Poverty and poor education have tragic effects on the daily lives of children in South Tucson.
More than 50 percent of residents of South Tucson have incomes that place them below the poverty line, and with limited options because of the current economic crisis, these figures are increasing.
The 2010 U.S. Census reported a poverty rate of 15.1 percent, the highest rate recorded since 1993. Hispanics made up over 25 percent of the impoverished U.S. population, according to a report in 2009.
"Hispanics are greatly overrepresented in the category that we call poverty, based on income and wealth," said Celestino Fernandez, a sociology professor from the University of Arizona. "What we have seen in the past three years is an increase in Hispanics living in poverty. And that includes South Tucson very, very much so."
The Primavera Foundation works closely with the impoverished Tucson community to provide skills and support that can help residents turn their lives around.
After being evicted from her home in August, Maribel Acosta, 33, a single mother of seven, was referred to the Primavera Foundation.
"I had nowhere to go here," Acosta said. "I was at the park and they found where I was and they helped me."
Acosta is grateful that the Primavera Foundation put herself and her children up at a motel temporarily, but expressed embarrassment at having to seek support outside of her family.
"This is the first time in my whole life asking for help," Acosta said. "I'm embarrassed to tell my friends where I am. Some of my family knows I'm staying in a hotel, but they think that I'm paying for the hotel."
Fernandez said that cultural pride commonly deters Hispanic individuals from reaching out for help.
"Historically, Latinos are very proud people. The idea is that we take care of our own. You don't air your problems in public," Fernandez said. "That is not necessarily a good thing when there are problems in the family or in the community."
This reluctance to ask for help when needed, often results in children being removed from homes due to neglect.
"The majority [of children] are coming in because they aren't getting regular food, shelter, clothing, and medical care," said Susie Huhn, the executive director of Casa de Los Ninos, a Tucson organization that offers many programs for children in need. "Sometimes its because families are struggling with poverty, unstable housing. It's really hard to worry about 'Am I a good parent today?' when I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight."
Huhn explained that children are often traumatized when Child Protective Services and Casa de los Ninos steps in.
"The very fact that they have been removed from the only family they know causes trauma in children," Huhn said. "It takes away everything they can count on in the world... and puts them in a strange place."
Huhn said that most children who come into Casa de Los Ninos are under the age of five.
Children often aren't even aware of how poverty affects them, said Renee Bibby, the marketing coordinator for the Primavera Foundation.
"The littlest kids are just running around and laughing and enjoying themselves, because they're not as aware of what the situation is," Bibby said. "The kids are along for the ride and they try to make the best of it."
She said that the problems become more apparent when the kids are older and reach the stage when children at school and in the community start judging them.
"When it's a family in a situation like [Acosta's], everybody is pulling their own weight," Bibby said. "They're very aware, in a way that most kids aren't, of family troubles, of money, of poverty."
This exposure to poverty may push children toward repeating the cycle.
"It's life-long patterns of living really close to poverty," Bibby said. "It's not having the support and infrastructure within a family in order to get a good education."
Fernandez believes that a good education is the key to helping children break out of the cycle.
"If you don't have a high school diploma you can't go to college, and you can't make enough to break that cycle of poverty," Fernandez said. "But a lot of times [parents] don't have the resources including the education themselves to be able to channel their kids into the right paths," Fernandez said.
Acosta, who followed her mother's cycle by not graduating from high school, insists that her children get an education.
"I tell them 'I don't want you guys working in the sun, working in construction, nothing like that,'" Acosta said. "I want you to be something good."
Although Acosta has good intentions and high hopes for her children, their futures are as uncertain as their future residency.
"The kids may repeat a cycle of poverty, but this could be where we could stop it," Bibby said. "We get the family into a nice safe place, get them into an affordable place to live, and the kids can be enrolled into school and the kids can finish school. Providing the support to the family improves everybody."
