I know better. The root causes or influences of poverty can vary from one American locality to the next. Mindset and culture absolutely have a significant impact on poverty as well.
When working with individuals impacted by a significant event in my community - those that lived on or below the poverty level shared common characteristics (and mind you, I'm not presenting this with a negate tone): elderly with limited social security and/or retirement income and disabled with limited income.
The majority of the elderly had not worked much during their working years. So, their social security income and retirements were miniscule.
In the East End of my city, where you have the highest concentration of impoverished - there's a lot of drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse and there's a need for educational efforts.
The kids that are raised in this part of my city have the same opportunities as my kids do. They go to the same school system and in fact, have additional opportunities extended to them. This is where culture comes into play as well. If Mom is single and raising you alone and can't keep her head above water (and couldn't keep her head above water before she had children) - these kids unfortunately, don't have the support systems at home to encourage their development.
I'm not blanket labeling as the family dynamics and support within this community varies as well. This type of family is common. Drug abuse, neglect, elective poverty - in the sense that people are having large families without the financial means to support them and without the education and stability to produce healthy, motivated citizens.