Turn to the NJRCL report and pay specific attention to the information provided about Essex County, and the concerns, challenges, and recommendations in the report. Review the six families in Unequal Childhoods, and make connections between the NJRCL report and the realities these families might face if they lived in Essex County, NJ.

After looking at the Self-Sufficiency Standard for living in Essex County I realized that each of the families in this book would have a very different living situation here. The annual cost of living in Essex for only a single adult is just over $20,000 which does not prove well for many of the families. A family such as the Tallinger's would survive just fine in Essex. With two adults, two school age children and one preschooler their cost of living would be $57,983, and since both parents work full time they would have no problem paying that kind of money. On the other hand the Taylor and Brindle families would not be able to survive in Essex County. Miss Taylor earns $20,000 annualy which is enough for her to get by on her own, but with two school age children to look after she would not be able to live in Essex. The Brindle family would never be able to get by in NJ. They live on public assistance, food stamps, and medical assistance as it is, and having them live in an expensive state such as New Jersey would not be ideal for them.

Look at the two reports from the LSNJ on living in poverty. What further information can you glean from the reports regarding the struggles the poor families in Unequal Childhoods might face if they lived in NJ?

Some of the information that I saw in "A Desperate and Widening Divide" was pretty surprising. Although most of the information in this report was taken from 1989-1999 it still shows how much of a problem poverty is in the state of New Jersey. During that decade NJ saw a gain of 125,000 people living in poverty, and 49% of the states poverty are living in sever poverty. I would have never guessed that percentage to be so high. In regards to the book we see a couple of single mothers raising families, and the numbers for those situations were interesting as well. Here are some of the statistics for single female-headed households: they make up for 53% of all poor families, and 60% of NJ children living in poverty reside in these types of households. For mothers such as Miss Taylor, Miss Brindle, and Miss McAllister this helps to show how difficult it would be for their families to live in Essex County.

Finally, turn inward and think about who you are as a budding urban educator. In what ways is this information useful (or not) for you? In terms of better understanding a community? What do you need to learn, or what skills and dispositions (frames of mind) do you need to develop related to demographics and economics to be a successful urban educator?

The information really opened up my eyes to the cost of living in New Jersey. Growing up in Bergen County I never thought of how difficult it can be for some of the families trying to make a living in NJ, especially those which are composed of single working parents with multiple children. New Jersey is a really expensive state to live in, and after reading through information I understand why many families move out of the state once their children are through the educational system. This information is really important to know because one of the most important parts of teaching is understanding where your students come from. It is easy to sit back and put the blame on the children, parents, neighborhood, etc..., but the great teachers are the ones who put forth the effort to get involved with the community so that they have a better understanding of their students and the community in which they live. This is something that would be of major importance for myself teaching in an urban community since I have little experience in working in this type of environment.