Future Hindsight

The end of welfare Welfare ceased being guaranteed after reform in 1996. Although the safety net for the working class was strengthened through tax credits, the safety net for those who are jobless disappeared. In its current state, the welfare system is overwhelming and underfunded. States are given block grants that they can spend at their discretion. For example, Louisiana spends its money on anti-abortion clinics. As a result, over the course of a year, about 3.5 million children live in households with virtually no cash income for at least 3 months. Cash is king Cash has the ultimate function: it can be used to pay rent, utilities, food, school supplies, and more. Although food stamps (SNAP) and Medicaid help needy families, these cashless forms of assistance cannot address other necessities in life. Access to cash can be pivotal to keeping a job – to fill your car with gas so you can go to work – or a roof over your head while you look for a new job after being downsized. The poor are true Americans America’s poor are the very embodiment of American ideals. Living in poverty is incredibly complex, a daily challenge to which the poor rise. They take pride in their work and find purpose at the workplace. They are hard-working, resourceful, and enterprising. Poor families spend their money wisely to keep their children fed and sheltered, and they stretch every dollar to make ends meet. Find out more: Kathryn Edin is one of the nation’s leading poverty researchers, working in the domains of welfare and low-wage work, family, life, and neighborhood contexts through direct, in-depth observations of the lives of low-income populations. A qualitative and mixed-method researcher, she has taken on key mysteries about the urban poor that have not been fully answered by quantitative work, such as how do single mothers possibly survive on welfare? Why don’t more go to work? She has authored 8 books and some 60 journal articles. $2 a Day: The Art of Living on Virtutally Nothing in America, co-authored with Luke Shaefer, was met with wide critical acclaim. It was included in the NYT 100 Notable Books of 2015, cited as “essential reporting about the rise in destitute families.”

Poverty is widespread Hardship in America is common. In all of rich democracies, we have the highest rates of poverty among the elderly and also among children. In fact, the majority of Americans will be poor for a significant period of time over the course of their lives: 62% percent will have their income at the bottom 20 percent for a year or more in their adult life, and 42% percent have income for a year or more at the bottom 10 percent of the distribution. About 21% of children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. Misconceptions about poverty Americans perceive poverty to be the result of bad decisions and judgments, a moral failure of an individual. Most poverty is, in fact, insecurity because the poor do not have stable, well-paying jobs. Most of the poor do have jobs, but they slip in and out of the official poverty rate on a regular basis. They are living on the margins and are one crisis away from devastation. The immense stress due to being poor causes a cognitive impairment load in both children and adults that reduces their ability to engage in good decision making. Finally, inequality makes it difficult for democratic political systems to function effectively. Assistance that works There is a convergence among researchers that the single most efficient and effective means of reducing poverty is cash assistance. Successful public policy examples include the GI Bill after WWII, which provided free college education, a living stipend, free medical care, and subsidized mortgages; Social Security lifted 27 million people above the poverty line in 2017; and in the same year, the Earned Income Tax Credit that benefits the working poor with a tax refund helped 8 million Americans out of poverty. Find out more: Stephen Pimpare is a nationally recognized expert on poverty, homelessness, and U.S. Social policy. He is also a Faculty Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire and teaches courses on American Politics and Public Policy. His second book, A People's History of Poverty in America, received the Michael Harrington Award from the American Political Science Association “for demonstrating how scholarship can be used in the struggle for a better world.” His most recent book is Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens: Down & Out on the Silver Screen, a history of poverty and homelessness in the movies.

Invest in early learning Because the foundation for all of life’s successes -- whether academic, social, or emotional -- is laid in the first five years of life, it is critically important to invest in early learning. This is especially true for children from low income homes, who often do not have access to high quality early learning programs. As early as kindergarten, underprivileged children can be as much as 1.5 years behind the average child and it is very difficult for them to catch up. High quality early care and education is an act of social and educational justice. Invest in teachers The early learning workforce is largely female, very diverse, and often paid low wages. Because there is also a gap to access high quality professional development and college degrees, much of this workforce is poor. In a high-quality early learning preschool program, the teachers are well educated and fairly compensated. The quality of early care and education is almost entirely dependent on the teacher in the classroom. The foundation of a strong society Developing social and emotional skills through high quality early learning is strongly linked to civic engagement in adults. The role of government is to subsidize access to high quality early learning. Supporting early care and education directly supports our society and our economy. When children reach their fullest potential, they have higher rates of graduation and jobs. The ultimate act of Homeland Security is to invest in our very youngest learners. Find out more: Gail Joseph is the Founding Executive Director of Cultivate Learning at the University of Washington College of Education as well as the Bezos Family Foundation Distinguished Professor in Early Learning. She teaches courses, advises students, provides service, and conducts research on topics related to early learning and equity, child care quality, teacher preparation, early childhood mental health, and school readiness. Gail is also the 2018 recipient of the David R. Thorud Leadership Award at the University of Washington.

