriers to good education and jobs. Where is child poverty concentrated? * U.S. Census data reveals that from 2009 to 2010, the total number of children under age 18 living in poverty increased to 16.4 million from 15.5 million. Child poverty rose from 20.7 percent in 2009, to 22 percent in 2010, and this is the highest it has ever been since 1993. * Racial and ethnic disparities in poverty rates persist among children. The poverty rate for Black children was 38.2 percent; 32.3 percent for Hispanic children; 17 percent for non-Hispanic White children; and 13 percent for Asian children. * The National Center for Children in Poverty reports that 17.2 million children living in the U.S. have a foreign-born parent, and 4.2 million children of immigrant parents are poor. It is reported that child poverty in immigrant families is more closely related to low-wage work and barriers to valuable work supports. * The Population Reference Bureau (2010) reports that 24 percent of the 75 million children under age 18 in the U.S. live in a single-mother family. The poverty rate for children living in female-householder families (no spouse present) was 42.2 percent in 2010; 7 in 10 children living with a single mother are poor or low-income, compared to less than a third (32 percent) of children living in other types of families. A staggering 50.9 percent of female-headed Hispanic households with children below 18 years of age live in poverty (48.8 percent for Blacks; 31.6 percent Asian, and 32.1 percent non-Hispanic White). * Single-mother headed households are more prevalent among African American and Hispanic families contributing to ethnic disparities in poverty. What are the effects of child poverty? Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our nation’s children. Poverty impacts children within their various contexts at home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities. * Poverty is linked with negative conditions such as substandard housing, homelessness, inadequate nutrition and food insecurity, inadequate child care, lack of access to health care, unsafe neighborhoods, and under resourced schools which adversely impact our nation’s children. * Poorer children and teens are also at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, school dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and socio-emotional problems, physical health problems, and developmental delays. * These effects are compounded by the barriers children and their families encounter when trying to access physical and mental health care. * Economists estimate that child poverty costs an estimated $500 billion a year to the U.S. economy; reduces productivity and economic output by 1.3 percent of GDP; raises crime and increases health expenditure (Holzer et al., 2008). Poverty and academic achievement * Poverty has a particularly adverse effect on the academic outcomes of children, especially during early childhood. * Chronic stress associated with living in poverty has been shown to adversely affect children’s concentration and memory which may impact their ability to learn. * The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2008, the dropout rate of students living in low-income families was about four and one-half times greater than the rate of children from higher-income families (8.7 percent versus 2.0 percent). * The academic achievement gap for poorer youth is particularly pronounced for low-income African American and Hispanic children compared with their more affluent White peers. * Under resourced schools in poorer communities struggle to meet the learning needs of their students and aid them in fulfilling their potential. * Inadequate education contributes to the cycle of poverty by making it more difficult for low-income children to lift themselves and future generations out of poverty. Poverty and psychosocial outcomes * Children living in poverty are at greater risk of behavioral and emotional problems. * Some behavioral problems may include impulsiveness, difficulty getting along with peers, aggression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder. * Some emotional problems may include feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. * Poverty and economic hardship is particularly difficult for parents who may experience chronic stress, depression, marital distress and exhibit harsher parenting behaviors. These are all linked to poor social and emotional outcomes for children. * Unsafe neighborhoods may expose low-income children to violence which can cause a number of psychosocial difficulties. Violence exposure can also predict future violent behavior in youth which places them at greater risk of injury and mortality and entry into the juvenile justice system. Poverty and physical health Children and teens living in poorer communities are at increased risk for a wide range of physical health problems: * Low birth weight   * Poor nutrition which is manifested in the following ways: 1. Inadequate food which can lead to food insecurity/hunger 2. Lack of access to healthy foods and areas for play or sports which can lead to childhood overweight or obesity * Chronic conditions such as asthma, anemia, and pneumonia * Risky behaviors such as smoking or engaging in early sexual activity * Exposure to environmental contaminants, e.g., lead paint and toxic waste dumps * Exposure to violence in their communities which can lead to trauma, injury, disability, and mortality What is the prevalence of child hunger in America? * The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics reports that in 2010, 22 percent of children under the age of 18 lived in food-insecure households and one percent in households with very low food security. Food insecure means that at some point during the year, the household had limited access to an adequate supply of food due to lack of money or other resources. * In 2009 – 2010, 21 states and the District of Columbia had at least one in four households with children (25 percent or more) facing food hardship, according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). The District of Columbia had the highest rates of food hardship for households with children, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. FRAC data shows that Metropolitan areas in the South and South West, and California were hard hit by food hardships. Use of food stamps increased to 16% (13.6 million households) in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau. States with the largest increase (over 30%) in food stamp use included Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Wisconsin and Florida. * Approximately 1 in 4 Americans utilize at least one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) nutrition assistance programs each year (USDA, 2011). * The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) reports that 53% of infants born in the United States receive support from the Women, Infants Children (WIC) program. * In 2010, more than 31.7 million children each day got their lunch through the National School Lunch Program. