Autumn Kriebel

2800 N 14th St

Ponca City, OK 74601

Sen. Bill Coleman

2300 N Lincoln Blvd

Oklahoma City, OK 73105

October 04, 2023

Dear Senator Bill Coleman,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you today in support of our low-income
and homeless population. Providing more support for our poverty-stricken communities
increases economic stability by declining crime rates, decreases drug and alcohol abuse,
improves our rising mental health crises, and betters the well-being of children and families. I am
requesting your support and assistance for our less fortunate community. As a concerned
Oklahoman, I have seen and witnessed the struggles and challenges our people and their families
are facing.

Aiding people in poverty plays an important role in improving economic stability.

Poverty often leads to crime because of the insecurity and desperation these people feel. These
people are so desperate to feed themselves and their families that they risk everything to take
care of their loved ones. With our assistance to those struggling with economic instability all of
us could combat the drug and alcohol addiction issue. “In a 2019 study from Drug and Alcohol
Dependence it was found that “‘across 17 states in 2002–2014, opioid overdoses were
concentrated in more economically disadvantaged zip codes, indicated by higher rates of poverty
and unemployment as well as lower education and median household income’” (Grinspoon).
Many people fall into poverty because of their drug and alcohol addictions, by getting them the
help they need; every one of us can combat these addictions and hopefully keep more drugs off
the streets.

Something I have noticed in these past couple of years is a rising mental health crisis and
child welfare problem within our low-income community. In the article, The Cycle of Poverty
and Mental Illness Tovi Martin quotes, "People who live in neighborhoods with high rates of
poverty “‘exhibit worse mental health outcomes compared to people in low-poverty ones,’”
according to the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI). This cuts across ages, with both
adults and children experiencing significant mental health effects from living in poverty.”
Children are the most affected by poverty because they have no control over their situation,
“Poverty rates are higher among children than among adults and seniors. More than 1 in 5
Oklahoma children live in a household with income below the poverty line, compared to about
1in 10 living in” (Cullison). In 2022 Oklahoma's poverty rate was 4.2% higher than America’s
national average, ranking it the 8th highest poverty rate in the country, Oklahoma was also ranked
45th in the country for education and 40th for overall child well-being in 2022 as well. I feel that
the reason Oklahoma is ranked so low in education is that many of our children are living in
poverty, and do not have the advantages that higher-class children have. Some examples are that
many of these children may lack sleep or have heightened anxiety that prevents them from
focusing, have not had an adequate meal to give them energy to focus, they are stressed.

Both of my parents grew up in poverty and both happened not to have a father figure in
the house for most of their childhood. My mother, who had an abusive father who was in and out
of jail, struggled in school most of her life because of her anxiety and stress. She grew up with 2
sisters and a single mother, who worked and went to school; they had no ac most of the time,
electricity constantly shut off, and no healthcare. All she had to rely on was her grandparents,
who fed and clothed her and her sisters. My father grew up in a similar situation, he also had an
abusive father, he and his siblings spent many years of their childhood running from his father.
My father moved 7 to 8 times and lived in an old house without hot water and no kitchen, so they
had to wash dishes in the bathtub. My dad visited the dentist for the first time in 8th or 9th grade,
when his stepfather took him. His grandfather Archie, who my dad spent many days with
because his mom could not afford daycare, also lived in poverty; he was a homeless veteran who
lived in the back of his barbershop with a recliner as a bed.

All of us can help those suffering from poverty to get back on their feet by assisting in
many ways. Such as expanding our safety net to all others who could benefit from it; allowing
the child tax credit better known as the CTC and earned income tax credit to become semi-
permanent or permanent for certain situations; investing in high-quality childhood education;
better access to healthcare; and invest in affordable and accessible housing. The safety net
mentioned previously is food stamps or snap cards, while they only give a little amount of relief
to families and individuals still make sure they do not go hungry. Another helpful idea is
expanding the amount of time a family qualifies for the child tax credit or income tax credit “the
CTC alone were estimated to lift nearly 4 million children out of poverty” (Pathak & Ross). I
feel that the best thing everyone can do to assist is to invest in children with education. The
saying education is power was created for a reason; Government and communities need to get
these kids a quality stress free education and healthcare, so they can break the cycle of poverty
and do better for themselves and future generations. Lastly, Oklahoma needs more affordable
housing; it does not need to be big and luxurious. Many go without a roof over their heads, like
our veterans; these people fought for our freedom; the least everyone could do is give them
access to an affordable house. While there are any of these ideas that are already in effect, it is
not accessible to everybody, and it needs to be fixed.
 All of us must take action now in support of our poverish community not just as
Americans, but as Oklahomans. The evidence is there, when everyone takes a stand against
poverty it reduces crime rates and drug and alcohol abuse, improves our mental health crises, and
enhances the well-being of children and families. There is a stigma around the low-income
population about crime and drugs, while it is proven to be true in some cases; assisting those
struggling will improve this problem as well as America’s rising mental health crisis. Mental
health is important, and many low-income families struggle with anxiety and stress. Assisting
those families will increase the well-being of families and their children. Having seen and
experienced some of these things through my parents and family makes this message so much
more important. All these solutions can benefit many Oklahomans and improve the well-being of
our communities. Solving the little problems in our communities makes an even larger
difference.

