Taking on Class and Race - The Candidates on Poverty at Racialicious

Taking on Class and Race - The Candidates on Poverty

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson

Ask yourselves: what is your candidate going to do with the rising class gap in America? How do they propose to fix the problems (housing, retirement problems, education, wages) that contribute to the ever widening class divide?

Pathways Magazine, a Stanford University based publication dedicated to exploring poverty, inequality, and social policy, recently provided takes from the three major democratic front runners on their plans to alleviate poverty in America. (Hat tip to the Education and Class blog.)

While I encourage everyone to take the time to read the full publication (all 34 pages), I have provided a summary of the candidates’ stances below.

I have bolded the items that caught my interest in each plan. Please keep in mind that this is a quickie “Cliff’s Notes” style version of the candidates’ main points. Please refer to the magazine for the actual text.

John Edwards - “Building One America”
(p. 9 - 10; PDF p. 11-12)

1. Building a “working society” - one that emphasizes the inherent value of work
2. Create 1 million Stepping Stone jobs
3. Raise the minimum raise to $9.50 by 2012
4. Support the unionization of labor
5. Proposes a dollar for dollar savings match on individual savings accounts (called Get Ahead Accounts) - the match is capped at $500 a year.
6. Add 1 Million more housing vouchers of the next five years
7. Cutting back on HUD based initiatives and reducing HUD’s role in managing communities
8. Create more affordable housing initiatives
9. Add a contract to all housing vouchers to encourage recipients to work towards financial independence
10. Creating Second Chance Schools - the purpose is to provide education for those who have dropped out but want to come back to high school.
11. Create the “Great Promise” initiative - Early education targeting 4 year olds
12. College For Everyone - the 1st year of state college is free, as long as students will work part time and promise to stay out of trouble
13. Cut the marriage penalty for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
14. Expand the EITC to include low income single earners

Hillary Clinton - “Pragmatic Solutions for Reducing Poverty and Inequality”
(p. 11-13; PDF 13-15)

1. Creating the Youth Opportunity Agenda
2. Invest in home visitation programs to help first time parents prepare and care for children.
3. Provide $10 billion in Universal pre-K (expanding Head Start and Early Headstart)
4. Over five years, double federal support for mentoring and early intervention programs - targeting 1 million students
5. Invest $100 million in a new public/private internship program for youth in high school and college
6. Create a $3,500 tuition tax credit
7. Increase the Pell Grant Maximum (and include an annual adjustment)
8. Provide $500 million to community colleges and $250 million to state colleges to strengthen retention programs
9. Expand the EITC
10. Create 5 million “green collar” jobs by investing in clean energy and efficiency
11. Tie increases in congressional salaries to increases for the minimum wage.
12. American Health Choices Plan - refundable tax credits for premiums, ensuring that insurance companies cannot deny individuals coverage for pre-existing conditions; expanding COBRA to make sure leaving a job or switching jobs will continue coverage1
13. Create a 1 billion dollar fund to provide federal support to housing trust funds established by state/county/municipal governments
14. Planned crackdowns on unscrupulous brokers, mortgage lending abuses; avoiding foreclosures
15. New America Retirement Account - dollar for dollar matching refundable tax credit for the first $1000 saved up to a family income of $60,000 and a 50% match for the 1st $1,000 saved by those making between $60K and $100K.

Barack Obama - “Tackling Poverty and Inequality in America”
(p. 14-16; PDF p. 16-18)

1. Replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone model and create Promise Neighborhoods in 20 cities across the country. (Sites will be selected by the government - cities and private entities will be required to pay 50% of costs to ensure involvement)
2. Expand early childhood education, federal grants and school loans
3. Sponsor Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Legislation - providing financial support to fathers who pay their child support, cracking down on fathers who don’t; initiatives to stop the cycle of domestic violence that takes a toll on families
4. Expand the Nurse Family Partnership program which offers home visits to low income expectant mothers
5. Double funding for the Federal Jobs Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program that helps low income individuals get to their jobs and day care services
6. Add $1 billion in funding for innovative transitional jobs and career pathway programs over five years
7. Triple the EITC for full time workers who make minimum wage; increase EITC benefits for families with three or more children; expand EITC benefits for childless workers
8. Create a universal healthcare plan which mandates child coverage and provides adults with an optional, low cost high quality plan
9. Fund $250 million per year to create a national network of public-private business incubators (to assist with start up advice and costs)
10. Earmark more SBA funds to minority businesses; direct more venture capital funding to untapped communities
11. Closing the digital divide; increasing internet access in urban/rural areas
12. Affordable housing trust fund to add 112,000 new affordable units in mixed income neighborhoods.
13. Roll back cuts to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) which provides housing assistance to inner cities
14. Sponsor Stop Fraud Legislation to create a definition of mortgage fraud, strengthen lender penalties, and mandate mortgage companies to provide accurate info about options to reveal the true cost of the mortgage

Latoya’s Take

Some items of note:

1. Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who referenced race specifically in her piece. She framed the issue in black and white and her solutions are oriented toward closing the black/white achievement gap.

2. John Edwards plan is interesting to me. He knocks one huge problem on the head that the other candidates did not mention: HUD. One of my first office jobs was working on a litigation that involved HUD fraud. I was shocked to learn how much corruption and fraud goes down at HUD on a yearly basis. My boss at the time had told me “The government doesn’t create neighborhoods - it creates slums.” The more I learned, the more I came to agree. So to see a candidate willing to hold HUD accountable and get them out of managing neighborhoods gives me a lot of hope.

3. Barack Obama is the candidate who, to me, spoke directly to low-income issues that impact people of color. No other candidate mentioned domestic violence as an issue - but it is a huge one, that creates emotional, psychological, and financial problems for families. He is sponsoring pro-family legislation. He wants to increase internet access to areas that need it the most. One of the hardest things for low-income families is getting to the areas they need to be. It is difficult to spend hours per day in a long commute, or to lose valuable work time because one cannot find a childcare center close enough for you to drop off your kids and pick them up on time. Barack Obama is the candidate who is most likely to impact the day to day lives of Americans, from what I can see.

4. Rebecca Blank provided critical analysis of the candidates’ stances in her article “How to Wage the Next War on Poverty.” She notes that the magazine focused on Edwards, Clinton, and Obama as they were the only “candidates who submitted poverty plans to the Center.” According to Blank, “The Republicans give far less attention to policies to aid the poor, though Senator John McCain has stated support for a number of anti-poverty efforts.” She also notes that Republican candidate Ron Paul would “eliminate all antipoverty efforts at the federal level and abolish the Department of Health and Human Services.” Blank concludes that Obama’s policy proposal focuses the most on helping disadvantaged communities, Clinton’s is the best at helping low-wage and unemployed workers, and Edwards is the best in reference to the proposed savings initiatives.

She also makes an important note: “If you’re a Republican, there’s really only one candidate who expresses consistent concern with these issues. That’s John McCain. For the other Republicans, poor Americans appear to be out of sight, out of mind, and off the agenda.”

Telling.

Trackbacks & Pings

cecily.info - links for 2008-01-26 on 26 Jan 2008 at 10:23 am

[…] Taking on Class and Race - The Candidates on Poverty at Racialicious “Ask yourselves: what is your candidate going to do with the rising class gap in America? How do they propose to fix the problems that contribute to the ever widening class divide?” (tags: hillaryclinton barackobama johnedwards poverty 2008) […]
Steven White on 26 Jan 2008 at 10:28 pm

Link of the Day: Democrats on Poverty…

Latoya Peterson provides the cliff notes for Edwards, Clinton, and Obama’s poverty plans….
The Redstar Perspective » The Poverty Candidate on 27 Jan 2008 at 2:25 pm