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals. Approximately, 20 million children received free and reduced price lunch, according to the Food Research and Action C enter (2010). What are the effects of hunger and under nutrition on child development? Prenatally * Maternal under nutrition during pregnancy increases the risk of negative birth outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight, smaller head size, and lower brain weight. * Babies born prematurely are vulnerable to health problems and are at increased risk for developing learning problems when they reach school-age. In infancy and early childhood * The first three years of a child’s life are a period of rapid brain development. Too little energy, protein, and nutrients during this sensitive period can lead to lasting deficits in cognitive, social, and emotional development. * Protein-energy malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, iodine, zinc, and other vitamin deficiencies in early childhood can cause brain impairment. * Failure to thrive, the failure to grow and reach major developmental milestones as the result of under nutrition, affects 5-10% of American children under the age of three. * Hunger reduces a child’s motor skills, activity level, and motivation to explore the environment. Movement and exploration are important to cognitive development, and more active children elicit more stimulation and attention from their caregivers, which promotes social and emotional development. In childhood * Families often work to keep their food-insecurity hidden, and some parents may feel shame or embarrassment that they are not able to feed their children adequately. Children may also feel stigmatized, isolated, ashamed, or embarrassed by their lack of food. * A community sample that classified low-income children ages six to twelve as â€Å"hungry†, â€Å"at-risk for hunger†, or â€Å"not hungry† found that hungry children were significantly more likely to receive special education services, to have repeated a grade in school, and to have received mental health counseling than at-risk-for-hunger or not-hungry children. * In this same study, hungry children exhibited 7 to 12 times as many symptoms of conduct disorder (such as fighting, blaming others for problems, having trouble with a teacher, not listening to rules, stealing) than their at-risk or not-hungry peers. * Among low-income children, those classified as â€Å"hungry† show increased anxious, ir ritable, aggressive, and oppositional behavior in comparison to peers. * Additionally, the multiple stressors associated with poverty result in significantly increased risk for developing psychiatric and functional problems. School-age children who experience severe hunger are at increased risk for the following negative outcomes: * Homelessness * Chronic health conditions * Stressful life conditions * Psychiatric distress * Behavioral problems * Internalizing behavior, including depression, anxiety, withdrawal, and poor self-esteem The effects of under nutrition depend on the length and severity of the period of hunger and may be mediated by other factors. * Improved nutrition, increased environmental stimulation, emotional support, and secure attachment to parents/caregivers can compensate for early under nutrition. * Babies who receive enough nutrition while in the womb appear to show higher cognitive performance in later childhood. * The human brain is flexible and can recover from early deficits, but this also means that brain structures remain vulnerable to further negative experiences throughout childhood. * Breastfeeding, attentive caretaking, and attention to environmental factors, such as sleep cycles and noise, can also promote healthy development. Who are homeless children and youth in America? * In 2009, an estimated 656,129 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a given night, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. An estimated 2.3 to 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness at least once a year. Homelessness affects people of all ages, geographic areas, occupations, and ethnicities, but occurs disproportionately among people of color. * Access to permanent and adequate shelter is a basic human need; however, the ongoing economic downturn (composed of the foreclosure crisis, spiking unemployment, worsening poverty rates, and inadequate low-cost housing) is likely to increase rates of homelessness. * The National Association for Education of Homeless Children and Youth reports that during the 2009-2010 school year, 939,903 homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools, a 38% increase from the 2006-2007 school years. The data is an underestimate since it does not reflect pre-school age children, toddlers and infants. * The United States Conference of Mayors (2009) reports that in 2010 more than 1.6 million children (1 in 45 children) in America were homeless and that approximately 650,000 are below age 6. Families with children are a major segment of the homelessness population. Families with children comprise a third of the homeless population and are typically comprised of a single mother in her late twenties with two young children. * Approximately 47 percent of children in homeless families are Black, although Black