Poverty

AS PRESIDENT Bush's approval ratings continue to slide, his allies have begun to grumble. The economy is improving. Why isn't the president getting the credit? Here's a clue: According to new Census Bureau figures, the number of Americans who slipped into poverty is now 37 million, an increase of 1.1 million from 2003. In the Philadelphia, the number increased so dramatically, that the city jumped from 11th- to ninth-poorest in the nation. The White House says it's not surprised by the numbers.

Jack Kemp, chosen to head the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Bush administration, proposes to launch a new War on Poverty. Will he succeed any better than Lyndon Johnson, who officially began the last one in 1964? What lessons should he learn? According to many current assessments, during the years from 1964 until 1972-73, when federal social benefits in real dollars peaked, Washington threw massive amounts of money into a futile attempt to eliminate poverty.

LONG before the onset of the current economic slide, some Washington insiders called on government to set a goal of reducing poverty. While recognizing the good intentions, we must acknowledge what the recent election proves: Changes in our nation in the years since citizens heard a similar plea - more than 40 years ago - require a new vision for the economy. Any effort to revive a policy and political focus targeted specifically on the poor will demand significant energy and resources and, unfortunately, can't yield the desired policy results.

Notwithstanding the tortured and intrigue-filled path by which we have arrived here, Philadelphia's voters now have a choice of mayoral candidates that is well above average. Joe Egan and Ed Rendell are bright and serious people who are actually talking about bold ideas and policy choices needed to govern a city that has teetered on the brink of financial collapse. The fact is, however, that if Philadelphia is to stem its decline, far more is required than to solve the budget crisis.

IAPPLAUD Mark Hughes for focusing on the compelling challenges we face in Philadelphia. I only wish he'd made the acquaintance of Dr. Ala Stanford Frey at Temple University before declaring in his Oct. 15 op-ed that poverty in Philadelphia is not fixable. Dr. Frey was born to a teenage single mom in North Philadelphia. She applied herself and went on to medical school after participating in the Fattah Higher Education Conference, which has affected more than 10,000 disadvantaged young people.

AT THE press conference that launched Safe and Sound's Children's Report Card, Pat de Carlo of the Norris Square Civic Association said, "Make no mistake: This is about poverty. Until we solve the problem of poverty, none of the issues that are being addressed here will disappear. " She is right, and, in fact, the Report Card shows a huge increase in poverty. While I agree with the Daily News that we need to look carefully at all programs that serve the city's children, all the scrutiny in the world won't create jobs for the parents, or build houses for the families, or provide the mental-health services so crucial to solving the issues of abuse and neglect.

America seems to be locked in an unwinnable debate over who or what is responsible for poverty. Conservatives blame the welfare programs of the Great Society. Liberals blame the Reagan-Bush years which they believe have gutted programs that were working. Is there a third way? Can't we all "get along," in the words of Rodney King? It should be stipulated that there are some people who are, and will forever remain, poor. These are the impoverished in spirit. Their list of addictions, whatever else it includes, is topped by a lack of initiative.

You wouldn't know it from watching the presidential debates, but the War on Poverty may be about to resume. Not the all-out war envisioned by President Lyndon Johnson, but something more akin to a guerrilla war: concentrating resources on the most promising targets. Anyone who doubts that attacking poverty is back on the national agenda should have been in Williamsburg, Va., last week for the Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) second annual conference. The first thing to understand about the DLC is that it was formed by a group of white, centrist Democratic leaders to move the party away from its heavy identification with the poor and minorities.

IHAVE TO applaud letter-writer Joseph Fox, chief of detectives for Philadelphia. We must stop blaming "poverty" as a reason for the surge in crime and killings in this city. Mr. Fox was correct in his assumption that poverty has little or nothing to do with it. Many underprivileged children attend school, and eventually make something of themselves. But this is the excuse the current administration has beaten to death in every sense of the word. If the children are not made to attend school, then how could they learn?

Orlando R. Barone is a freelance writer in Doylestown As a Catholic schoolboy, when I thought "pope," words that came to mind were thin , chilly , stern , distant , and sin at your own risk . That was Pius XII, the only pope I knew until my teens, when, with no warning, pope began to mean fat, smiling, warm, and, of all things, friendly. That could be none other than John XXIII. A lot of years and a few pontiffs later comes Francis, a curious blend of my first two popes.