[…] academic journal Pathways only arrived in my inbox this week. Check out Latoya Peterson’s excellent summary of the candidates’ positions over at Racialicious. I highly recommend looking at it, because with the exception of my critique […]
On Disagreeing with One’s Chosen Candidate « Liberals Eat Canolis on 28 Jan 2008 at 2:10 pm

[…] it would admittedly just be another step on the long road to eradicating racism and inequity. His policies on poverty would be the next big […]
Open Thread: Geraldine Ferraro at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 13 Mar 2008 at 9:08 am

[…] here in the US. So, I looked at the policy and noticed one key difference (best outlined in the poverty post from a while back): Obama’s policies looked like they would be able to make immediate changes […]
Another Note on the Election at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 08 May 2008 at 12:25 pm

[…] Obama had me, from a policy standpoint on his ideas to solve longstanding problems. (See the highlights on the candidates and poverty post.) […]

Comments

Cynthia wrote:

Re domestic violence: As I’ve said in earlier posts, just because there are programs tailored to people of certain cultures (whether its language or something else), it doesn’t mean that people will come. Sometimes, it takes a few generations before people are okay with talking about issues like this outside of the family.

I do agree that improving education and access to it is important, but what about actually getting jobs. Is Hillary the only candidate that is considering some sort of internship program? We know that many job opportunities come from connections (I had a summer job when I was an undergrad and I’d say that 80% of the summer interns had some sort of connection to some full time employee)

I also see little info on immigration and helping immigrants settle. Many racial issues step out of immigrants not knowing enough English or understanding western culture enough, and this leads to people who’ve been here a while to believe that they’re odd (of course, it happens vice versa too.) I think this is a sensitive issue because people don’t want to sound ignorant/racist, yet it’s important. You don’t want to have misunderstanding.

But not being American, maybe I should stay out of this.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 1:04 pm ¶
L wrote:

Cynthia, many racial issue re: language and recent immigrants stem from biased people not having the patience to hear people who are just learning English through. I was appalled upon coming to online discussions in the past few years and finding such a large number of non-immigrant people so hostile and angry about communicating with recent immigrants. It’s not that hard. People have been migrating for ages and figuring out how to talk to each other. I grew up near NYC, where there’s a lot of immigrants, and I’ve rarely met any opposed to trying to communicate with people who don’t know their original language. I also remember a stupid comment in high school about how a Korean immigrant math teacher “couldn’t speak English”. This particular teacher was perfectly understandable, but the student who said that had a hostile reaction to her accent that I doubt she would have had with a European immigrant teacher. And my parents are immigrants who have been in this country for about 30 years, and still deal with bullshit in customer service because of hostility to their accents.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 2:01 pm ¶
Cynthia wrote:

L: It’s not just the accent (by the way, I’ve heard of students having issues with Eastern European instructors and even a Scottish instructor. In other words, anything that is difficult to the North American ear (i.e. anything but standard North American or at times, BBC British accents), but also customs. Many immigrants, especially those without school aged children find our customs very strange. Oftentimes, even after they have kids, they warn their children not to be “too American” because it’s “bad” (according to some of my relatives, my grandmother apparently believes I’m “barbaric” compared to her Hong Kong raised grandchildren. I think I’m normal.) In turn, multigeneration Americans start thinking that these immigrants are too strict, or maybe even emotionally abusive with their children.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 2:48 pm ¶
Redstar wrote:

I have not read this new journal yet and am SO GRATEFUL for this summary!!! Thanks!

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 3:02 pm ¶
Paul wrote:

The emphasis our country places on going directly from high school to college is troubling to me as a teacher. Many students have non-academic talents or are just not emotionally/socially ready for college at 18. We ought to spend less time extolling the virtues of college and more time offering other avenues for skill acquisition. Many career paths that offer excellent wages and, more importantly, self-fulfillment do not require a college education. This overemphasis on college undercuts the value of those people who work in the skilled trades or the arts. I’d really like to see the candidates address this issue.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 4:19 pm ¶
Cynthia wrote:

Paul,

Skilled trade workers may make equal or more money than people with bachelor’s degrees, but we’re also looking at social-economic status here. And socio-economic status isn’t 100% about the money one makes. It’s about culture, a person’s interests and yes, what they do. It’s all very cultural. For many in North America and in parts of Asia (especially Hong Kong and Singapore), it’s your school, your job, the kind of organizations/clubs you belong to (it’s difficult to imagine a factory worker, even if he/she makes $85K/year, joining, say, a country club…I’m sure there are those who do, but it isn’t how one sees the typical country club member.) that determine socio-economic class.

