This article examines the effects of poverty on education. Many different aspects contribute to a community becoming impoverished such as deindustrialization, high unemployment rates, untreated mental health, and violent crimes. Impoverished communities rural and urban face many issues. These issues include dilapidated housing, lack of access to professional services, and most importantly inferior education. The education is inferior for a number of reasons; students are showing up to school with numerous problems that the teachers are unable to account for through instruction. The school facilities face structural inadequacies which have been proven to have an effect on the quality of instruction. The teachers in the schools, while qualified, are often times not supported by school administration. School administrators are busy with their own issues in determining what areas to allocate their limited budget. Poverty is a vast and complex issue that plagues communities in a seemingly endless cycle. However, working together to find effective ways of solving issues caused by poverty, the future can become a brighter for American youth growing up in poor communities.