Increase+minimum+wage

a) The background and definition to the exact problem and why you chose to address this problem The minimum wage is not high enough to live off of. A person working a minimum wage job in RI will make $1,184 in one month. The cost of necessities for one month for 1 parent and 1 child is $3,678. There is a huge difference that needs to be changed. An adult that works a minimum wage job, with a child is, in most cases, forced to live in poverty. This leads to the child or children living poverty for the rest of their life, continuing the cycle. We chose to address this problem because nobody deserves to live in poverty and we feel that our country should be fixing the problems the U.S. has before fixing other county's problems.
 * 1) ****Introduction to the problem**

a) A step-by-step narrative of the way that your group addressed the problem First, we brainstormed which topic we thought was the most pending. Our solution was Raising the Minimum Wage. We researched different ways people The next thing we did was try to reach out to different people and groups that are already familiar with raising minimum wage, and that have already tried to get a bill passed or been successful in getting a bill passed. No one contacted us, although we emailed all of our sources twice. If we would have done this over again, maybe it would have worked out if we had contacted the sources in person.
 * 2) ****Strategies employed**

b) Include discussion about which steps were successes and what you may do differently next time a) A discussion of your achievements and limitations Our achievement was that more people know about this topic and we have spread awareness. NOw m ore people know about htis topic and b) Suggestions for what could be done next a) Each member of the group must submit a reflection which includes their thoughts about: i) what they learned about democracy from participating on this project ii) what they learned about themselves from working on this project iii) what they learned about cooperating with others from working on this project a) Each portfolio must include a minimum of one artifact from each of the following sub sections. You should include all artifacts that were actually created and you may also add ones which you did not use but could have used. i) __Public Education1__ (1) Leaflets, Flyers, Posters, (2) Newsletters (3) Reports (4) Public Hearings, Candidates nights (5) Film or video screenings __(6) Internet, blogs, Pod castsd__ //To raise awareness on this topic, I created a group on Facebook where anyone could join. This group had the following information.
 * 3) ****Outcomes of the project**
 * 4) ****Reflections on the Project**
 * 5) ****Appendix: Ways of Acting**

For my Democracy class I am trying to raise the minimum wage in Rhode Island and by creating a group on Facebook, I am raising awareness. Originally I wanted to lower the poverty rate in RI but I figured this route would be a little more helpful. It would help out most of you guys reading this who have jobs, the tax banks and the most important, those in poverty. So as most of you know the minimum wage in RI is $7.40 an hour. Say a parent of one child works 40 hours a week and 4 weeks a month. That parent will earn $1,184 a month.

Now take that same parent and one child and see how much money it costs to have the reasonable necessities

Monthly Housing $1168 Monthly Food $317 Monthly Child Care $729 Monthly Transportation $343 Monthly Health Care $224 Monthly Other Necessities $357 Monthly Taxes $540 Monthly Total $3678

I don’t know if you noticed this but there is a big difference between $1,184 and $3,678. This needs to change and it can start here. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Please join and invite all your friends, I really appreciate it!In the first 48 hours almost 200 people joined. That means 200 more people now know that the minimum wage needs to rise and most of these people can vote on the right legislators to fix this problem.// ii) __Direct Action 2__ (1) Boycotting/Buycotting (2) Picketing //If the sit-ins were not successful we would most likely take it to the next step and not be as quite. First we would contact the media, radio and news stations and get as many people to join us as possible. Then we would stand outside the state house for however long it took days weeks months, anything to get legislators attention and sooner or later they would have to listen to what we had to say.// (3) Demonstrations and Protests (4) Strikes __(5) Nonviolent Civil Disobedience__

//On the first of a month, preferably January, a sit-in would occur at the state house. It should be on the first because thats when the minimum wage was offically raised last. This would be advertised by Twitter, Facebook, and poster around the state in popular places. As many people that my group can convince to come, we would all just sit in silence. There will be people holding posters showing why we are there. Each time we did this the group would get bigger and bigger until the state legislators would have to listen to us.//

iii) __Citizen Lobbying__ (1) Writing a bill & finding a sponsor //The current bill states that the minimum wage in Rhode Island is 7.40 an hour and we would like to change it to 8.00 an hour because 7.40 is way too low to be able to live and raise a family, although 8 dollars isn't nearly as much money that is needed to actually be able to live comfortably, but it is enough to help. We were unable to contact a sponsor, if we had more time we might have been able to find one and might have been more successful in getting this bill passed.// (2) Testifying at committee hearings (3) Persuading Legislators //Hello, my name is Jordan Owensby and I believe the minimum wage needs to rise in our state. If a parent of one child works 40 hours a week for one month, that parent will earn $1,184. The difference between necessities for a month and their pay check is almost $2,500. Multiply that by 12 and you have a big problem on your hands. Now legislator, I know you work hard at your job and I’m sure the parent I was just telling you about does too. Would you want your kids to suffer because your job didn’t pay enough? Because these children are. Please vote to raise the minimum wage next time it comes to floor. //

iv) __The Media 1__ (1) Letters to the Editor

//Dear Sir Editor, // //I am writing to voice my strong belief that the current minimum wage in RI is too low. People are struggling to live in RI because of the fact their minimum wage is not enough. It is important for the citizens of the state to realize how $7.40 is nowhere enough money for individuals or families to live off. It is just not me that is trying to get the word out about the low minimum wage; its others as well that have a strong opinion as to why the wage should be raised. It is very important to me and hopefully to the people who live here in RI. I really hope you read this letter and allow the people in RI to speak on making a big change for those that are barely making enough money to survive. // //Sincerely,// //Shaklyla Palmer//

(2) Op-Ed Articles (3) Earning Media in Feature Articles (4) Call-in shows/ Guest Shows (5) PSAs (6) Radio Shows (7) News Releases / News Conferences __(8) Media Events__ //Hi, I’m Shaklyla Palmer and I decided to do a media event on minimum wage and why I think it is so important to raise it. Today in RI our minimum wage is $7.40 per hour higher than most states but not high enough to live off of. It is not enough to raise our families off of. It is very important that families are not living in poverty. In addition, in this economy of growing food and utility cost certainly people cannot live on the present minimum wage.//

b) For students working alone there must be one entry per category c) For group with 3 or less members there must be two entries per category d) For groups with 4-5 members there must be three entries per category **6) ****Format of the portfolio** a) Please compile the portfolio in a professional manner i) Title & Date ii) Credits: Contributors, Class Period, Date iii) __Introduction to the problem__ iv) __Strategies employed__ v) __Outcomes of the project__ vi) __Reflections on the Project__ vii) __Appendix: Ways of Acting__ b) All entries should be typed, double spaced, 1” margins, and Times New Roman c) All media productions (audio or video) should be saved on a CD/DVD and should have descriptions entered into the Appendix d) All contributors to your project should be credited
 * e) **** All portfolios should be uploaded to: http://nkdemocracyproject.wikispaces.com **