Since Mayor Bill de Blasio has come into office, there has been an increase in the number of homeless in New York City. The total levels stands at about 58,000, which is an increase of some 5,000 over the last couple years. Not only that in itself concerning, but a close look of the most recent data from 2016 shows that almost 70% of people living in the shelter system have children.
There are five cities in the United States in which the poverty rates of blacks living in the metropolitan area exceeds 50%. This rate is about 3 times more than the average rates across the nation. Not only that, but these five metropolitan areas actually have a higher percentage of African American living in poverty than in 2009, which is when the recession officially ended. So the problem is becoming even worse.
The Salvation Army has partnered with Amazon.com to make it easier for families, individuals, or businesses to donate to the charity. This is part of the retailers “charity list program”. A “store” has been created on the Amazon website in which people can buy items for children of low income households, give gift cards, and more. The ecommerce company will give the items to kids across the nation.