Transcript Children in Poverty Report

“Elevate the Debate”
Milwaukee, WI
June 4th, 2014
Wisconsin Poverty Summit
@WIPovertySummit
#ElevatetheDebate
Poverty in Wisconsin
Ken Taylor
Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Robert Kraig
Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund
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Definitions
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Federal Poverty Guidelines by Family Size
Persons in Family /
Household
Poverty Guideline
1
$11,670
2
$15,730
3
$19,790
4
$23,850
5
$27,910
6
$31,970
7
$36,030
8
$40,090
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,060 for each additional person.
A full-time minimum wage job produces a gross income of $15,080
Fed. Poverty Definition Limited
 It is set at 3 times the minimum food diet in 1963
 Does not include modern draws on resources like
work expenses, transportation to work, medical bills
 Not adjusted to modern living standards
 Not adjusted by geography (varying living costs)
 Does not measure depth of poverty
 BUT is still best national measure
 (Source, UW Institute for Research on Poverty)
Magnitude and
Dimensions
6
Children are the Most
Impoverished Group
% Poverty by Age
Living Below the Federal Poverty Level 2010
US Census
Bureau
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% Poverty Over Time: 1959-2010
Children and Seniors
9 2011, Random House, NY. Chapter 10, pp. 185-208
Sachs JD. The Price of Civilization.
16 Million
American
children in
the U.S.
live below
the
poverty
line
That’s more
than the
populations
of
New
York
LA
and
Chicago
COMBINED
=
100,000 people
Child Poverty Rates:
United States and United Kingdom
26.1
22.5
18.9
12.3
10.6
2010
Smeeding T, Waldfogel J. Fighting 11childhood poverty in the US &UK: and update. 2010.
Cribb J, Joyce R, Phillip D. Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2012 . IFS
commentary C124.
Poverty in Wisconsin
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What do we know about Wisconsin?
 Although our child poverty
rate is still below the
national average (18% vs.
23%):
 Wisconsin’s rate has grown
faster than the national
rate over the decade
 Milwaukee has the 4th
highest level of children
living in concentrated
poverty of the 50 largest
cities
 There are substantial racial
disparities in child poverty
rates
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Percent of the population living in poverty
By county, Wisconsin, 2006-2010
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Source: American Community Survey, 2006-2010.
Free/Reduced Lunch Eligibility
Reveals Trend in WI Child Poverty
Concentrated and deep poverty
The added challenge of extreme
poverty:
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100,000 Wisconsin children
live in deep poverty
Racial Disparities in Wisconsin
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The poverty rate for Black kids in Wisconsin is
4X higher than for White kids
The Economy
Income Inequality Trend
Source: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/inequality/index.html
The wealthiest 400 now have same wealth
as half of all Americans
America is No Longer
the Land of Opportunity
59% of Milwaukee African American men
not employed
Source UWM Center on Econ Development
Minimum Wage Jobs Increasingly
Support Families, Lost Ground
 Minimum Wage over $2.00 per hour less then 1968
 Minimum Wage workers in 2014 are much more productive
and better educated
 87% minimum wage workers 20 years or older
 57% are women
 45% have some college education
 587,000 Wisconsin workers make less than $10.10 per hour
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Women earn 77 cents on the dollar
Over a million dollars in lost lifetime earnings
Personal Story: Income
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Poverty & Health
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What Impacts Health?
Social
determinants of
health
Income
• Access to health
promoting goods and
services
• Psychosocial effects
linked with economic
resources
• Cumulative effects over
time and at critical
periods.
Sources: RWJF 2008, Obstacles to Health Report, Szanton 2005,
RWJF-Stable Jobs http://www.rwjf.org/en/blogs/new-public-health/2013/01/stable_jobs_health.html
Braveman, Paula. Income Wealth and Health. RWJF Special Issue Brief http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2011/rwjf70448
Employment
Sources: RWJF-Stable Jobs http://www.rwjf.org/en/blogs/new-public-health/2013/01/stable_jobs_health.html
Access to health care
Access to healthcare:
Lack of health insurance coverage among Wisconsin adults ages 18-64, by
household income, 2008-2011
60%
Low income (<$20,000)
Middle income ($20,000-$74,999)
High income ($75,000+)
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
4%
34%
16%
No health insurance coverage, ages 18-64
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Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS); 2008-2011 landline-only dataset.
Chronic Diseases:
Age-adjusted rates of heart attack and stroke among Wisconsin adults,
by household income, 2008-2011
10%
Low income (<$20,000)
Middle income ($20,000-$74,999)
High income ($75,000+)
5%
0%
7%
3%
3%
5%
Ever had a heart attack
2%
2%
Ever had a stroke
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Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS); 2008-2011 landline-only dataset.
Wisconsin Rejection of Enhanced
Medicaid Dollars Leaves over 84,000
without Affordable Health Care
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Personal Story: Health
36
Racial Disparities in Incarceration
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Juvenile Arrest Rates
Adult Arrests
Personal Story: Incarceration
40
Education
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Vocabulary
1200
Wealthy
1000
CHILD’S
CUMULATIVE
VOCABULARY
800
Middle Class
600
Low
Income
400
200
0
Age of Child (in months)
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Hart & Risley, 1995
Students Not Graduating With a Regular Diploma
in Four Years
Source: Hansen et al (2013) PLoS One
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131211183752.htm
Low-Wage Worker Education
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Real Wisconsin state school spending plummets to
17 year low--biggest cuts to high poverty districts
What beliefs get in the way of addressing
the challenge of poverty?
 We Don’t Have Enough
Money
 Raising wage floor harms the
economy
 Its no longer possible to
solve big social problems
 Personal vs. Systems Analysis
of social & economic issues
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American Poverty Ideology





Faith in markets to distribute resources to the most
deserving
Poor are personally responsible for condition
Anyone can make it who is moral (American Dream)
Doing harm by doing good (Dependency)
Deservedness


Contingent on work
Contingent on behavior
Common Beliefs about Poor People
Poor people are different from the rest of us
Poor people are lazy
Poor people exploit the system
Poor people make irresponsible decisions
Roles—It Takes a Village






Individuals
Families
Private Sector
Public Sector
Charitable Sector
Faith Communities
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The only way to dramatically reduce
poverty is to exercise the moral agency
of our democracy
 Only bold measures can reverse the poverty and
rising inequality
 Must combine reform of the private economy with a
substantial investment in social safety net and
education
 Denying a government role constitutes a surrender of
our own moral agency as a society.
 The voices of our moral leaders must he heard.
The End
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“Elevate the Debate”
Milwaukee, WI
June 4th, 2014
Wisconsin Poverty Summit
@WIPovertySummit
#ElevatetheDebate
Sampling of Policy Prescriptions
 Support working families Immediately




Health care
Raise the minimum wage
Family leave/ paid sick days
Support early learning
 Build the skills and education of Wisconsin’s workforce
 Invest in bold economic strategies to open opportunity
and restore economic mobility
 Make state taxes more equal across income groups
 Earned Income Tax Credit
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Martin Luther King: Imaginary Letter
from the Apostle Paul
The misuse of Capitalism can also lead to tragic
exploitation. They tell me that one tenth of one
percent of the population controls more than forty
percent of the wealth. Oh America, how often have you
taken necessities from the masses to give luxury to the
classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you
must solve this problem.
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Pope Francis
Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there
is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone,
it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry
children, that there are so many children without an
education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a
cry.
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“Elevate the Debate”
Milwaukee, WI
June 4th, 2014
Wisconsin Poverty Summit
@WIPovertySummit
#ElevatetheDebate