FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
July 17, 2008
Contact:
Dana Vickers Shelley, 410-223-2978
dshelley@aecf.org
Amy Saltzman, 301-656-0348
asaltzman@thehatchergroup.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Douglas W. Nelson, president and CEO of the Annie E.
Casey Foundation, urged Congress today to adopt a new measure of
poverty that will provide a more accurate statistical portrait of
economically struggling Americans.
“If we want to solve the poverty challenge, step one is to get our
heads around the true scope, dimension, and dynamics of the problem,”
Nelson said in testimony presented to the Subcommittee on Income
Security and Family Support of the House Ways and Means Committee.
“I believe that changing the poverty measure should be viewed as part
of overall efforts in this country to hold ourselves and our policy
makers accountable for honestly confronting the problems faced by those
in need – and coming up with clear and measurable responses,” Nelson
added.
The subcommittee is
considering revising how the federal government measures poverty in
America. The current poverty measure was crafted in the 1960s and many
analysts have concluded that it does not accurately portray the real
costs of living for low-income families, leaving out such key expenses
as transportation to work, child care, and state and local taxes. Nor
does it reflect a variety of benefits, such as food stamps, housing
assistance, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit,
which many low-income families rely on to stay afloat.
Nelson pointed out that the Casey Foundation has long worked to
quantify the conditions of America’s vulnerable families and children.
Most notably, its KIDS COUNT project uses high-quality data to measure
the educational, social, economic and physical well-being of children
in each state. A network of state-level projects also provides more
detailed, county-by-county assessments of the conditions of children.
In his testimony, Nelson said that other existing efforts to measure
child well-being in this country are, like the poverty measurement,
inadequate and out-dated. He called for the creation of a state-level
survey of the well-being of children across the country. Such a survey,
which is currently supported by legislation in both chambers of
Congress, would provide reliable, accurate data about how children are
doing in a range of areas, including education, social and emotional
development, health and safety and family well-being.
“This information would help states better target their scarce
resources and more usefully assess whether child well-being improves
when new programs and policies are instituted,” Nelson said.
Citing the growing emphasis on poverty and opportunity during the
presidential campaign, Nelson said that this is clearly the right time
to rethink the way we collect data about the lowest-income Americans.
He also noted that recent surveys have shown growing public interest in
efforts to fight poverty. In a poll taken in early July by Republican
pollster Jim McLaughlin for Spotlight on Poverty, an
initiative launched last October by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the
Eos Foundation and other major foundations, likely voters were asked
whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “The
media has spent an adequate amount of time during the presidential
campaign covering the issue of how to fight poverty in the U.S.” 56
percent disagreed; 41 percent strongly disagreed.
“More Americans want to hear about what their political leaders will do
to fight poverty,” said Nelson. “It is time for all parties in this
debate to table their disagreements and come together around a more
credible and policy relevant approach to poverty measurement.”
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The
Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation is a national philanthropy
dedicated to fostering public policies, human services and community
supports that more effectively meets the needs of vulnerable children
and families. For more information, visit www.aecf.org.