Glossary of Key Terms
Abject Poverty | This level of poverty, in comparative terms, is only slightly above the poverty line originally set in the 1960s and affords a person little more than food and shelter, if that. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions |
Absolute Poverty | A level of income under a set monetary value, typically $1/day or less. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions |
Affirmative Action | Public or private policies that choose individuals for programs or opportunities sometimes based on demographic, not solely ability or worthiness. Relevance: Affirmative case/General economy |
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) | The federal welfare program that preceded TANF (before Clinton's 1996 welfare reform bill). Relevance: Inherency/Background |
Anarcho-Capitalism | An economic system in which the role of the government is nearly or completely non-existent. All economic transactions are entered into with no government regulation or interference. The individual and his market transactions are valued highest. Relevance: General economy |
Basic needs approaches | A set of minimal conditions of life, usually involving the quality of the dwelling place, degree of crowding, nutritional adequacy and water supply are specified and the proportion of the population lacking these conditions is used to estimate the degree of poverty. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions |
British Poor Laws | British laws that targeted the impoverished and attempted to alleviate poverty in 17th century England. American social services are based in these laws. Relevance: Background |
Cash and Medical Assistance (CMA, offered by ORR) | Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) and Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) are provided to needy refugees who do not have minor children in the home. These benefits, which are federally funded, are available for the first eight months after a refugee arrives in the country. These benefits are provided through county human service agencies and voluntary resettlement agencies. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Child Care Development Block Grants | Helps low-income families, families receiving public assistance and those families transitioning from public assistance in obtaining child care. The program was created in 1990. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the current funding level for the Child Care and Development Block Grant provides assistance to only one out of 10 eligible children. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Child tax credit | Nonrefundable tax credits from the Federal government set at up to $1,000/child. Relevance: Affirmative case/General economy |
Child Welfare Information Gateway | A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we provide access to print and electronic publications, websites, and online databases covering a wide range of topics from prevention to permanency, including child welfare, child abuse and neglect, adoption, search and reunion, and much more. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
College Work-Study Program | The FWS Program provides funds that are earned through part-time employment to assist students in financing the costs of postsecondary education. Students can receive FWS funds at approximately 3,400 participating postsecondary institutions. Institutional financial aid administrators at participating institutions have substantial flexibility in determining the amount of FWS awards to provide to students who are enrolled or accepted for enrollment. Hourly wages must not be less than the federal minimum wage. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Community Development Block Grants | The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. Beginning in 1974, the CDBG program is one of the longest continuously run programs at HUD. The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to 1180 general units of local government and States. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Community Health Centers | Privately owned and operated health centers that serve the community for little to no cost. The federal government offers partial to full funding to 4,000 centers nationally, called "Federally Qualified Health Centers." Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency/Negative counter plan |
Debt Relief | Programs targeted at reducing the accumulated debt of impoverished individuals. Relevance: Affirmative case /Negative counter plan/General economy |
Disposable Income | Net income left after paying taxes, buying food and other essential items. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions |
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) | The earned income credit (EITC) is a tax credit for certain people who work and have low wages. A tax credit usually means more money in your pocket. It reduces the amount of tax you owe. The EITC may also give you a refund. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Empowerment | Empowerment enables improvised individuals to escape poverty with specially designed federal programs. This is contrasted with entitlement, which creates populations, sectors, or demographics that are dependent on the government for sustenance. Relevance: General economy |
Enterprise Program | Carve out a geographic sector and declare that within that zone, economically unjustified regulations do not apply. The hope is that businesses will open, jobs will be created and private investment will flow into depressed and blighted areas. Whereas enterprise zones are geographically fixed, enterprise programs are not. To qualify for an enterprise program, a producer/sell/entrepreneur need only meet one requirement: provide an essential service to imporvished and distressed families. Relevance: Affirmative case/Negative counter plan |
Federal Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA) | An application all students from college onward must fill out. Serves to determine the qualification for Pell Grants. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Federal Block Grants | A set amount of money that the Federal Government gives to the individual states. A formula would be applied to the population of the state to determine the appropriate amount of money. Relevance: Inherency/Background/General Evidence |
Federal Housing Assistance (FHA) | Designed to improve housing standards and conditions; to provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans; and to stabilize the mortgage market. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) | Federal tax on income that funds Medicare and Social Security. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Head Start | A national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Income-based definitions | This approach seeks to specify a level of income per capita in a household below which the basic needs of the family cannot be satisfied. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions |
Literacy | An individual's ability to read and write a language. Relevance: General social |
Low-Rent Public Housing | The federally-funded Low-Rent Public Housing Program provides quality, affordable rental housing for families, seniors, and persons with disabilities at developments that are owned and managed by the Housing Authority. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) | The mission of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Medicaid | Federally managed health care insurance offered to qualifying impoverished families/individuals. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Medicare | Federally managed health care insurance offered to qualifying elderly citizens. The insurance is divided into four parts, all with different requirements, procedures, and benefits. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Microfinance | It refers to the provision of financial services to poor or low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed. Typically, the loans are a very small amount and targeted at an individual's ideas and goals. Relevance: Affirmative case/General economy |