Thank you for taking the time to read my request.

Autumn Kriebel
 Works Cited

Cullison, Courtney. “Oklahoma Poverty Profile - Oklahoma Policy Institute.” Oklahoma

Policy Institute, 2 May 2019,

okpolicy.org/2017-oklahoma-poverty-profile.

Oklahoma Policy Institute is a website that shows the trends of Oklahoma. The article I used is

Oklahoma’s poverty profile from 2017. It has the statistics of Oklahoma's poverty levels vs. The

national average and other poverty trends in Oklahoma. The author Courtney Cullison worked as

a policy analyst for OK Policy from 2012 to 2020, before working for OK Policy she worked for

the University of Texas and Conners State College. Cullison graduated from Oklahoma State

University with an Honors B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. and Ph.D. This article was

updated in May 2, 2019. OK Policy does not receive funding from any sort of government and in

a non-profit organization; but they are affiliated with 3 national networks; State Priorities

Partnership, the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN), and the KIDS COUNT
Network. This article is not biased and relies completely on statistics from 2017. I found this

article incredibly helpful in my article, because it helps prove my point with facts that there are

many children living in poverty.

Grinspoon, Peter, MD. “Poverty, Homelessness, and Social Stigma Make Addiction More

Deadly.” Harvard Health, Sept. 2021,

www.health.harvard.edu/blog/poverty-homelessness-and-social-stigma-make-addiction-

more-deadly-202109282602. www.americanprogress.org/article/top-12-solutions-cut-

poverty-united-states.

The article Poverty, Homelessness, and Social Stigma Make Addiction More Deadly talks about

how drugs has an association to homelessness. It mentions that a lot of overdoses have an almost

direct link to homelessness especially in veterans. Peter Grinspoon is an instructer at Harvard

Medical school, as well as a primary care physictian and cannabis specialist at the Massachusetts

General Hospital. He also happens to be a certified health and wellness coach and author of a

book in progress titled “Seeing Through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth

About Marijuana”. This article has been available since September 28, 2021. It is a little biased,

because it is mostly based on opinion and personal experiences. I do however feel that this article

is beneficial for my paper, because it does have some supported evidence from other sources.

Martin, Tovi. “The Cycle of Poverty and Mental Illness.” Crisis Assistance Ministry,

May 2022,

crisisassistance.org/2022/05/31/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-mental

illness/#:~:text=People%20who%20live%20in%20neighborh.
The Cycle of Poverty and Mental Illness by Tovi Martin on the website Crisis Assistance

Ministry, is about how many people who struggle with poverty experience mental health worse

than those who do not live in poverty. It also has statistics about how people in color are more

likely to experience poverty. The mission of Crisis Assistance Ministry is to provide assisstance

to those in low-income situations and help them toward self-sufficiency. This essay was written

in May of 2022; it is not politically biased, but these articles are used to advocate for many issues

and people are able to donate on the website. These donations are used to benefit those who are

less fortunate and are mostly read by those interested in giving to these causes. This article is

very useful for my paper because it uses many statistics and graphs.

Pathak, Arohi and Kyle Ross “The Top 12 Solutions to Cut Poverty in the United States.” Center

for American Progress, Jun. 30, 2021,

In this article by Arohi Pathak and Kyle Ross titled “The Top 12 Solutions to Cut Poverty in the

United States,” is about the top 12 solutions we, as Americans, can use to benefit and assist our

poverty stricken communites. It lists several ideas and give a little bit of background information

to educate readers.Arohi Pathak graduacted from American University with an M.A. in

International Communications and Peace and Conflict Resolution and a Former Associate

Director, Field Engagement at Prosperity Now. Kyle Ross earned a bachelor’s degree in Political

Science from the University of North Carolina. He previously interned with the Bloomberg

Government and the Government Affairs and Food Assistance teams. He is now a research

associate for Inclusive Economy with the American Progress. This source has been available

since June 30, 2021. It is not politicaly biased however, it is almost completely based off of the

authors opinions who have provided some statistics to back up their ideas. This article was
written for congress to read, because it says right in the beginning “This column outlines 12

policy solutions that Congress can use to cut poverty and boost economic security for all in an

equitable way” (Pathak & Ross). I feel that this article was incredibly helpful because I agreed

with many of the suggestions made by the authors and there reasonings for said suggestions.