FOR THEIR FUTURE, FOR OUR FUTURE
Strengthening American Competitiveness by Ending Child Poverty in the United States
I
NTRODUCTION
The loss of one person’s potential is a tragedy. The loss of millions’ is a national emergency. Here’s why: America finds itself today in an unprecedented competition for talent, creativity and intelligence. The knowledge-based, high-skilled jobs of the future – jobs that can support a family and drive a community – will be won by those countries that can best realize the potentials of their people. This is a worldwide, cut-throat competition, and everyone is out to win it. Allowing an American child to grow up in poverty makes victory for the U.S. impossible. It may not guarantee the loss of that child’s potential, but it comes awfully close. Because of child poverty, our nation loses out on the talent and ingenuity of millions of people. And precious tax dollars – resources that will be stretched thinner with every passing Baby Boom year – are misdirected: earmarked for prisons and preventable medical interventions, instead of our schools and universities, instead of countless priorities that would strengthen America’s competitive position. If we want to win this global competition, we have to be smarter. And we have to understand that this isn’t an urban problem, a suburban problem, or a rural problem. It’s an American problem. Fixing it does not simply mean strengthening our public education system, though, that is critical. We must acknowledge that there are large numbers of American children, who because of circumstance, are unlikely to be able to take advantage of the best schools or the best teachers. We must acknowledge this reality and do something about it. These children are born staring at a mountain they lack the tools to climb. In Newark, I see it every day: So many children, generation after generation, repeating history. I’ve fought to help end this cycle, and we’ve made headway. Our fatherhood program has helped curb recidivism and strengthened families. Our financial empowerment centers have enabled households to keep more of what they make, and I’ve worked to attract more than $200 million in new investment to Newark’s public schools. But combating poverty is a national problem, and it requires national solutions. This plan is a roadmap for action. It is a plan not only to alleviate the suffering and improve the lives of individuals, but a blueprint for strengthening our competitiveness, for fostering job growth and economic opportunity. In Christ’s admonition to care for the poor, he said, “What you do unto the least of these my brothers, you do unto me.” There are far broader implications today for failing to heed these words. It’s not just about an individual’s soul. It’s about the fate of our nation.
In a global competition, equipped with finite resources, the U.S. cannot afford to waste
human capital. We must harness the potential of every American. That means acting on the simple truth that our fates today are tied together in unprecedented ways.
T
HE
C
H LLENGE
Make no mistake: Child poverty is a national epidemic that affects kids in every town in New Jersey. It is linked to higher rates of asthma, diabetes, obesity, and crime, as well as lower test scores,
1
graduation rates, and earnings.
2
Once concentrated in our cities, child poverty is both spreading to our suburbs and growing statewide. It has increased 25 percent across New Jersey since 2007,
3
with marked increases in many smaller cities and towns. Nationally, child and adult poverty rose by nearly two thirds in the suburbs between 2000 and 2011, over twice the rate in cities.
4
In New Jersey, some rural and suburban counties have seen child poverty rates increase more than 100 percent since 2007.
5
It has been estimated that child poverty costs the U.S. $500 billion annually—nearly 4 percent of GDP.
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This tally includes tens of billions of dollars lost to the associated costs of crime, increased health expenditures, and foregone productivity.
7
On top of costing taxpayers and failing our moral obligations, New Jersey cannot compete economically if it leaves behind more of our future workforce each year. There will always be other states, and other countries, willing to work for less. We—both New Jersey and the United States—win not by being cheaper, but by being better. We win by offering the finest workforce in the country, at the center of the global economy. We must make eradicating child poverty and its effects a national mission. Fortunately, it is entirely within our power. The United States cut poverty nearly in half in a single decade
1
Richard J. Murnane. “Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty,” 17
The Future of Children
161-82 (2007), http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/foc/summary/v017/17.2murnane.html.
2
Susan Popkin, “Treating the Disease of Childhood Poverty,” The Urban Institute
(May 29, 2013), http://blog.metrotrends.org/2013/05/treating-disease-child-poverty/.
3
Advocates for Children of New Jersey,
New Jersey Pocket Guide: The State of Our Counties
(2013), http://www.acnj.org/admin.asp?uri=2081&action=15&di=2514&ext=pdf&view=yes (between 2007-2011, poverty increased by 27% in New Jersey).
4
Poverty rates in cities increased by 29% and by 64% in suburbs between 2000-2011. Brad Plumer, “Poverty Is Growing Twice As Fast in the Suburbs As in Cities,”
Washington Post
(May 23, 2013), http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/23/poverty-is-now-growing-twice-as-fast-in-the-suburbs-as-in-the-city.
5
Child poverty rates increased by 102% in Cape May County, 124% in Hunterdon County, and 129% in Somerset County between 2007-2011.
See New Jersey Pocket Guide
,
supra
note 3.
6
Harry J. Holzer et al., “The Economic Costs of Poverty in the United States: Subsequent Effects of Children Growing up Poor,” Center for American Progress (2007),
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/report/2007/01/24/2450/the-economic-costs-of- poverty/.
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