This post is part of a series on childhood poverty in the United States in partnership with Save the Children's U.S. Programs and Julianne Moore. To learn more go to savethechildren.org.
As an early educator, my wife Judy devoted her career to helping provide children with the opportunities, care, and support they deserve. Before she passed away in 1997, Judy had already impacted the lives of so many children in Prince George's County, Maryland, where she oversaw the county's early education programs.
Judy recognized, as I do, that when we provide children with opportunities at an early age, it makes a tremendous difference throughout their lives. Conversely, those children unable to access high quality early education or who lack proper medical care, dental care, and nutrition risk falling behind their peers and missing chances at success later on.
Supporting the health and education of the youngest Americans has never been more important. With the recession came an alarming rise in the number of children facing poverty in this country. Today, nearly one in four children lives at or below the poverty line. For these children, poverty brings with it a host of challenges not easily overcome, as of right now we are seeing a parallel between poverty and higher rates of obesity and poor performance in reading and math by the time they reach middle school.
It is up to all of us, working together in our communities, to help families access early education and the critical services -- like health care, nutrition awareness, and others -- that will keep these children on the path to opportunity and future success. One of the most effective ways to do so is by bringing all of these services together under one roof. A one-stop shop that provides social services to low-income families can address some of the delivery and cost challenges as well as make it easier for parents to access the tools they need to get ahead and help their children stay healthy and prepared for the future.
That's why in Maryland we now have twenty-five "Judy Centers," which provide full-day, full-year early education as well as social services to at-risk children and their families, including day care, health screenings, nutrition counseling, and dental checkups. In such a way we can break down barriers to integration of services and better coordinate their delivery to reach more families. According to evaluations by the Maryland State Department of Education, those children participating in Judy Center programs scored higher on kindergarten readiness in several metrics. That's why I've introduced the Full Service Community Schools Act in Congress to help replicate the successes we've had in Maryland across the country.
But keeping children out of poverty in America will take more than just local community efforts. We need national policies that provide more opportunities for low-income families and put more Americans on a pathway out of poverty. This means creating quality jobs, investing in good schools, and helping more of our people reach the middle class.
That is what House Democrats' Make It In America plan is all about. If we can come together to invest in education, innovation, and manufacturing, we can create new opportunities for middle-class jobs and, in the process, breathe new life into the American Dream.
At the same time, we have to be careful not to eliminate vital programs proven to help reduce the early learning gap or provide healthy meals to children. In our effort to achieve much-needed deficit reduction, it would be a disaster if we were to do so at the expense of those who need our help the most.
Ultimately, reducing -- and someday eliminating -- childhood poverty in America must involve government, the private sector, and non-profits working together in partnership. I commend the work being done by groups like Save the Children that are so active in our communities around the country.
Working together, we can help more of our children and their families make it in America.
Rev. Earl E. Johnson: Why Rituals Matter After Disaster
I am really excited to read about how your State of Maryland created the "Judy Centers" which provides the very needed full-time daycare center and early childhood education with social services for at risk children and families. The truth is most of the single mother's in Rochester, NY, like in many cities across the country are in need of a daycare. Our funding is very limited here which makes it hard for single mothers especially to get off the welfare rolls.
In this country there is a trend to forget about people and especially our children in poverty. There is a dangerous move that the middle class is shrinking and that will only leave us in poverty or you are rich. I feel that single mothers should have an opportunity to an college education without being sanctioned of the agency of no day care in the process. You are correct that we have to try to move more poverty people into the middle class.
Diane Donofrio
Communism never works out well for children, but deadbeat Parents flourish forever, or until Genocides becomes necessary to balance a budget.
