In the United States today 36.5 million people live in poverty. At a time when the stock market keeps climbing and the economy is in one of its longest and healthiest periods of economic growth, poverty is persistently present. Last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, one of five children was living in poverty-14.5 million kids. For these millions of boys and girls, opportunity is diminished. Hunger is a reality.
Education has to compete with the pressures of surviving each day.
The hopes of their hearts are dimmed daily by the harsh realities of their homes and neighborhoods. Nearly all would agree that the welfare system needed to be changed, but the purpose of welfare reform must not be simply to get people off welfare rolls. Rather, it must be to move people out of poverty into a decent, productive life. While about half of those moving off welfare rolls find some kind of employment, another half do not. Even those who do find jobs are often paid so little that the welfare poor simply become the working poor.