All of this was in my head when this
came across my screen – The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2015 Kids Count Data Book
which reveals and analyzes statistics and trends on children’s well being. I have a long way to go before I am done
reading and digesting all of it. I
actually hope I can put some of the stuff I find most interesting up in future
posts. In the meantime, one statistic I
came across early brought me to my knees.
22% of American children live in poverty. Let’s be “generous” and say 1 in 5 US
kids. As a quick refresher, the poverty
line for a family of four in 2013 was $23,550.
If that information doesn’t break your heart, then you do not have one.
I put this number into the context of our community. We here in Howard County should be in a much
better position to help make things better in our region. In my view, this is similar to the U.S. role
in fighting both climate change and nuclear arms proliferation. In both of these issues, the U.S. is in a
very strong position to take a leadership role and we bear some level of responsibility
for getting everyone into this mess in the first place. Same goes for affluent suburbs outside of
large urban areas. Of course Howard
County does not have quite the redlining history as other jurisdictions, but nevertheless,
we are still on the winning side of the same interdependent economic system
that put one in five children in poverty.
Three items in our recent history got me kind of angry thinking about
this:
1)
The Susan Garber led assault on the new Day
Resource Center
2)
The nomination of a rich white man[3] to
the Housing Commission to replace an African American woman who has dedicated
her career to affordable housing.
3)
The push in Oakland Mills by mostly liberal
Democrats to fight to create a country club like sports complex to attract “high
end condos” to replace housing that currently works for less affluent people of
color.
WE
ARE
HOWARD
COUNTY
This isn’t an attack on any politician current or past;
truthfully it’s not a great political issue.
Especially in Howard County, we like to care on a conceptual level. If you get a moment, talk to the leaders at
the Community Foundation of Howard County about Howard County’s philanthropy as
it relates to other jurisdictions. It is
shameful. Both of those statements being
said, poverty in the region is an all hands on deck issue. Every organization and institution in this
County needs to engage, and our government should be leading that collective
effort.
[1]
Also feel free to read the comments anywhere that article exists or is shared
if you find yourself low on bile #thanksobama I mean Communist Calvin
[2]
They’re remarkably easy to find but worth noting that his blog commenting got A
LOT more polite of late. I wonder why?
[3] A
rich white man who has shown himself to (being generous) not fully grasp issues
around poverty.
This post was just brought to my attention and it should be pointed out that misinformation is being spread. While I appreciate your enthusiasm for local issues you have a point marked there that states "a rich white man to the housing commission to replace an African American woman who has dedicated her career to affordable housing" aside from me wondering how you got access to my tax returns to be able to make a comment about me being "rich", it should be pointed out that I did not in fact replace who you said I did. While you may personally dislike me which is fair game and I have no problem taking hits from you about my postings and comments, facts should still triumph over fiction.
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