Three Concepts to Reform Our Nations Crumbling Safety Net

Policy Principles for the 113

th
Congress

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) was founded in 1910, with the mission to be an advocate for the
poor living across the United States. Over 160 Catholic Charities agencies across the United States
provide assistance to approximately 10 million people each year, regardless of religion, social or
economic background, almost one in four of all individuals in poverty.

Over 46 million Americans current live below the federal poverty line. As we approach the 50
th

anniversary of the War on Poverty, we believe it is time to critically look at the strengths and
weaknesses of our nations safety-net program. With a service delivery system largely designed in the
1960s, and left untouched since, our nation cannot wait another 50 years to pursue innovative,
sustainable, and effective reform of these anti-poverty programs.

Our nations safety net is fraying. Every day, our agencies are doing the best they can to deliver vital
services within the constraints of an inefficient model. Our policy objectives in this context focus on
bold new ideas to modernize the domestic discretionary and entitlement programs that deliver
services to individuals and families in need.

CCUSA is guided by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and adheres to the teachings of the
Catholic Church. The measure that we use to assess every aspect of public policy and legislation are
the principles found therein, especially the inherent dignity of every human being, a strong
commitment to the common good, and the preferential option for the poor. Any action that impacts
the lives of people, especially the poor and marginalized, is a moral action. In that spirit, our
founding charter calls us to be the attorney for the poor. It is this role that we endeavor to
undertake every day.

CCUSA has a long history of being actively engaged in the development and passage of major social
service legislation, including the Social Security Act, the National Housing Act, and the federal
Emergency Food and Shelter Program. These programs have helped untold millions of individuals
achieve sustainable self-reliance, support their families, and become contributing members to local
communities throughout the nation.

In our current political environment, CCUSA recognizes that any legislation, regardless of bi-
partisan support or moral imperatives, will face significant barriers to passage. We believe that by
working with specific localities to implement pilot projects based on the following policy principles,
we can illustrate the effectiveness of these three principles, taken directly from the experiences and
challenges that on-the-ground service providers face everyday:
Results-Driven: As a network, we are committed to moving from measuring simple outputs to
meaningful outcomes. By incorporating evaluation into the ground floor of program design and
establish a framework for producing measureable outcomes, we can ensure government funds are
being investing in what works. More specifically, CCUSA recommends:
Building off of the work being done at the Lab for Economic Opportunities at the
University of Notre Dame to gain a deeper understanding of components to successful and
scalable anti-poverty programs being run in communities around the country.
Requiring data tracking technologies and systematic reporting be included as part of the
initial stages of local program implementation.

Markets-Based: The non-profit sector cannot end poverty in America working alone. By building a
greater engagement with government and the corporate sector, social service agencies can pursue
innovative funding streams through new capital markets, expanded tax credits, and monetizing their
savings through social impact bonds. More specifically, CCUSA recommends:
Creating social impact bonds that monetize the savings created by poverty prevention
programs and reinvests those funds back into the community.
Incentivizing private sector engagement beyond traditional philanthropy through Qualified
Community Renewal Contributions.
Support social innovation and microenterprise efforts that enable non-profit agencies to
make a profit while serving human needs.

Systems-Changing: Very often, bureaucratic silos often prevent individuals from accessing
essential services that could establish their self-reliance. Recognizing the individualized nature of
poverty, CCUSA seeks reform that will cut red tape, break down those silos, update outdated
measurements and deliver support at the earliest and most cost effective moments of need. More
specifically, CCUSA recommends:
Developing Individual Opportunity Plans, created with the assistance of client advocates, to
create poverty relief strategies that are specifically-tailored and client-driven.
Establishing tiered levels of services that prevent people from falling into poverty, help those
who are receiving services reach self-reliance, and maintain a level of services for those who
require long-term support to live a dignified life.
Updating our nations outdated federal poverty standard with modern methodology.

A notable piece of legislation that encompasses many of the ideas highlighted above is the National
Opportunity and Community Renewal Act (NOCRA). CCUSA played an integral role in designing
NOCRA with the purpose bringing attention to the 46 million Americans living in poverty and
calling on Congressional leaders to engage in a conversation around innovative reform to our
nations crumbling safety net. The three policy principles outlined above seek to bring new ideas to
the discussion of modernizing our nations service delivery system and directly addressing the
complex challenges posed by the unacceptable reality of poverty in America in the 21
st
century.