Poverty affects more than 1.4 million people in Chicago and Illinois politicians don't even want to talk about it. The first step to ending poverty is making everyone, especially the government, aware of this issue and it's consequences.

It's time for the government to step in and help those in poverty. Organizations, like Heartland Alliance, are set up to do so but are lacking sufficient funds to completely end this problem and they need the government to help.

Ending poverty will also help reduce the staggering violence and crime rates in the city. Those in poverty have very hard times finding jobs and find themselves getting involved with gangs. One way to reduce this is by setting up programs that help these people connect with opportunity, but this cannot be done without the help of the government

Poverty will not be resolved overnight but together, with the government, we can lower not only poverty rates, but also crime and violence rates.