I went to a prep school. No one goes into skilled trades. Parents don’t pay $20+K/year day tuition for a school to prepare their child to go to a four year university. A kid may decide to take a gap year, but they don’t go into skilled trades.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 4:45 pm ¶
dnA wrote:

Latoya,

You missed a big one in Barack Obama’s plan, and it’s hiding on purpose but it’s important nonetheless:

6. Add $1 billion in funding for innovative transitional jobs and career pathway programs over five years.

Transitional jobs refer to employment for formerly incarcerated people. Barack Obama is the only candidate who has spoken out forcefully on that, if you google around you can find his op-eds on the subject.

You can’t tackle poverty without dealing with the inequalities in looking for a job that formerly incarcerated people face.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 5:24 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

Well, dnA, if it’s in the summary, I didn’t miss it, right?

I could have seriously done a paragraph on each bullet point from each of the candidates, but that would have been way too long.

Paul & Cynthia -

Each of the candidates is looking at employment from a different angle. Hillary Clinton is looking at internships - those are generally for those going from college to white collar work. As dnA pointed out above, Obama talks about transitional employment and pathway programs to help those who are incarcerated. (I think, but don’t quote me, this can also be used for the underemployed). And Edwards talks about stepping stone jobs, which to me, seem like training the unskilled to go to low white collar jobs. I included the link to his campaign with that one. So there are different approaches here.

Paul, I agree with your assessment. Generally speaking, most students need time to figure out what to do with their lives. However, going into a vocational program or apprenticeship is seen as “giving up” rather than utilizing your best skills.

Cynthia, your points are good but please keep in mind we are talking about poverty and inequality. This isn’t the prep school set, so the rules of the game are a bit different.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 5:40 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

Yes, great summary!

I’d have to disagree with Paul about the high school -> college divide. I think nowadays you need to go to college for arts or skilled trades…. not traditional liberal arts schools, but colleges nonetheless, medical colleges and community colleges and all kinds of nontraditional colleges, and these are often the best places to get that kind of education, whether you are becoming a video game designer or an EMT or an electrician.

I do, however, agree there are really serious problems with the system as a whole and much of it has to do with poor regulation of for-profit education and the existence of huge numbers of semi-degree-mills. Many for-profit technical colleges are owned by corporations who spent most of their money on marketing and advertising, not on teachers and students. Their targets are working-class and minority and military and immigrant students. They promise that they can help get student loans to pay the overinflated tuition (when the student could go to a less-flashy, government-subsidized community college for 5% of the tuition). They use “hard sell” tactics, walk the students through taking out large loans telling them they are guaranteed to get some wonderful job with NASA if they sign on the dotted line. Then the students get a substandard education and are on the hook for all this money whether or not they graduate… and whether or not the degree is actually worth anything to an employer.

College accreditation needs to be tightened up, federalized and made simpler. And then higher education marketing should be much more regulated. You shouldn’t be able to promise some of the crazy stuff those people promise.

