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Other articles in Part 5 Current poverty trends likely to continue Tina Eoff's Second Chance Renters Program Program explores policy options What you can do to help  Related links Oregon Career Network: for one-stop info Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Schools Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital

New programs take aim at poverty Innovative approaches improve government programs, seek greater public involvement story by Tom Gentle How's this for a solution to poverty? Give $80,000 to all 18-year-olds. If they spend it wisely--on education or a business investment, for example--poverty is not likely to follow. If they squander it, they can turn to churches and private charity, but the government will offer little help. Is it wacky or an idea whose time has come? When we asked about promising new programs or approaches to addressing poverty, we wanted to know about ones that might be just around the corner or just underway. Here's what we found. Consolidation and coordination Programs for the poor are spread among many agencies and organizations at the federal, state and local levels. In 1994, Oregon received a One Stop Planning and Development grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop "one-stop centers" that provide a range of services to the poor, including emergency social services, job training and placement, and educational assistance. At one-stop centers, a number of agencies are located together-in the same building or neighborhood-where they are easily accessible to people seeking help. Some 24 agencies are now involved in the one-stop system, including the Oregon Employment Department, Adult and Family Services, local community action agencies, and the Oregon Vocational Rehabilitation Department. Previous attempts to consolidate services for the poor were largely unsuccessful, primarily because they were voluntary, according to Rex Miller of Oregon's Adult and Family Services. But the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 made some significant changes. "The one-stop concept is different from past poverty efforts because the Workforce Investment Act requires various agencies and programs to participate," Miller said. Several one-stop centers are now operating in Oregon, including Coos Bay, Newport and White City. The experience with one-stop centers at this time is encouraging, according to Robert More, program director for Housing and Emergency Services at the Southwestern Oregon Community Action Committee, Inc. More is based at the Newmark Center, a one-stop center established in Coos Bay in 1996. More said there is less application paperwork, less running around to different offices and better referrals to resources for the poor. Most of all, he said, "There are more opportunities to actually achieve permanent changes as opposed to filling an emergency need." The entire statewide network of one-stop centers will open by July 2000. Reaching the parents through the children New emphasis is being placed on poverty programs aimed at children. Head Start and the Oregon Pre-Kindergarten Program are examples of successful poverty programs aimed at children. Another promising program provides in-home nursing visits to teach parents with newborn babies about health care, child development, parenting skills and community resources. "The critical component (of programs aimed at children) is the work with the whole family. All kinds of education happen through contact with the child," said Marty Young, former director of the Umpqua Community Action Network. SUN Schools (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) in Multnomah County reach children and families by conducting programs at public schools before and after regular school hours. SUN Schools turn public schools into community centers that offer their neighborhoods health and social services in addition to academic and recreation programs. Similar efforts are underway in the rest of Oregon through the Alliance for Lighted Schools, a title that reflects the goal of keeping the lights on in public schools to bring families and communities together when classes are not in session. Individual Development Accounts Several years ago, a welfare recipient who managed to save enough money to attend school made national headlines. When officials discovered she was able to squirrel away cash for education, she lost her welfare benefits. Without the benefits she had to drop out of school and lost her best chance to lift herself out of poverty. The incident highlighted the limitations of many programs for the poor, which concentrate on ensuring that basic needs are met for health, food and housing but do nothing to help them build a solid foundation of financial security. And yet, the ability to build financial assets is a key to escaping poverty, according to Beverly Stein, Multnomah County Chair and former state legislator. "People move out of poverty by investing in themselves with assets, not spending to live day-to-day," said Stein. A pilot project now underway in Multnomah County is putting the asset building concept to the test. The project allows participants to establish Individual Development Accounts. These accounts are similar to IRAs, but can be used to finance job training, home ownership, small-business ventures or post-secondary education. "Individual Development Accounts show we can make asset-based policies that impact the poor. Even more importantly, these policies can break the cycle of poverty and give children the opportunities for success every citizen deserves," Stein said. Each dollar in the account is matched as much as five to one, which provides an incentive for low income families to save. Account holders must enroll in a personal development plan that includes appropriate financial counseling, career or business planning and other services designed to increase their independence. "I think the Individual Development Account will be most effective with the working poor rather than those who are totally disenfranchised," said Jeff Thompson of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. Building social capital In "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor, described an alarming decline in public and social engagement in American life. It wasn't only that people no longer bothered to vote, Putnam said, they also stopped joining groups that brought them into contact with the community: churches, PTA, veterans groups, fraternal and service clubs. Although more Americans were bowling than ever before, Putnam reported, bowling in organized leagues had plummeted. "The broader social significance (of the drop in bowling leagues) lies in the social interaction and even occasional civic conversations over beer and pizza that solo bowlers forego," he wrote. This withdrawal from civic and community life had a negative effect on what he called the nation's "social capital." That is, the social organizations and networks-from the neighborhood tavern to the kids' soccer team-that broke down barriers between people, involved them in the community and made them more willing to cooperate in actions for mutual benefit. To illustrate what happens when social capital is destroyed, one has to look no further than the consolidation of small school districts. Such consolidations do create administrative and financial benefits. But in towns where the local school plays a major role in community life, the losers are local citizens. What does this have to do with poverty? Simply this, according to Putnam, "Researchers in such fields as education, urban poverty, unemployment, the control of crime and drug abuse, and even health have discovered that successful outcomes are more likely in civically engaged communities." As a strategy for attacking poverty, the social capital approach looks for solutions in the local community, according to Marty Young. "It means getting allies on board and rallying community involvement in poverty issues. In the past, we didn't bring the local community into the picture. Instead, we hired social workers and left poor people to them." Reestablishing community networks and involving local citizens and organizations can bring amazing results. For example, Community Progress Teams created through the Marion County Children and Families Commission look for ways to help families and children in their communities live healthy, productive lives. One progress team, the Friends of the Family, in Stayton, Sublimity, Lyons and Mehama, has developed parenting workshops and support groups, a kindergarten academy to help children learn to read, a summer recreation program, an after school academy at the middle school as an alternative to television and video games. There's more: a Saturday night social gathering for 7th to 9th graders known as Nite Court, a teen peer court where kids pass sentence on other kids who have pleaded guilty to crimes, and a community resource guide in English and Spanish. These new directions address major issues surrounding poverty: the fragmentation of government programs, the growing number of children in poverty, the difficulty of saving money to get ahead, the reliance on government to the exclusion of the community. How effective they will be depends largely on the continued commitment of our society to eliminate poverty and its associated ills.     Article 4 of 5 in Part 5   back to top

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