The current financial climate in America underscores that entrenched
poverty and limits on economic opportunity are not only local problems, but
American problems. And national problems demand national investments. As
Washington bails out Wall Street, they must also remember Main Street America and
invest in education, infrastructure and poverty remediation measures to ensure
that all Americans have the opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency and a
prosperous future.
This summer, as president of the United States Conference of
Mayors, I announced five Mayors’ Action Forums, to convene a discussion on the
major issues facing our nation’s cities: energy and the environment, crime and
public safety, reducing and breaking the cycle of poverty, infrastructure
investment and development, and the economic impact of arts, culture and
travel. Due to the urgency of these
problems, we held the first forum on August 5 and concluded the last forum on
October 3.
While it is vitally important for the mayors of America’s
cities and metropolitan areas to meet and discuss the problems facing our
cities and arrive at concrete solutions, the reality is that these are national
problems. America’s cities and metropolitan areas make up 85 percent of the
total population. Our cities and metropolitan areas are where more than 90
percent of our national economic growth occurred between 2000 and 2007.
Economic activity in our cities and metropolitan areas represent more than 86
percent of our Gross Domestic Product. Unfortunately, Washington has ignored the needs and
national growth opportunity of its cities and its people. The truth is that Washington
has lost its values and sense of purpose—engaging in endless debate and
partisan bickering while people in this country continue to suffer.
In view of Washington’s continuing neglect of these
important issues, the United States Conference of Mayors took the initiative to
hold these forums to devise a plan of action for America’s cities for the next
president. The mayors of the country want to see
our recommendations included in the next president’s proposals to congress, and
implemented in the first 100 days of the next administration.
Poverty is at the top of our list. Statistics show that 1 in every 6 children in
this country lives in poverty, with nearly half living in extreme poverty. In addition,
of the more than 140 million Americans employed in 2006, 8.7 million were
living in poverty – evidence that even full-time work is failing to lift
workers out of poverty. Long-term poverty remediation is required.
We cannot tolerate such injustices in our midst. That’s why, on September 24 in Los Angeles, mayors at the
Action Forum on Poverty included the following amongst their recommendations:
- A
recalculation of how poverty is measured to accurately determine the true nature
of poverty in this country
- A
cabinet-level position to direct and coordinate poverty reduction programs
with a special emphasis on early-childhood education and healthcare
- Tax-code
reforms to simplify the process to access benefits and make them available
to a wider number of families
- An
expansion of financial literacy programming to promote and enhance
financial stability
- Significant
investment in workforce development programs to give students multiple
paths to employment
We invited senior advisors to Senators John McCain and
Barack Obama, so that no matter who prevails on November 4, America can
look forward to real action on poverty in the coming year.
During my tenure as Mayor of Miami, I have worked to make
our city an example of how we can alleviate and remediate both the immediate
effects of poverty and its long-term causes.
I also launched “Helping Hands, Mending Lives,” a 10-year,
public-private partnership to end chronic homelessness. I’m proud to say that since then we have
already reduced homelessness in Miami
by 50 percent. In March, after
Washington enacted an economic stimulus, we assisted low and moderate income
residents to navigate the complicated tax filing process through 25
City of Miami-sponsored locations, so they could secure the relief to which
they were entitled—and desperately needed.
Other mayors have taken bold and decisive action on
poverty. Yet this alone is not
enough. Poverty is a national problem
and demands national attention. The next
president must take strong steps to ensure that Washington never again abandons the needs of
its cities and their residents.
I left Cuba at the age
of six, arriving on my mother’s lap. We didn’t have a penny to our name, but I
grew up to become mayor of one of America’s greatest cities because of a
partnership between the federal government and the people of Main Street
America. I believe in the American dream because I am a product of it. This is
the only country in the world that inspires a dream. Let us not deny America’s poor and disadvantaged
the same opportunity to dream.
Viewpoints in this section solely represent the authors’ opinions and not the opinions of "Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity."