Addressing poverty is a priority

Friday, Jun. 05, 2015

At an extraordinary Poverty Summit in Washington, D.C., Catholics and Evangelicals, conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats agreed that God is deeply grieved when humans are denied the opportunity to live with dignity. All participants further agreed that each and every person of faith is called to assist the poor as they seek those things necessary for a meaningful, truly human life.

In a show of the kind of bipartisanship that is possible, with a little faith, the 120 participants concluded that government has a role to play in ensuring that people in poverty are not permanently excluded from accessing the American Dream. Republican and Democratic, conservative and liberal speakers stressed the need, in the words of Arthur Brooks from the American Enterprise Institute, to “declare peace on the safety net” and recognize the growing inequalities created by our economic system, and the detrimental impacts of that inequality on our nation as a whole.

But the summit wasn’t just about economics. The recurring theme throughout the summit was the imperative that we address both the economic and the social factors that contribute to poverty. Raising the minimum wage is not enough to solve the problems created by disintegrating families in devalued neighborhoods. As Fr. Donald Sterling from New All Saints Catholic Church in Baltimore noted, poverty isn’t just about money, it’s also about state of mind. Baltimore’s residents experience inequality not only in pay, but also in their neglected neighborhoods and at their churches, where leadership rarely includes representatives from poor, dangerous neighborhoods, and stereotypes can be reinforced by clergy and lay leaders. 

Conservative and liberal presenters also acknowledged that a rising economy no longer lifts all boats. In our technological and globalized age, most uneducated workers in America will find it impossible to earn a decent living, no matter how hard they work. Income levels for unskilled workers have not changed in the past 40 years. Thus, policies such as Earned Income Tax Credits, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps), raising the minimum wage, Medicaid, and housing vouchers matter.

On the other hand, these programs will not solve poverty alone. Children living in single-parent homes are more likely to live in poverty, engage in at-risk behaviors, and suffer in poorer schools with less experienced teachers and parents who truly don’t have the time to assist in their educations. To address some of these concerns, businesses need to offer conditions of employment that support families, government assistance programs need to recognize the value of education and training programs, not just work, and stop penalizing marriage for low income families, and schools need to be able to attract high quality candidates for teaching positions in poorer communities.  

While all sides did not agree on all solutions, we did agree that the only way to start enacting smarter policies is to make poverty an inescapable policy discussion in the upcoming political campaigns. Senator Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, Senator Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, President Barack Obama, and Arthur Brooks, among many others, agreed that poverty must be on the agenda of every presidential and congressional candidate if we are going to tackle the issue in any meaningful way. That means that candidates can’t be allowed to avoid questions about poverty, and such questions need to be asked at every opportunity.

This is where Catholic voters come in. We who believe in the dignity of the human person, who believe that on the Day of Judgment we will be asked what we did “for these least brothers of mine,” should be at the forefront advocating for the needs of the poor to be a top national priority. As election season begins, pledge to yourself that before you decide who to vote for, you will ask the candidates how they will support the poor and vulnerable.