Dialogue on Poverty Questions City’s Needy

By Wendy Kaysing, The Hartford News, April 5 – 12, 2000

The Dialogue on Poverty 2000, part of a national survey undertaken by the National Association of Community Action Agencies, looked at why one of the richest states in the country, Connecticut, harbors some of the poorest cities in the nation, including Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven.  The dialogue was hosted by the Community Renewal Team last Saturday.  

The survey asked participants how to best resolve the problem of poverty, such as, “Should congress raise the minimum wage from the current $5.15 per hour to $6.15 per hour?” and, “Should the Federal government fully fund quality childcare and youth development programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start?” 

Among questions on addressing housing issues for the poor, one question asked if “businesses should operate ‘employer assisted housing’ programs that include down payment assistance and mortgage loan guarantees for their employees earning less than 60 percent of the area median income.”  

Keynote speaker Congressman John Larson focused on what he calls the “Digital Divide” or the gap between those who are knowledgeable or skilled in the area of high technology and those who aren’t.  “If you are poor, a woman, or living in a city you are less likely to be connected to the digital city,” said Larson.  With 600,000 high tech jobs currently going unfilled, and even more projected in the next 10 years, Larson said it is frustrating when business pressures congress to increase immigration quotas from India and Israel, because “we don’t have the skilled labor.”  

“We need a steady pipeline of academically and digitally adept students coming out of our schools or they will never be prepared for the future of technological opportunities,” Larson said.  “We can lift anyone out of poverty with a book….We need a marshal plan to train teachers,” said Larson, adding there will be a need for two million teachers in the next two years.  He called for a universal effort to close the gap through education and training, and expressed a need “to share resources rather than duplicate them.”  He explained that currently we have a “piecemeal” approach to training, including the teacher training.  

Participants in the dialogue broke into small groups to discuss reasons and attitudes towards poverty and suggested solutions for improving jobs and raising incomes, for meeting basic needs, and providing decent, safe, and affordable housing.  One participant pointed out that Connecticut has the highest per capita income in the country and while forty percent of Connecticut’s residents have experienced an increase, sixty percent of the population have seen their incomes drop.  Another participant, a state worker, said all the institutions are richer today (in Connecticut) yet we have the most punitive policies in the country.  A shelter worker said, “You can judge a society on how it treats their poor.  In America the poor are the lepers,” adding, “the churches have failed miserably on how they treat the poor.”  

Other obstacles facing the poor in Connecticut that were discussed were the lack of transportation, the difficulty of shopping for food in the inner cities, and the lack of affordable child care.  Responses from participants ranged from getting the government to repair torn “safety nets” for the poor to implementing a negative tax credit for those whose incomes fall under the poverty level.  

Councilwoman Elizabeth Horton-Sheff said that missing in the dialogue was a discussion of job or wealth creation.  She said wealth creation is the opportunity to participate in small business opportunities, pointing out that while Adriaen’s Landing is good in the short term providing construction jobs, but asked why the developers couldn’t use the “local talent” for other jobs such as decorating and other job skills needed for the proposed projects.  

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