Hellobee Boards

Poverty is truly debilitating. In the new study of epigenetics, it has been recognized that poverty and stress have the ability to change gene expression. We really do need to get serious about addressing poverty, the way it was focused on by Bobby Kennedy and LBJ.

Edited to add that the story about the Drakewood family brought tears to my eyes!

"A 1989 study in Philadelphia found that nearly one in six newborns at city hospitals had mothers who tested positive for cocaine."
"35 percent had seen someone get shot; and 19 percent had seen a dead body outside - and the kids were only 7 years old at the time."
Wow. Poor babies. That's a lot for kids to have to deal with at such a young age or any age.

@Maysprout: In some ways, Philly has gotten a lot better since 1989, but can still be a very scary city. It's also not that big, geographically, so "nice" areas and "rough" areas are pretty close together. I was the victim of random street crime when I lived there (in my "good" neighborhood) and went to school in one of the "bad" areas...and I have no doubt that the numbers today would be fairly in line with the numbers cited there (maybe somewhat fewer or more varied, i.e. not as much cocaine but more meth or other drugs in the drug category?? But definitely similar in the violence category). There are large swaths of the city that have to be seen to be believed, let alone understood. But the same can be said for lots of cities -- just look at Chicago's shooting and murder rates. It's truly horrible.

Good news the crack baby stigma is found to be untrue.

Bad news many, many childrennlive in high stress, violent, poverty-ridden communities.

@PurplePeony: I went to undergrad in Philly. Parks and the burbs were everywhere, but so many low income locals just stayed in their concrete neighborhoods.

@PurplePeony: I went to school in the "bad" area of Philly too.. Was it north Philly?