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SYNDICATE CONTENTCitizens Agenda: Poverty
Nov. 25, 2007
Philadelphia cannot flourish when a quarter of its citizens live in poverty – the worst poverty rate among the nation’s 10 biggest cities. Reducing poverty isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s an economic one.
Improving schools and reducing crime – two priorities of Mayor-elect Michael Nutter – are essential to tackling poverty. When a boy drops out of high school, his resume may well end up being a rap sheet. When a girl drops out to have a baby, the statistics predict that her child is likely to grow up poor.
Here’s another Nutter priority that can help to break poverty’s lock: targeted tax cuts that can fuel an influx of new jobs.
But these efforts, crucial as they are, will not be enough. The poverty rate won’t be reduced until all leaders, in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, make that goal a civic priority, a touchstone against which efforts on multiple fronts are measured.
This mobilization must involve everything from tax policy to pulpit preaching. Poverty may begin with the lack of a job and a shortage of cash, but over generations it can become a disease of the spirit.
Ending the status quo requires better attention and performance by government, businesses, nonprofits, faith organizations, civic groups, and poor people themselves. This effort must concentrate on categories where poverty is concentrated: Hispanics, African Americans, and households headed by women.
Mayoral leadership can make a difference. As a starting point, Nutter needs to declare that this community will work together to end the shameful reality that one out of every four Philadelphians lives in poverty.
Then vows must be backed by bold deeds:
The No. 1 Priority: Break the cycle: Zero in on at-risk youth.
Why it matters:
The wrong start in life may not doom a person, but it seriously dampens one’s chances. It’s easier to give young people the right start – in education, work, health, civic engagement, etc. – than it is to rescue them from self-destructive situations and attitudes later on.
What to do:
Barrage young, at-risk Philadelphians with opportunities, help and inspiration to fulfill their potential. Radical changes, not gradual upgrades, are required.
Short-term actions
Summer Stretch:
Create a new standard: There will be a summer job, internship, service project or summer school slot for every Philadelphia teenager. Keep them busy, and give them experiences that build job readiness. To do this, government, business, youth-service groups, faith organizations, and foundations will have to work together.
MentorTown USA:
Make Philadelphia the national leader at linking adults with poor children who lack strong role models. The stretch goal: 20,000 formal, one-to-one mentoring relationships by Nutter’s fourth year as mayor. Challenge foundations and philanthropists to fund this lifesaving, city-shaking transformation.
After-school cool:
Dramatically increase kids’ opportunities for safe, productive activities after school. Remember that quality makes a difference here. Help the groups that do this well now – Boys & Girls Clubs, Mural Arts Program, Scouts – double their rolls within two years.
Get what you deserve:
Government, business and nonprofits should saturate Philadelphians with info and hands-on help for getting the government help for which they qualify: food stamps, free health insurance, the working-poor tax credit, etc. Make this site famous: www.compass.state.pa.us.
Second chances:
Boost tax credits to businesses that hire and retain former prisoners.
Give public praise to businesses that hire ex-cons, quiet urging to those that don’t.
Steal this book:
For a quick-start guide to attacking poverty, swipe ideas from New York City’s bold plan: http://www.nyc.gov/ceo.
For a quick-start guide to attacking poverty, swipe ideas from New York City’s bold plan: http://www.nyc.gov/ceo.
Long-term efforts
Make a blueprint:
Convene an expert task force to shape and build support for a long-term, regional strategy against poverty.
Convene an expert task force to shape and build support for a long-term, regional strategy against poverty.
No more rip-offs:
Reduce the “poverty premium” that forces people in poor neighborhoods to overpay for goods and services such as groceries, check cashing, and loans. The urban supermarket initiative begun by State Rep. Dwight Evans is an example of how to do this. So are efforts to get banks to offer fair subprime loans.
Make connections:
Take steps to reduce the social isolation of poor people, as pioneered in other cities by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Bonus money:
Get foundation money to experiment with giving cash bonuses to poor households for taking sound steps out of poverty, such as opening a no-frills savings account. New York City is doing this.
Get smarts:
Dramatically reduce the dropout rate; support efforts that help dropouts get degrees, and enable college dropouts to return to campus.
Make Philadelphia work:
Remember that cutting the taxes, red tape and corruption that scare employers away from Philadelphia could prove to be one of the most effective anti-poverty efforts.
Stay focused:
Ask this question of every city policy and decision: What does this do to help us reduce the poverty rate?
Ideas from citizen forums
Cut through the maze:
Set up neighborhood-based ombudsmen and directories to guide residents to government benefits and services.
Babies having babies:
At school, at church, on the front stoop, intensify the messages sent to teenagers: Don’t get pregnant, or get anyone pregnant.
Enduring values:
Again, in class, from the pulpit, on the street, try to dissuade young people from “the culture of instant gratification”; instill in them “the dignity of work.”
(Illustration by Tim Ogline)