After that ranting digression…

I like that Obama’s plan has multiple points that address family cohesion.

a) more early childhood education (like the other two plans)
b) positive incentives, not just punitive measures, for fathers.
c) the Nurse Family Partnership thing.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 5:42 pm ¶
kmt00 wrote:

I believe all three candidates addressed some of the issues regarding socio-economic inequality fairly well. What really impressed me, though, was Hillary’s proposal for mentorship and early intervention support for youth BEFORE highschool and/or college. Maybe the problem of promoting kids with “non-academic talents” and those who are “just not emotionally/socially ready for college at 18″ , as mentioned by the above poster, could be alleviated…

Oh, many of those trade/skill jobs previously not requiring a formal education are limited. Those who have gone the “extra mile” to practice their skill or trade are unwilling to face competition from those who have not, and are even legislating for tighter regulation in their fields.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 8:08 pm ¶
Remorse wrote:

Atlasien: Maybe some of Obama’s $1 billion for transitional jobs and career pathways programs could go to the One Stop Career Centers to specifically help the working class or under/unemployed choose careers and schools that are legitimate and actually helping folks make a match between their skills and interests and the demands of local economies. Some of that is happening but the One Stop Centers and WIA boards could be much more aggressive getting the educational institutions into line.

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 9:29 pm ¶
Cynthia C wrote:

LaToya,

Sorry about that. Will remember for next time.

Also, my second post should say: “Parents don’t pay $20+K/year day tuition for a school to prepare their child NOT to go to a four year university.”

Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 11:39 pm ¶
Colin wrote:

The internet access one is what jumped out at me, from Obama’s plan. Granted I am leaning Obama (slightly over Edwards) but it’s still an issue I’ve been trying to get some headway on in my local community, and so it’s kind of near and dear to my heart.

I think if we expect our children to really get jobs and stay on par with other people throughout the next couple generations, we have to be able to keep them up to date on technology, and especially with the economy the way it’s been spiralling basically since President Bush went gung-ho for tax cuts, it’s become harder and harder to do privately and so we probably would need the federal government to step in, so good for him.

1 good thing about the other two…

Edwards’ Second Chance schools sound like a great idea for educationally struggling areas where there aren’t local resources for GED programs or programs for those who left school earlier than high school.

Clinton’s money to community colleges and state colleges would help me out personally, and I think would be good for creating a lot more white-collar workers, which we’ll sorely need, so that’s awesome.

Posted 26 Jan 2008 at 2:37 am ¶
angryyoungwoman wrote:

I really like Obama’s plan for expanding the nurse/family partnership. I think that would be great for women. I also think that when it comes to the economy, John Edwards just knows his stuff.

Posted 26 Jan 2008 at 4:15 am ¶
Claire wrote:

You shouldn’t be able to promise some of the crazy stuff those people promise.

Having worked in proprietary education, I can say with confidence, you can’t. You can’t promise someone that they’ll get a great job after graduating from your school. Any school that’s doing that is breaking the law.

Posted 27 Jan 2008 at 10:17 pm ¶
bdsista wrote:

I agree with Paul and “gasp” disagree somewhat with LaToya on the issue of Trade schools. Having been a librarian at a Vo-Tech high school, I think there are huge stereotypes about the students and the curriculum. I would also add, that the school had a teen parenting program with a nursery so pregnant teens and teen mothers could learn how to take care of their children and they had a full comprehensive high school education and graduated as well. That worked well like a second-chance school and was better than home visits from nurses, b/c the nurses and county health dept and wic people all came to the school to provide services.

But, I think there is an overemphasis on college which is classist. Mind you I have four degrees, but for some students, being able to learn a trade gave a lot of ADD/ADHD kids a chance to do well using their hands. Also many of the students in CAD (Computer aided-drafting) went on to go into engineering and architecture careers. The students in medical and nursing assistants, after working in hospitals, often decided that if they could learn the same anatomy as the nurse or doctor, they could be the nurse or doctor or physical therapist, etc. Many of the students in data entry, began looking at management and accounting courses and business. The welding teacher was a Black woman who was also an art teacher, so those students learned to do construction welds as well as stained glass, artistic latticework for porches, balconies, etc. Many cosmetology students went on to be estheticians and business owners. MANY used the trade to pay their way through college. They just needed a vehicle and didn’t want large loans. In a nutshell, I think instead of seeing Trade schools as giving up, I think they give students hope, they give them academic success, keep them in school, teach them how to interact with the public well, and often give them maturity that helps them make good choices about life, long before their peers. In many cases Trade schools work hand-in-hand with community colleges and 4-year institutions to help students get an education. It’s just a different path, not a dead end.