Seek out a modern-day Girard With Girard College planning to shut its doors to high school students and end its boarding program, the ruling Board of City Trusts should go to every Forbes 500 individual and have each walk the grounds of this magnificent school. Surely, there is another Stephen Girard - if not two or three - among today's wealthiest who might have grown up in a single-parent household and who would be willing to sustain Girard's legacy. Marjorie R. Wilhite, Philadelphia Probe before deal's court approval Orphans' Court should order an investigation of Girard College finances because Stephen Girard's money, buildings, and school are very much connected to politics in Philadelphia.

Remember when moving to the suburbs meant you were fulfilling the American dream of a life of plenty in greener pastures? That's less true today, with poverty showing up in communities where many Americans would least expect it. The Philadelphia suburbs, on both sides of the Delaware River, have become home to a growing segment of the region's poor. That disturbing national trend is being seen in communities across the country. The population of poor residents in America's suburbs jumped 64 percent between 2000 and 2010, which was twice as fast as the urban rate, according to a new book recently released by the Brookings Institution.

At Roxborough High School in Philadelphia, teachers and staff use a school washer and dryer to clean the clothes of needy students. Learning and laundry, in fact, get done in several area schools, where teachers and staff also buy food, prom clothes, toilet paper, eyeglasses, and countless other items for children from families with meager means. This is on top of the hundreds, even thousands, of dollars that teachers spend each year on basic classroom supplies. In the Philadelphia area, teachers see themselves as first responders in the ongoing emergency of poverty.

FOR THE SECOND time in two weeks, educators have joked that I was scaring them about retiring. In the end, these readers felt that they would be OK, but the steady news of retirement woes have them thinking of plans A, B and C. I'm a long way from retirement. But as time passes, I've become more aware of the challenges of leaving the workforce and trying to live off my savings. It's hard to stay optimistic, even if you've done well for yourself, when report after report lays out facts that make getting older seem forbidden.

Say poverty in the Philadelphia area, and it conjures images of North Philadelphia or Kensington, not the suburbs. But the suburbs on both sides of the Delaware River are becoming steadily poorer, part of a national trend that confounds long-held beliefs that life is always better in greener pastures beyond urban limits. "People have this cliched notion of poverty being based in the inner city," said Adele LaTourette, director of the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition, which has offices in Trenton and North Jersey.

D EAR HARRY: I live in Australia, and just read on the Internet your column on gambling. The casino scourge that is hitting the United States is intolerable. We often see pictures and read articles here about the large number of Americans who live in dire poverty. Some of the people live in abandoned cars in the richest country in the world. The crazy illogic that says casinos are good for society because they create new jobs ignores the fact that most of the patrons are poor to begin with and then fall into dire straits hoping to win back enough to break even.

Poverty isn't just one thing. It's hunger, and it's falling behind on the rent, and it's the inability to pay the electric bill, among 100 other difficulties. Poverty fighters are realizing that the entangled nature of poverty - think of hopelessly entwined plant roots underground - makes it hard to attack just one problem without addressing the others. This holistic approach helps the 30-year-old Utility Emergency Services Fund run, with financial backing from federal block-grant money distributed by the city, along with funding from sources such as United Way and the Philadelphia Foundation.

We are delighted that the Coalition for Effective Teaching (CET) in Philadelphia wants to improve public education. However, we think a more responsible approach would have been to consult with teacher leaders before publishing a position statement. As practicing teachers, we have a few suggestions about how CET can truly enrich public education: First, change the group's name to Coalition for Effective Education, as the current title implicates teachers. Philadelphia has thousands of effective teachers who struggle with ineffective working conditions and who passionately support children who are not necessarily "learning-ready.

It is unconscionable that Philadelphia has more people in what's called deep poverty than any other city among the nation's 10 largest. Almost 13 percent of city residents earn less than $5,700 a year for individuals, or $11,700 for a family of four, according to an analysis by The Inquirer and Temple University sociologist David Elesh. Poverty-line earners are paid twice as much, making these 200,000 Philadelphians the poorest of the poor. Unfortunately for them, the Corbett administration's disturbing economic policies have made it even harder for the poor to provide for their families.