I never once read the verses in any Holy Book, give unto the prostitutes and Drug Addicts for such make Great Neighbors, and embellish the Kingdom of God
Give unto the Government all your excess, For they're the true Saviors of humanity
Jesus was Slaughtered via a Government Decree mandating his Kingdom was Offensive to Government's Righteous Values, and his Blood was required to cleanse his Immoral Idolatry
Charity is the willful Giving of Cash and Gifts; Extortion is the mandated surrendering of cash in exchange for your life and liberty, until more Cash is Required tomorrow
Jesus commanded loving your neighbor as yourself: Social Justice mandates supporting those deliberate ignorance's for Eternity
Jesus commanded suffer NOT the little Children to come unto me: Progressive values mandates Praying in your own closet and don't Offend my Progressive Self-Righteous Children
Jesus demanded 10% of your income "tithing" Progressives mandate Everything you own more than they have
Jesus feed the poor directly from his Charity: Governments mandates first feeding themselves
Jesus commanded his Kingdom was NOT of this world: Social Justice mandates a New Federal Religion Today, with Jesus Knelling before them for moral directions
I'm profoundly thankful I was raised in an era, when Education was our sole core value, and social Lunches weren't requirements, bribing you back into classroom. Slower students got sandwiches etc, and remained in their classrooms learning as they ate. Superior student required Mandatory Volunteerism helping advance those slower students forward. We both learned Great Characters and team concepts. When Social programs inundates education, TRUE EDUCATION SUFFERS
Our teachers weren't social engineers, or Loco Parentis Scholars. They were without exception respected, because ZERO Tolerances for disrespecting them was Supremely Enforced. They Immediately disciplined us in that classroom, and or principles office, as severely as our disruptions required. We had this saying in ALL classrooms, stupidity and Ignorance's have to hurt, before you can overcome it, and become truly liberated tomorrow.
Social Justice hasn't paid good dividends thus far, either in cost, or progress toward superior educations Today. The Facts are Sadly if the Schools and Taxpayers don't feed our Unwanted Responsibilities, those problems will starve ... Welcome to Hope and Change via the seriously Progressive Deranged
Thank God My Kids Learned Contributions brings true happiness... Dinner Plates with Appetites brings only pedantic pandemics problematic prodigies
President Obama signed into Law 2 trillion =2000 billion dollars in cuts to ? Food-stamps cut Liheap heating oil for the Elderly an Children cut, Medicaid cut, School lunch programs cut, public housing cut.
Mr. Hoyer these cuts 2 trillion =2000 billion dollars in cuts to our Social safety nets are your Idea of helping the Poor the Elderly the Disabled > But you Mr Hoyer found time an money to pass a 1000 billion = 1 trillion dollar tax cut a 2 year tax cut ? In those tax cuts you My. Hoyer opened up Social Security for a 2 percent 120 billion dollar cut .
Mr. Hoyer in your mind a mind of a Politician this will help the poor . Democratic Values are Missing for sure . Thanks for the Three Free Trade Agreement Anti American worker FTA' and you have another FTA 'TPP' on the way .
We need mandatory birth-control for all welfare recipients, and we need to re-stigmatize single motherhood. Otherwise, poverty is a black hole you can't fill with all the money in the world.
The true solution lies in a hybrid between government programs and private sector self-interest: neither will be effective without the other.
It's time to put a plan forward that harnesses wealth to create opportunity. Start by stiffly raising tax rates on million dollar annual incomes and capital gains - and offer a deduction for every dollar spent sponsoring a child in poverty into a good education, job, and career. It's an investment in the future, and puts individual wealth into direct action.
Americans tolerate poverty because they don't have to look it in the face, see the real child, not the statistic, and because they do not take personal responsibility for its solution.
If the right truly believes this is not the job of government, then, prove it.
Anything else you do is a waste of time. Until you stop our federal government from favoring slave labor in communist dictatorships...nothing else matters.
of life for all God's Children.
The CONVENIENT TRUTH is the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) is
THE EARTH FRIENDLY REACTOR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOoBTufkEog
The fixation on a deficit is utterly misguided and ideologically driven.
For goodness sake Tbill investors are now paying the US treasury a PREMIUM to invest their money. Even the secondary bond market has negative yields.
""Treasury Department allow for negative yield auction results as soon as logistically practical."" http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1403.aspx
"Ultimately, reducing -- and someday eliminating -- childhood poverty in America must involve government, the private sector, and non-profits working together in partnership."
Government is the only sector with the capacity to address the poverty level in America. It is the ONLY one with the resources and responsibility.
There are no "market solutions" as if there were, poverty would be nonexistent. The market does not address the concept of the public good.
Charging non-profits with the cause is simply an abdication of the State's responsibility to advance the public good of all citizens.
We have more poor today than at any time in history, yet the nation is richer than it has ever been at any time in history.
1959 40 million
1969 28 million
1973 24 million
1975 25 million
1985 33 million
1995 36 million
2005 37 million
2010 46 million
The number one solution to lifting people out of poverty, the world over, is to provide decent well paying stable jobs.