Posted 28 Jan 2008 at 12:37 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

bdsista -

LOL, on that count, we actually don’t disagree.

I mentioned that the *perception* is that it is giving up. This stems from a conversation I had with a friend in high school. He wanted to go to the Edison program, a high school in our area that focused on trade skills - electricity, engineering, etc. It was an excellent program - every year, the students who graduate use their skills to build a house, which is then sold to benefit the program.

Anyway, he wanted to enter the electrical engineering program - but received a lot of push back from friends, teachers, and his parents for “giving up.” Needless to say, he went through Edison, learned a trade and STILL decided to go to college.

Personally, I believe that college isn’t for everyone and the fact that so many people are pushed to go hurts more than it helps in the long run. I would prefer a system in which we gave students more time to explore their talents and pursue a career path that works for them.

In terms of my family, I received no pressure to go to college - no one in my family had ever finished. My parents are both self-employed; my dad owns his own company. Most of the pressure I received to go to college was from people I went to school with.

I have recently decided to go back to school to finish my degree, but that was after a few years in the workforce - I now understand what I need to succeed in my choosen career path. While college is not essential for me to be successful, it will make things easier in the long run.

Posted 28 Jan 2008 at 1:22 pm ¶
Melinda wrote:

It would have been interesting to hear more details about the Republicans’ plans. I know that Huckabee for instance is making “the working American” at least part of his campaign rhetoric.

Also, I’d disagree with L, a previous commenter, that European accents are accepted by Americans. My parents are from Hungary, and they frequently have to deal with rude comments about their accents or pronunciation.

Posted 28 Jan 2008 at 3:12 pm ¶
Aaminah wrote:

“You shouldn’t be able to promise some of the crazy stuff those people promise.”

“Having worked in proprietary education, I can say with confidence, you can’t. You can’t promise someone that they’ll get a great job after graduating from your school. Any school that’s doing that is breaking the law.”

Well, these schools couch it in figures like “98% of our graduates went on to jobs in their fields”. What they don’t tell you is that:

a) Yeah, you may be that 2%
b) It took those graduates several years after their graduation to find a job in their field OR
c) Sure, it’s a job “in” their field but not quite the job they were expecting or thinking they should qualify for

The marketing is bad to begin with, and I find those figures suspect anyway because NO ONE I’ve ever met who went to any of those schools (ITT Tech, Olympia Career Training, etc.) ended up EVER working in the field they spent all that jacked-up money for.

And it is true, while the marketing carefully couches it in legally acceptable terms, the actual on-the-ground is “Yeah, we place you in a job in your field immediately upon graduation!”

Posted 28 Jan 2008 at 3:55 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

Aaminah, I agree. They are careful to do it in legally acceptable terms. If they get you on the phone or in person and start doing the hard sell, then they’ll skirt the boundaries.

I know about this stuff firsthand from working at an underaccredited tech school as a remedial English teacher. The job was so horrible and stressful that I dropped it after fulfilling one semester’s worth of work. In the beginning I was very motivated to teach the students, but as I learned more about the operation of the school, I realize we were all being shafted, students and teachers alike. The students were getting an education that was of substantially less quality than the nearest community college… and paying a ridiculous amount of money for the privilege.

I really don’t look at the divide as trade school versus traditional college. It’s all education, and it all should be high quality. I’m certainly going to put a lot of pressure on my kids to let them know education doesn’t stop when you turn 18.

When it comes to trade programs, the best test is always going to be peer recommendations/journeyman programs/links to professional organizations. There are plenty of good schools but a lot of really bad ones too, using deceptive marketing and predatory tactics… as far as I can tell, there is a direct inverse correlation between number of flashy ads and quality of education.

Posted 28 Jan 2008 at 9:31 pm ¶