National School Lunch Program | The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency/Background |
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) | Privately owned, funded, and operated group, with no connection, funding, or representation from a government. Relevance: Negative counter plan actor/Inherency/Significance |
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) | Provides refugees in need with critical resources to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Participatory definitions | In this approach, respondents from communities are themselves invited to identify their perceptions of their needs, priorities and requirements for minimal secure livelihood. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions |
Pell Grants | The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain post-baccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education. Students may use their grants at any one of approximately 5,400 participating postsecondary institutions. Grant amounts are dependent on calculations through your FAFSA. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
per capita | A measurement that averages social statistics over the entire population. Ex: murders per capita measure the number of murders per person in a region. Relevance: General economy |
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) | Welfare reform passed under President Clinton in 1996. Primarily, the bill altered the welfare system's apportioning of funds. Prior to the reforms, welfare money was dispersed to the states based on the number of individuals on the roles. After the reforms, states would receive a block grant from the Federal Government. Relevance: Inherency/Background/General Evidence. |
Poverty Thresholds | The bright line that defines "poverty." Different organizations and government entities define the threshold for poverty differently. Currently, the Federal Government defines poverty as three-times the amount of money required to buy adequate food. Relevance: Topicality/Definitions. |
Public Health Services | The Public Health Service Operating Divisions include the eight agencies of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). They are the major health arm of the federal government and the world's foremost health agencies. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Rural Housing Loans | Rural Housing Direct Loans are loans that are directly funded by the Government. These loans are available for low- and very low-income households to obtain homeownership. Applicants may obtain 100% financing to purchase an existing dwelling, purchase a site and construct a dwelling, or purchase newly constructed dwellings located in rural areas. Mortgage payments are based on the household's adjusted income. These loans are commonly referred to as Section 502 Direct Loans. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Savers Credit | A non-refundable credit on an individual tax returns, which accumulates based on contributions to a personal retirement account. Relevance: Affirmative case/Negative counter plan/Inherency |
Social Security | Public programs designed to provide income and services to individuals in the event of retirement, sickness, disability, death, or unemployment. Relevance: Affirmative case/Negative counter plan/Inherency |
State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) | S-CHIP was designed as a Federal/State partnership, similar to Medicaid, with the goal of expanding health insurance to children whose families earn too much money to be eligible for Medicaid, but not enough money to purchase private insurance. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Summer Food Service Program for Children | Children in low-income communities are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. But those programs end when school ends for the summer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program helps fill the hunger gap. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (food stamps) | SNAP helps low-income people and families buy the food they need for good health. You apply for benefits by completing a State application form. Benefits are provided on an electronic card that is used like an ATM card and accepted at most grocery stores. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) | WIC provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Tax credit (non-refundable) | Reduces the actual dollar amount you pay in federal taxes by a specific amount. Can never reduce the amount of taxes past zero (giving you more back than you paid.) Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency/General economy |
Tax credit (refundable) | Reduces the actual dollar amount you pay in federal taxes by a specific amount. Can reduce the amount of taxes past zero (giving you more back than you paid.) Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency/General economy |
Tax deduction | Reduces your Adjusted Gross Income, possibly moving you into a lower tax bracket, but ultimately meaning you pay less in taxes. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency/General economy |
Taxpayer choice (reform) | Government would continue to force people to give their "fair share" through income taxes. However, individual taxpayers rather than politicians would be able to allocate their welfare tax dollars to any qualified charity-public or private. When taxpayers donated to a qualified charity, they would be permitted to claim a credit on their federal income tax returns. Each dollar donation would reduce a taxpayer's tax liability by one dollar (nonrefundable tax credit). Relevance: Affirmative case/Negative counterplan |
Temporary Assistance to Needy Family (TANF) | Title of welfare program adopted under PRWORA, passed under President Clinton in 1996. Replaced AFDC. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Tenth Amendment | United States Federal Constitutional Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights. Its primary purpose is to delegate and explain the powers of states and the federal government in legislating. Relevance: Disadvantage/Advantage Turn |
Title X Family Planning | Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Title XX Social Services Block Grant Program | Block grant funds are given to States to help them achieve a wide range of social policy goals, which include preventing child abuse, increasing the availability of child care, and providing community-based care for the elderly and disabled. Funds are allocated to the States on the basis of population. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Unemployment Assistance | The Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs provide unemployment benefits to eligible workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own, and meet certain other eligibility requirements. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Veterans Health Administration | The goal is to provide excellence in patient care, veterans' benefits and customer satisfaction. Recently reformed, the department's employees continue to offer veterans services. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |
Weatherization Assistance | The Weatherization Assistance Program enables low-income families to permanently reduce their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient. During the last 32 years, the U.S. Department of Energy 's (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program has provided weatherization services to more than 6.2 million low-income families. Relevance: Affirmative case/Inherency |