Child Poverty

How wealthy do people have to be? There is a huge cost to making profits out of salaries that are too low to pay the cost of living. Companies paying minimum wage of $7.25/hour, also offer part-time work so they don’t have to pay for vacations, sick time, and medical care. These companies rely on public welfare, paid by the taxpayer. to fund housing vouchers, health care and food stamps and more.

“How blessed are you poor! For the Kingdom of God is yours. (Luke 6:20 CJB) Unlike the values behind this Biblical quote, many of us who are Christian frequently humiliate and punish those who live in poverty. We idolize and protect the rich. Some of us realize that poverty can be a result of too few jobs, of part-time work, and wages that are too low to pay for food and housing. Rather than paying a living wage, our wealthy corporations pay a low wage and refer laborers to the subsidies for housing, food and health care provided by the taxpayer. Profit is their motive, and healthy families with growing children are forgotten. The funding for the wage subsidies is never enough and is subject to change by a vote from the members of Congress.

New Orleans is a small, and very lively city with narrow streets and side walks where everybody is in close contact. There are the usual families, dog walkers, strollers, mothers pushing baby carriages, and working people. Some streets are lively with lots of talented musicians, magicians and gymnasts. These people pay a fee to the city for space to perform, and the streets are blocked from traffic for them. Many of them attract a good crowd and are paid well for skilled entertainment.
In addition, there are unskilled people who attempt to attract attention and spare change. Some are playing string instruments, singing, dancing or sadly, shouting out to no one in particular. These are people who are extremely poor and need spare change. Perhaps they need a drink or drugs, but just as likely they need soap, toothpaste, quarters for the laundry, and a cup of coffee, or spare change to communicate with family or friends.

If you will attend the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in Providence at the end of June, 2014, please join Promise the Children on Sunday, June 29th for breakfast and a program from 8:30 – 10:00 am at Providence Courtyard by Marriott across from the Providence RI Convention Center. Our program will focus on the 50 year old War on Poverty and show that fair funding of programs that support poor children have been effective in alleviating poverty and providing a read more…

Here is an account of father-daughter love posted on the May 2nd page of  ted.npr.org. Happily there is a kind Sheriff in Richmond County, VA. He believes that when family members are welcomed into jails, and reinforce their relationship with their imprisoned family member, there is less chance of recidivism. He wants people to stay out of jail. Sometime ago, a large number of teen-aged girls, supported by their organization, Girls for a Change, wrote the Sheriff and asked if read more…

There are many more families looking for affordable housing than there are available units. The result is increasing homelessness, and dislocation for families and their children. The decrease in jobs for less skilled workers, the 2008 failure of the private home ownership program, and the lack of funding for housing vouchers, are creating costly homelessness. Many cannot afford the rents that are charged against their ever-decreasing income from low-waged jobs.

Homelessness is preventable but every year, hundreds of thousands of American families become homeless, including more than 1.6 million children, and thousands of young people in their early 20s. Prevention is possible if we; (1) increase the number of unskilled jobs, and the minimum wage, and (2) Build or renovate more affordable housing, and fund more subsidies for eligible families and individuals so they can rent existing housing. Promise the Children offers annual workshops to highlight this pathetic problem and solutions in the Boston area.

Children are too easy to forget. In our society where we turn a blind eye towards what is within sight today and what will become a significant part of tomorrow. We forget that there is nothing so valuable as the developing mind, so perfect as the growing body, and so sacred as the developing child. Why not give our attention to children’s day so that we can appreciate those who have been born to us today and will join us as citizens tomorrow?

We have pushed children aside, cut their school meals, restricted funding for their health care, and cut subsidies for their head start programs. Over recent years, we have cut funding for their K-12 public school education, eliminating sports, arts, technology, music and drama. It’s easy. Children have no political voice, and their parents are in the minority.

No one knows many young people aged 12 and over are living on the street. The Feds mandate local school education, transportation, nutrition programs and more for all homeless school children. But housing and support services are few and far between.