Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2008
With the number of U.S. children in poverty increasing, many states are forming commissions and task forces to reduce the ranks of the poor.
Pennsylvania is not among them.
Also, nearly two dozen states - including Delaware and New Jersey - have adopted state income-tax credits, considered by many policymakers to be the single best weapon in the antipoverty arsenal, because the credit rewards working people and raises many families above the poverty line.
Pennsylvania has not created such a credit.
"There's silence on poverty in Pennsylvania - no serious discussion of poverty reduction at all," said Sharon Ward, executive director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, a research group in Harrisburg.
"Pennsylvania has not made any movement to form an antipoverty group or task force, while one-third of U.S. states have," said Christine Nelson, program manager of the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonprofit association of state legislators based in Denver.
The most discussed poverty-related issue in the legislature in recent months has been an unsuccessful effort to fingerprint and drug-test anyone receiving food stamps or welfare benefits.
Throughout America, the child-poverty rate increased from 17.4 percent in 2006 to 18 percent last year, a significant jump, said Mike Laracy, coordinator for public policy of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which makes grants to poor children and families. And the current economic crisis is expected to boost that rate even further, Laracy said.
About 17 percent of Pennsylvania children live in poverty. Delaware's figure is 15 percent, while New Jersey's is 12 percent. Both Delaware and New Jersey are working to establish commissions to battle child poverty.
As the economy has faltered and people face stagnant wages and rising costs, many states have recognized that getting into the middle class is much harder than it used to be, Nelson said.
She is hoping that initiatives to help the poor that begin in the states will blossom into federal programs, as has occurred in the past.
She and others point to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), started in Pennsylvania and New York, which grew into a successful federal program.
It would be beneficial, advocates say, if the presidential candidates spoke with more frequency and specificity about poverty.
"But the plight of the poor is not a major campaign issue for either party," Ward said. "More attention is being paid to the broad middle class."
So it falls to the states to beat the antipoverty drum.
According to research from the Center For Law and Social Policy, an Alabama task force is working to increase funding for Head Start and eliminate the state income tax for people living below the poverty level.
In New York, a group is giving poor parents $50 if they bring their children in for annual dental checkups.
In Colorado, a coalition is holding town-hall meetings to hear how poor people make ends meet.
In Iowa, a caucus is exploring ways to teach financial literacy to children in kindergarten through 12th grade.
And in Connecticut, ambitious legislation is aimed to reduce child poverty by 50 percent in 10 years. The state is also considering 13 priorities to improve teacher quality and create programs to prevent teen pregnancy.
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