Poverty Reduction in Iowa:

1
Poverty Reduction in Iowa

• Causes, Impacts, and Strategic Directions

NWAF Advisory Committee Planning Meeting July 24,
2006
Charles Bruner
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What is poverty and its impact?

• Lack of predictability of resources to meet basic
  living needs (more like 185 of poverty than 100
  of poverty), placing children and families at
  risk.
• Inability to save and invest in the future,
  blocking opportunities for advancement
• Distance from mainstream economic and social
  goods, resulting in higher costs and greater risk
  of wealth stripping
• Presence of stress and loss of hope, leading to
  despair, aggression

3
Who does poverty disproportionately impact in
Iowa?

• Children
• Inner-city neighborhoods and rural communities
• Untapped workforce (ex-offenders, disconnected
  youth, persons with disabilities)
• New Iowans

4
How does it affect all Iowans?

• Hinders economic growth and vitality
• Jeopardizes community health and well-being
• Produces costs for poverty maintenance,
  remediation, and public control

5
What are the factors producing poverty/economic
insecurity?

• Low skills/education
• Absence of work supports
• Discrimination
• Wealth stripping

6
Where is Iowa today?

• Education
• current workforce
• student achievement

• Work Supports
• low-wage jobs
• cliff effects
• Cost of Predatory Practices
• Discrimination

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Iowans are educated only to a point and not for
world-class competition
8
Iowas K-12 Education System There has been a
serious erosion of funding for education and
greater relative decline in student test scores
1992-2005
9
Essential jobs in Iowa Many are low-wage and
require work supports
note A full-time job paying 9.28/hour is needed
for a family of four to earn at the poverty level.
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Work supports Iowas work supports do not enable
families to get ahead and contain major Cliff
Effects
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Wealth stripping Cost of predatory practices to
Iowans greater than many programs designed to
assist them
source Predatory Financial Practices and Wealth
Stripping in Iowa Child and Family Policy Center,
2005
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What are needed strategies to reduce poverty?

• Educational opportunity - early childhood, K-12,
  post-secondary
• Adult education and workforce development -
  untapped workforce focus
• Work supports - child care, health coverage,
  minimum wage
• Fiscal and tax policies - EITC, state income tax
  reform
• Protections against predatory financial practices
  and alternative financial services - mortgage
  lending, payday and car title loans

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What is needed to promote / enact a poverty
reduction agenda?

• Melodious messages
• Larger choir
• More concerts

• Your support!