“Did you eat lunch today? There are millions across the world who couldn’t. Not because they didn’t have the time, but because they can’t afford it.”

Then answer them. This will be your information gathering stage.

Then organize your information in a logical way so that it flows and sounds interesting when you say it.

Do an interview with someone who is impoverished, or has been impoverished. They have a lot to say and can give you tons of information.

Make sure the sentences will engage the listener.

*** If they are learning something and not just hearing you drone on and on about things they already know, the audience will listen.

Think about what people need to know about poverty.

What misconceptions about poverty can you change while giving your speech?

Why do people become impoverished?

Causes for poverty:

Born into poverty

Lack of education

Thrust into poverty due to loss of job, medical problems, natural disaster, unable to find employment

How poverty effects the family unit:

How does it make a person feel to be poor?

………..how does their family feel?

Talk about depression and the feelings of worthlessness that some feel when they cannot provide the basic necessities of life. Talk about how humiliating it is to be at the grocery store paying with a food stamp card when everyone sees and hears you doing this.

How does a person survive both mentally and physically during times of poverty?

How does a person rise above poverty?

How does poverty impact society?

What programs are in place to assist the impoverished?

Give facts about poverty

Give facts about how poverty impacts the community

Give facts about local agencies that help the impoverished

Examples: Department of Child and Family Services (food stamps, Medicaid, paid babysitting), Electric Companies that have Dollar help programs, Churches and local food pantries, Low income housing, Habitat for Humanity, HUD,

student loan programs at local community colleges, family members who lend money or services, employers who employ the poor and needy through community based work programs. The Salvation Army and other places that provide used clothing and furniture at a drastically reduced amount…and places that provide donated business clothes for the impoverished who go on job interviews.

What are the most impoverished areas in the nation?

How is poverty different in this country as opposed to other countries?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty

http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp

http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/

http://www.care.org/campaigns/childrenpoverty/facts.asp

http://www.irp.wisc.edu/

looking at the census through the government website would be a good start:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html

you could include comparrisons between the US and other countries, where it is most in our country, how it effects everyone, etc

Hopefully this website will give you some good info, good ideas, and a good start!

Goodluck!

then go to different organizations websites–Unicef, Oxfam, or United Nations

they’ll have statistics, lots of them

You can talk about infant mortality rate, poverty and education, poverty and crime.

just narrow down your topic, theres no shortage or information