Picking an insurance plan is nearly impossible Although it is no surprise that picking an insurance plan is complicated, it turns out it is nearly impossible. A study by George Loewenstein at Carnegie Mellon reveals that a majority of Americans will choose a suboptimal plan. With access to a full analysis of all the costs and regulations, 80% of us can make a sound decision. Insurance companies drive up costs Insurance companies are not motivated to keep costs down because they can pass them on to us, their customers. Large hospital groups and pharmaceutical companies are also active participants in driving up costs. Patients and independent doctors have no influence in negotiating overall costs down. This is why premiums, deductibles, and co-pays are increasing. Be vigilant Always do good research before seeing a doctor to make sure you are in network and you understand how much you’ll need to pay out of your own pocket. Always double check the bills afterwards. Invariably, mistakes are made and it will take a lot of effort to rectify the error and not overpay. In cases of emergency this is extremely difficult. Remember that you can negotiate the rates with the hospital if you cannot pay the entire bill. Find out more: Dan Weissmann is a radio producer and reporter in Chicago. He’s got a strong nerd streak and an artsy side. He has won awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, column writing, and for producing and hosting live radio. Dan has worked as a staff reporter for Marketplace and Chicago’s WBEZ, and his work has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition, the BBC, the Center for Investigative Reporting’s show Reveal, and 99 Percent Invisible.

The housing crisis started with a policy decision The leading cause was cutbacks to federal funding for housing for poor people starting with the Reagan administration. In 1978, the federal government was funding about over 300,000 new units of affordable housing each year. In 1983, that number had decreased to under 3,000 each year. Currently, only one in four poor people who qualify for federal housing assistance actually receives it. Working men and women who do not earn enough to pay for housing, such as minimum wage workers, cannot afford housing based on affordability guidelines set by the federal government. Housing is a human right Without housing, nothing else is truly possible. Housing is essential for families, children, adults, the ill, and the disabled. Housing is recognized as a human right by the UN and by international treaties, including some that the United States has signed on to. However, even though Congress has set a goal for decent, affordable housing for every family 50 years ago, it has not made it a right. A large and growing percentage of the homeless are families with children. Studies have shown that childhood homelessness is a risk factor for adult homelessness. The criminalization of homelessness A wide variety of laws criminalize homelessness by making it a crime for the homeless to be in public spaces, such as sleeping in public, begging in public places, sitting down in public, or living in yofour car. Cities have fined the homeless, arrested them, and put them in jail. Studies show that these measures are not cost-effective. It is more expensive for the police to arrest or cite people, put them through the court process, and jail them. Moreover, when the people are released, they are still homeless, but now have an arrest record, which makes it more difficult to find a job or housing. It is more cost effective to provide housing, and it solves the problem. Find out more: Maria Foscarinis is the founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, and has advocated for solutions to homelessness at the national level since 1985. Among other honors, Maria is the recipient of the 2006 Public Interest Achievement Award from the Public Interest Law Foundation at Columbia Law School and the 2016 Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize from Santa Clara University’s School of Law.

Max Kenner is the founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, a college that is spread across six interconnected prisons in New York State. We discuss the enduring value of the liberal arts, the immense power of an education on reducing recidivism, and the critical importance of deep investments in human beings. Education must be high quality The students at BPI have a drive to learn that reflects their awareness of the stakes of their education for the future. Thanks to the high-quality education that BPI delivers, students are able to compete for coveted spots for graduate programs at universities like Columbia, Yale, and NYU, and successfully complete their degrees there. Many BPI alumni go on to careers in the public sector that affect their home communities. Be Fearless Despite the many naysayers and the persistent cynicism that Max faced, he marched on and did what was said to be impossible. He was so successful at convincing the United States that higher education should be returned to its prison systems, that the Bard Prison Initiative is now collaborating with the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison to launch and sustain college-in-prison programs across the country. Prisons are human institutions The time that human beings spend incarcerated is as real and as relevant as any other time that is spent anywhere else, as opposed to lost or wasted time. Providing college education in prison is an opportunity to invest in the people who we know will eventually rejoin, and increase the likelihood that they enrich, our communities as fully participating members of our society. Find out more: Max Kenner is the founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, a college that is spread across six interconnected prisons in New York State. He is also co-founder of the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, and recipient of numerous awards, such as the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Education.  

