Finding a Call to Action

My name is Katie Minger, and I am a high school teacher at Pottstown High School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  I am hoping to apply what I am learning through this course to help positively impact the students in my school district community.  

The demographics of the community that I work in vastly differ from the community that my family lives in, only a short 20-minute drive away.  Many of the students in my school live below the poverty line established by the United States government.  According to the Income by Zipcode website the average household income in Pottstown Borough is $57,647.00, whereas the township that I live in has an average household income of $171,792.00 (Income by Zipcode).  That is an extremely vast difference.  The United States Census Bureau places 15.1% of the population of Pottstown in poverty.  Pennsylvania’s total state poverty level is listed at 11.8% (United States Census Bureau).

Many of the students that are served in my school district community have to face a multitude of hardships that also include a lack of access to internet service due to their inability to afford the service at home.  During the pandemic, the school district worked diligently with our local internet providers to find ways to get students access at home for them to go to school online, however, we have found that many of our students still do not have access to the internet at home 4 years later.  The politicians and board members of the Pottstown community do realize how much of an issue this is and even held a meeting in the Borough in September to address the issue.  Like most other meetings involving the community, they had very little attendance from community members at this meeting (Brandt).  This is one of the huge social realities of the community.  It feels like no matter what we do to try to get the community involved to help find solutions to many of the problems that it faces, many of them do not actively participate in the discussion or to help find a solution.

I hope my Call to Action will serve my school district's student community or possibly even the entire community of Pottstown itself.

References:

Brandt, E. (2023, September 7).  Few attend PA broadband input session in Pottstown.  The Mercury.  https://www.pottsmerc.com/2023/09/07/few-attend-pa-broadband-input-session-in-pottstown/

Cubit (2022). Income by Zipcode.  https://www.incomebyzipcode.com/

United States Census Bureau.  https://data.census.gov