Monday, August 25, 2008
Poverty Numbers May Change but Work Remains the Same
Every year at this time the Census Bureau releases data on how many Americans lived in poverty the year before, and how many were without health insurance. Every year we wait anxiously to see if poverty was better or worse than the year, and years, before.
Whether or not poverty has inched up or down as of 10AM on August 26th (when the Census Bureau releases its numbers), the facts remain the same. Demand at food pantries is at, or beyond, capacity to meet the need. Since January 1st of this year 43,000 more Ohioans have enrolled in Medicaid. Foreclosures are at record highs. We don’t need the data to tell us what we already know. Ohioans, like all Americans, are struggling.
As strains on the public safety net increase, legislators must take a hard look at the day to day challenges their constituents face and consider critical budget decisions that need to be made in the coming years. Talk of tax cuts and spending cuts, especially in an election year, may sound like common-sense tough talk, but governing is not that simple. Cuts, on either the tax or spending side, must be made cautiously to ensure adequate support for effective programs while enabling the growth of the economy. Not all tax cuts are equal. Nearly half of the national deficit is the result of tax cuts enacted since January 2001.
It is also time for a serious discussion about the need for strategic increases in revenue. While popular rhetoric argues that tax increases are bad for the economy, especially small business, in the 1990s tax increases accompanied even greater growth than we saw in the most recent recovery from 2001 to 2007. Just as our family budgets need to keep up with rising costs, so does our nation’s.
We will learn some interesting facts from the Census Bureau data. But when the dust settles, and we know which is the poorest city in the United States, our work remains the same; encouraging sound fiscal policy that invests in people and making sure people have access to those investments.
Whether or not poverty has inched up or down as of 10AM on August 26th (when the Census Bureau releases its numbers), the facts remain the same. Demand at food pantries is at, or beyond, capacity to meet the need. Since January 1st of this year 43,000 more Ohioans have enrolled in Medicaid. Foreclosures are at record highs. We don’t need the data to tell us what we already know. Ohioans, like all Americans, are struggling.
As strains on the public safety net increase, legislators must take a hard look at the day to day challenges their constituents face and consider critical budget decisions that need to be made in the coming years. Talk of tax cuts and spending cuts, especially in an election year, may sound like common-sense tough talk, but governing is not that simple. Cuts, on either the tax or spending side, must be made cautiously to ensure adequate support for effective programs while enabling the growth of the economy. Not all tax cuts are equal. Nearly half of the national deficit is the result of tax cuts enacted since January 2001.
It is also time for a serious discussion about the need for strategic increases in revenue. While popular rhetoric argues that tax increases are bad for the economy, especially small business, in the 1990s tax increases accompanied even greater growth than we saw in the most recent recovery from 2001 to 2007. Just as our family budgets need to keep up with rising costs, so does our nation’s.
We will learn some interesting facts from the Census Bureau data. But when the dust settles, and we know which is the poorest city in the United States, our work remains the same; encouraging sound fiscal policy that invests in people and making sure people have access to those investments.
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As many of us wait for somebody else to tell us how poorly we are or are not doing, I can't help but think about the persons all around our community who have no sense of or interest in the "numbers" but whom each day become further and further disconnected from our economy.
Ms. Thoms is correct! The work remains and the work is not a simple or quick fix that in 6-8 months will eliminate poverty. As the state of Ohio seeks (and rightly so) solutions to poverty, both short-term and long-term approaches and investments must be made in order to have meaningful results. There is not a single solution and non-traditional approaches must be encouraged.
Poverty has effects on our children and community that can last for generations. We must stop searching for quick and convenient answers and make a collective commitment to do whatever it takes to help those who truly desire assistance.
One example that we might look to is the recent research completed by mdrc on the Milwaukee, Wisconsin "New Hope for the Working Poor" project. This project implemented in 1994 in two inner-city areas was based on the simple premise that people who work full time should not be poor. New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits: an earnings supplement to raise their income above poverty, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. For those unable to find full-time work, the program offered help in finding a job and referral to a wage-paying community service job when necessary.
While there are many lessons to be learned from and improvements to be made to this type of project, results that include improved social behaviors, improved attitudes about work, and improved academic performance the effects of many which could be seen up to eight years after the start of the program, should give us tremendous confidence that investments in new and improved models like Transitional Jobs can have a meaningful impact.
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Ms. Thoms is correct! The work remains and the work is not a simple or quick fix that in 6-8 months will eliminate poverty. As the state of Ohio seeks (and rightly so) solutions to poverty, both short-term and long-term approaches and investments must be made in order to have meaningful results. There is not a single solution and non-traditional approaches must be encouraged.
Poverty has effects on our children and community that can last for generations. We must stop searching for quick and convenient answers and make a collective commitment to do whatever it takes to help those who truly desire assistance.
One example that we might look to is the recent research completed by mdrc on the Milwaukee, Wisconsin "New Hope for the Working Poor" project. This project implemented in 1994 in two inner-city areas was based on the simple premise that people who work full time should not be poor. New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits: an earnings supplement to raise their income above poverty, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. For those unable to find full-time work, the program offered help in finding a job and referral to a wage-paying community service job when necessary.
While there are many lessons to be learned from and improvements to be made to this type of project, results that include improved social behaviors, improved attitudes about work, and improved academic performance the effects of many which could be seen up to eight years after the start of the program, should give us tremendous confidence that investments in new and improved models like Transitional Jobs can have a meaningful impact.
# posted by 
: 10:57 AM
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