Stephen Bright served as the director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, and is currently a lecturer at Yale Law School, as well as professor of practice at Georgia State College of Law. We discuss the death penalty in the United States and its relationship to poverty, race, and disadvantage. Poverty and Competent Representation The Supreme Court only decided in 1932 that a person in a death penalty case had a right to a lawyer. However, the government has competing interests when it must provide legal representation to a person whom it is trying to execute or imprison. Many court-appointed lawyers are not competent to represent someone accused in a capital case, ranging from falling asleep during trials, showing up drunk, or being plain inexperienced for capital cases. In a system like this, the people on death row are largely the most vulnerable in our society: extremely poor, victims of racism, suffering from mental illness, or with limited intellectual capabilities.  Race and the Death Penalty Justice Douglas pointed out that the defendant’s race was a key determinant in who received the death penalty. The criminal justice system is a part of our society least affected by the civil rights movement; the judge, the prosecutors, the court-appointed lawyers, and the juries are often all white in capital cases. In addition to race, location plays a huge role. Eighty percent of all the death sentences come from the South. Some prosecutors are more zealous than others in seeking the death penalty. A crime that is committed in one county might result in capital punishment, but not if it happened in a neighboring one.  A Fair and Impartial Court System Competent legal representation is the foundation for justice in the courts because it provides protection against an innocent person being convicted. A competent lawyer investigates a case thoroughly, makes sure there really is a charge against the client, and presents all of the relevant evidence. Further, although there is little diversity among judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, a least the juries should represent the diversity of the community. Find out more: Stephen Bright is a lawyer, lecturer at Yale Law School, and professor of practice at Georgia State College of Law. He is a passionate advocate of a public defender system, and has also served as director, president, and senior counsel of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta.

Ross Morales Rocketto is co-founder of Run For Something, an organization that supports diverse, young progressives running for state and local office. We discuss which candidates win, why building a bench of local and state politicians is important, and how an increase of candidates leads to better voter turnout. The Importance of State and Local Office Eighty percent of the laws that are passed in this country are passed at the state and local level, which include the big issues of the day, such as health care, education, or criminal justice reform. Victories in these races have real impact. For example, as a result of elections in 2017, Medicaid was expanded for tens of thousands of families in Virginia. Successful Candidates What the winners have in common are that they are truly representative of their communities, both in their racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as in their lived and shared experiences. They all work really hard to get elected. And finally, these candidates are not running to be something, but to do something. They are running to solve an issue that they’re passionate about in their community. The Big Picture Lowering the barriers to voting makes it possible to build a bench of Democrats who are actually representative of the communities and experiences of America. Moreover, we know that a one-on-one conversation with a voter is the most effective way to get someone to turn out to vote. The more candidates run, the more one-on-one conversations are happening every single day, and the more people are going to turn out to vote. Find out more: Ross Morales Rocketto is co-founder and chief program officer of Run For Something, an organization that recruits and supports diverse, progressive, young folks who are running for state and local office.

"Telling these types of stories, showing people that it's not just white dudes who are lawyers, who have a lot of money, that can do this type of work is one of the most effective ways for us to try to show folks they can do it too." Ross Morales Rocketto, co-founder and chief program officer of Run For Something, kicks off the new season with a conversation about diverse, young candidates for state and local office. Tune in on February 16 for Season 5 of Future Hindsight!

Human Potential Education should be a path for children to develop into self-directed, self-supporting, skill-equipped young adults. This may or may not include a college education, but will require high levels of critical thinking skills. Creativity and innovation will be an integral part of any job in the future. Standardized Tests and College Readiness The norm today is to teach what is easy to test, such as narrow arithmetic, instead of what’s important to learn. This turns the purpose of education on its head. Standardized tests and much of college ready content are not well retained by students and do not serve them to be ready for life. Democracy A healthy democracy thrives when citizens can think critically and independently. Education must make teaching citizenship skills a priority. Our collective humanity depends on a society of creative and conceptual thinkers who are committed to making positive contributions to their community. Find out more: Ted Dintersmith is an avid advocate and change agent focused on the impact of education and innovation on the future of civil society. He has produced several films and written two books on education. The most recent is What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America.