Feature Story

October 8, 2008

Poverty and Philanthropy: Strategies for Change

From MDRC:

Poverty rates in the United States have remained stubbornly consistent for the past 35 years, despite significant efforts to reduce them (and some success in lessening child poverty in the 1990s).

This paper begins by tracing economic and social trends that help explain the persistence of poverty, as well as by describing some of the unintended consequences of public policies that have exacerbated the challenges facing poor families.

It then discusses four overarching strategies that seek to address one of the most powerful contributors to poverty: stagnant wages for low-income workers, particularly among men, young men, and men of color.

The first two of the four strategies --- A New Economic Contract for the Working Poor and Address the Youth and Young Adult Employment Crisis --- represent the major recommendations of this paper.

Each overarching strategy in this paper contains several components and highlights a "Signature Project" that would represent a bold investment by the Mott Foundation and the broader philanthropic community.

Declining earnings played a causal role in the decline in men's employment and a smaller but still important role in declining marriage rates and rising criminal activity.

The Mott Foundation, and the philanthropic sector generally, is in a good position to design, test, and advocate for a new set of policies that tackles the challenges posed by an economy that no longer rewards work at the low end.

With sufficient investment, the philanthropic community can lead a national effort to both help workers struggling in low-wage jobs today and prepare today's children to be ready to succeed in the labor market of tomorrow.

Read more from this post.