children make up just 15 percent of the U.S. child population (Child Trends Databank, 2012). On the other hand, although White children make up 66% of the child population, they account for 38% of homeless children. Hispanic children make up 13%, whereas Native American children make up 2% of the homeless children population. * Homeless single mothers often have histories of violent victimization with over one third having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and over half experiencing major depression while homeless. An estimated 41 percent develop dependency on alcohol and drugs and are often in poor physical health. Maternal depression and parental substance abuse has a series of negative outcomes for children. * Unaccompanied youth (sometimes referred to as runaway youth) may number between 575,000 to 1.6 million annually and typically range from ages 16 to 22. The major causes of homelessness for unaccompanied youth are mental illness, substance abuse, and lack of affordable housing. * Family conflict is the primary cause of their homelessness with 46% having experienced abuse and an estimated 20-40% identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT). * Homelessness is traumatic for children because they often experience frequent moves, family split-ups, and living in crowded places before using homeless shelters (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2011). * States in the south and south west where poverty is more prevalent have more homeless children than states in the north and northeast. Homelessness affects children’s health and wellbeing, their brain development, causes stress, and hinders readiness for school. What are the risk factors for homelessness in children and youth? * Extreme poverty is the strongest predictor of homelessness for families. These families are often forced to choose between housing and other necessities for their survival. At least 11% of American children living in poverty are homeless. * Female-headed households (particularly by women with limited education and job skills) are also particularly vulnerable. The current economic climate has made the labor market even less hospitable as many of them do not have more than a high school diploma or GED. * Teen parents are also particularly at risk of homelessness as they often lack the education and income of adults who become parents. * Lack of affordable housing is also a risk factor for homelessness, particularly for families who devote more than 50% of household income to paying rent or those who experience a foreclosure. Foreclosures affect vulnerable tenants as well as homeowners who are delinquent in their mortga ge payments. * Substance abusing or physically violent parents and stepparents are the major drivers of homelessness in runaway youth, particularly for those who identify as GLBT. What are the outcomes of homelessness for children and youth? * Homelessness has particularly adverse effects on children and youth including hunger, poor physical and mental health, and missed educational opportunities. * Homeless children lack stability in their lives with 97% having moved at least once on an annual basis, which leads to disruptions in schooling and negatively impacts academic achievement. * Schooling for homeless children is often interrupted and delayed, with homeless children twice as likely to have a learning disability, repeat a grade, or to be suspended from school. * Homelessness and hunger are closely intertwined. Homeless children are twice as likely to experience hunger as their non-homeless peers. Hunger has negative effects on the physical, social, emotional and cognitive development of children. * A quarter of homeless children have witnessed violence and 22% have been separated from their families. Exposure to violence can cause a number of psychosocial difficulties for children both emotionally (depression, anxiety, withdrawal) and behaviorally (aggression, acting out). * Half of school age homeless children experience problems with depression and anxiety and one in five homeless preschoolers have emotional problems that require professional care. * Homelessness is linked to poor physical health for children including low birth weight, malnutrition, ear infections, exposure to environmental toxins, and chronic illness (e.g. asthma). Homeless children also are less likely to have adequate access to medical and dental care. * Unaccompanied youth are often more likely to grapple with mental health (depression, anxiety, and PTSD) and substance abuse problems. * Many runaway youth engage in sexually risky behaviors (sometimes for their own survival), which places them at risk of HIV, other STDs, and unintended pregnancies. Also, emerging research has shown that GLBT homeless youth are 7 times more likely to be victims of violent crime. What can you do to help children and families struggling with poverty, hunger, and homelessness? * Volunteer your time with charities and organizations that provide assistance to low-income and homeless children and families. * Donate money, food, and clothing to homeless shelters and other charities in your community. * Donate school supplies and books to under-resourced schools in your area. * Make your voice heard! Support public policy initiatives that seek to: i. Improve access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care for low-income ii. Americans by eliminating barriers such as limitations in health care coverage. iii. Create a â€Å"safety net† for children and families that provide real protection against the harmful effects of economic insecurity. iv. Increase the minimum wage, affordable housing and job skills training for low-income and homeless Americans. v. Intervene in early childhood to support the health and educational development of low-income children. vi. Provide support for low-income and food insecure children such as Head Start, the National School Lunch Program, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) authorization. vii. Increase resources for public education and access to higher education. viii. Support research on poverty and its relationship to health, education, and well-being.