Final+Proposal

Senior Seminar Formal Proposal I. Background I have always had an interest in finding out more about poverty in America. Constantly I hear about poverty around the world in third world nations, yet I hardly hear anything about the disconcerting poverty in our own nation. Living right outside of the city of Philadelphia I have been curious about poverty in the inner-cities. It is fascinating yet disturbing that there are parts of the city that are extremely wealthy and other parts that are poverty stricken. I want to know why. Why does poverty affect the inner-cities more so than other parts of the country? Does it have to do with race or ethnicity? Lack of education? Or both? I am attempting to find the answers to these questions, and hopefully understand more about the psychology of inner-city poverty. II. Vision This project will hopefully make a huge impact on my peers and society. My goal is to raise awareness of poverty in America, but more so in the cities. I feel that our nation is not informed on our own issues and many Americans do not realize poverty is right here. I want to be able to answer my own driving question of why poverty is found in the inner-cities and raise awareness in my society. In retrospective, I want society to be informed on how disturbing poverty is and it needs to be prevented as much as possible. III. Goals · Set up a school-wide fundraiser (“Pennies for Poverty”) to collect spare change to raise awareness of poverty in the inner-cities/ donate the money to a poverty organization · Raise awareness in the public of why poverty exists in the inner-cities and how it can be alleviated to an extent · Speak to someone that works for a non-profit organization about poverty and their personal experiences with impoverished persons · Make a visual presentation of what poverty literally looks like. I think there would be a more significant impact on people if they literally saw poverty instead of just hearing about it. · It would be amazing if I could talk to someone who personally struggles with poverty. I could find out the struggles of poverty on a more personal level. IV. Products I want one of my products to be either an interview with a worker at a non-profit organization involving poverty or a personal interview with someone who personally suffers with poverty. Another product could be the fundraiser I want to try to fulfill. If the fundraiser works out I will be able to raise money to donate to an organization helping with poverty in Philadelphia. V. Task Analysis In order to complete my project successfully I want to have an interview with someone involved with poverty in the inner-cities and find more analytical materials about why poverty is found in the inner-cities. So, the “who” would be someone I want to interview, either a worker that works for a non-profit organization or someone who experiences poverty personally. “What” is raising awareness of inner-city poverty through the interview(s), fundraiser, and overall project. “Where” would be in Philadelphia, one of many cities that suffers from poverty. By the end of the month I need to discuss a detailed plan about the school-wide fundraiser with the administrators. If the fundraiser does not work out I would like to make a small poster with statistics and facts about poverty in the cities of America. By the end of November I would like to have an interview with either the worker or someone who experiences poverty personally. I have to attend these goals diligently and strategically. It is very possible that many of my goals will not work out. However, if I stay persistent I am confident my project will be achieved to my standards. VI. Mentor and Topic Expert Analysis My mentor is my dad, Peter Krumbhaar. My dad is very efficient with meeting goals and helps me whenever I am stuck with a problem. I would be confident going to my dad for help with my project. He would be able to conjure solutions to the problems I would run into. I plan on talking to him at least once a week about my project and the many goals I have in mind. Hopefully, he can provide me with feedback about whether my goals are realistic and can be accomplished. He could even assist me when I set up an interview with someone and help me create insightful questions to ask. VII. Conclusion Personally, this project is heartfelt and means a lot to me. It devastates me when I hear about the hungry and impoverished persons in America. Philadelphia is my home and it is devastating when I see someone that struggles every day with poverty. In order to complete my project I need to have persistence, confidence, and //not// procrastinate. The strengths I am building on are persistence and confidence in my project. In order to complete my project successfully I need to stay focused and be confident in my goals I set up. The weakness I need to address is procrastination. It is very easy to become distracted from this big project and not meet the necessary goals I have to accomplish. I also need to work on communication with others that are more involved and aware of inner-city poverty.