According to bls.gov, there are 8.6 million unemployed people in the country[footnoteRef:1] and the number of people who are both unemployed and homeless averages about 3.5 million Americans.[footnoteRef:2] These statistics reveal a large number of Americans are not earning enough, and therefore are unable to afford housing. When these individuals housing and jobs disappear, their welfare does as well. The challenges that the unemployed are facing cannot be ignored and as middle-class citizens we cannot abandon the forgotten. [1: "THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION MARCH 2015." Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S. Department of Labor. Accessed April 4, 2015.] [2: "Fact Sheet." Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. April 8, 2014. Accessed April 4, 2015.]

To show the challenges of unemployment and homelessness, I decided to create a scrapbook to share two diverse childhoods of Kyle and Joe. Both of them are born to middle-class parents, but Joes family will experience homelessness, whereas Kyle never has to worry about the issue.Each page shows the gifts and what each character was and is going to do on their birthday. On the left side of the scrapbook it portrays Joes birthday experiences and on the pages on the right it represents Kyles birthdays and how he celebrated it. The ages included are five, twelve, sixteen, eighteen and twenty. No one really thinks about how fortunate they are to be a part of the middle-class or the struggles of people living in poverty and the hardships they face when they have nothing to support themselves. This is the reason for my genre, which is to make college students more aware of these privileges and challenges that many people go through.During Kyles birthdays he was always surrounded by many close family members and friends and given many gifts during each birthday. His father, who was a family physician, and his mother, who worked as a teacher, could afford all the presents he wanted.On the other hand, Joe experienced a much different childhood than Kyle. At age five, Joes father lost his position as an accountant at Wells Fargo. This caused his family to start becoming financially unstable, and his parents could not afford a birthday party for him. Instead they tried their best to give him a small celebration with just the three of them and a homemade birthday cake. His parents managed to give him new clothes, too. As for Joes father, he struggled to find work after being laid off.Janelle Jones a researcher for the Center for Economic and Policy Research believes there is a discrimination against the unemployed. She said, The longer you are unemployed, the harder it is to get another job, and as youre waiting, your skills are deteriorating, [and] the labor market moves along without you.[footnoteRef:3] Her statement reveals a challenge that the long termed unemployed has to face and they are being victimized. The longer someone is unemployed the harder it is for them to be hired for work because people hiring want someone who is up to date with their skills. Joe and his father will go through situationalpoverty and it causes Joes father to struggle in finding employment. The longer Joes father couldnt find a job, the tougher it became for him to provide for his family. This is a reason why Joe didnt get many birthday gifts. [3: Fortino, Ellyn. "Progress Illinois." Long-Term Unemployed Face Continued Economic Challenges. May 28, 2013. Accessed March 31, 2015.]

Another hardship that Joe had to go through was losing his mother to ovarian cancer. While struggling with both unemployment and not having enough money to pay for Joes mothers hospital bills, Joe and his father lost their home and became homeless. The scrapbook will give an insight into Joes difficulties, but youll notice he is more appreciative due to his humble beginnings like when his mother took time to bake him a cake for his fifth birthday. Therefore the experiences that each one of us goes through impacts us differently. But, the most important thing to remember is that unemployment and homelessness are crucial issues that need to be made more aware of. Many unemployed individuals are seen as lazy but there are many factors that prevent them from finding work, which can eventually lead to homelessness. One of the barriers is that the unemployed are not online, adding to the barriers of employment. The majority of the jobs nowadays, you have to apply online to find employment,[footnoteRef:4] said Cheri Honkala who is with the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign. Joes father had a hard time finding another job after becoming homeless because he didnt have access to a computer to apply for a job position making finding work harder after not having the technologies needed to obtain a job. [4: Fortino, Ellyn. "Progress Illinois." Long-Term Unemployed Face Continued Economic Challenges. May 28, 2013. Accessed March 31, 2015.]

Joes story reveal that homelessness can affect anyone. Really. It could happen to you one day.It is to our benefit to do as much as we can to support the ones struggling to find employment and wanting to transition out of homelessness. One thing the middle-class should consider is being aware that the unemployed are not all lazy, and find ways to help these individuals such as volunteering.