Reducing Intergenerational Poverty (2024)
Chapter: Appendix B: Perspectives on Intergenerational Poverty
Appendix B
Perspectives on Intergenerational Poverty
Early in its deliberations, the study committee expressed a desire to build a full picture of not only the populations that are at greatest risk of intergenerational poverty but also of the policies and programs that are working to reduce intergenerational poverty. In response the committee held several information gathering activities to hear from community members, organizational leaders, policy experts, and scholars.
The committee held two public information gathering sessions to increase its understanding of intergenerational poverty within Native American communities1 and children and families involved with the child welfare and justice systems.2 The committee also commissioned Ascend at the Aspen Institute to organize a series of listening sessions that were closed to the public to ensure candid discussions. This included two listening sessions with parents and caregivers3 contending with poverty to hear directly from them about their experiences with programs and systems designed to support their family’s financial well-being and improve their children’s future; three listening sessions with representatives of community- or state-level organizations serving Latino families, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian
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1 A proceedings and proceedings in brief of this session are available here: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26903/intergenerational-poverty-and-mobility-among-native-americans-in-the-united-states
2 For more information on this session including an agenda and recording: https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/04-14-2022/public-information-gathering-session-policies-and-programs-to-reduce-intergenerational-poverty
3 The participants in the listening session with parents and caregivers were primarily Black individuals from southern urban areas.
families, and families living in rural communities; and one listening session with public policy experts to gain a better understanding of federal policy levers to promote potential interventions across policy areas delivered at the federal, state, and local levels.
While these sessions were not designed to be representative and do not reflect the full range of perspectives or experiences of those affected by intergenerational poverty, they provided important context for understanding the lived experience of intergenerational poverty.
During these sessions, parents, practitioners, and policy makers discussed their personal and professional experience with policies, programs, research, and data collection that addresses various dimensions of intergenerational poverty in different communities. These conversations served as a backdrop for the committee’s review and assessment of the available empirical literature, as well as a reminder of the real-life stories and experiences behind the data.
PUBLIC INFORMATION GATHERING SESSIONS
Perspectives on Native American Communities
This session included three panels to engage with community leaders, researchers, and practitioners on issues surrounding intergenerational poverty and mobility among Native American families in the United States. Representatives from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the American Indian College Fund, the Native Organizers Alliance, and the American Indian OIC discussed poverty and mobility in their communities and described key barriers and obstacles reducing the chances that Native American children grow up to be happy, healthy, and prosperous adults. They shared Native-led efforts to support upward economic mobility and shed light on the strengths of Native American communities to address intergenerational poverty. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University discussed important historical and structural factors that have shaped economic opportunity and mobility for Native Americans, as well as the current data and research on mobility, gaps in the data, and the challenges in conducting research on this population. Researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Northwestern University, and the University of Washington discussed drivers of intergenerational poverty among Native Americans and interventions that could improve their economic mobility within the domains of health, education, and the labor market.
Perspectives on Children Involved with the Child Welfare and Justice Systems
The committee held this session to (a) better understand structural determinants, especially poverty-related structural determinants, that contribute to involvement with the child welfare and justice systems, (b) identify evidence-based service interventions that reduce the chances that children in these systems are poor as adults, and (c) better understand these systems from a racial/ethnic disparities lens.
Researchers and practitioners with expertise in the child welfare and criminal justice systems—from the University of Maryland, the Juvenile Law Center, the University of California, Berkeley, Arizona State University, Columbia University, University of Notre Dame, and the University of Chicago—discussed how involvement with the justice system and child welfare system affects children’s and adolescents’ chances of upward mobility in adulthood, how racial disparities and structural factors in the justice system and child welfare system contribute to the causes of intergenerational poverty, and evidence-based programs and policies that target children and their parents and caregivers that are most likely to reduce chances that low-income children will be poor in adulthood. The committee considered these discussions and the research presented in its development of the report, specifically for Chapters 9 and 10.
CLOSED LISTENING SESSIONS
These sessions were held with subsets of committee members and were organized as small group discussions with organizational leaders supporting communities that the committee had identified as not being well represented in its public sessions and in the evidence base. As addressed previously, they do not reflect the full range of perspectives or experiences, but they provided additional valuable context for understanding the lived experience of intergenerational poverty for some.
Parent and Caregiver Perspectives
A group of low-income parents and caregivers shared their stories with vulnerability and candor on their day-to-day struggles to realize their hopes for their children. Many of them worked in low-wage jobs and received public benefits of some sort, yet these sources of income and support were inadequate for making ends meet, unstable, and irregular, and they created a set of bureaucratic challenges and roadblocks that made it difficult to get ahead. These parents’ stress levels were palpable and were reflected in poor mental and physical health. Some parents talked about furthering their own
educations or making sacrifices to enroll their children in better schools, but the daily financial grind made planning for or investing in children’s futures all but impossible. Key themes from these discussions are noted here:
Stability, consistency, and safety are central to parent goals for their children and family:
- My dream is one neighborhood, one home, one place.
- You would be there for your life and your tax dollars go to work for you.
- [We need] safe spaces for children to help them grow.
Other goals that parents mentioned centered around being an agent of change both for their family and their community:
- I want to try to make a difference.
- I want to be a voice to be a change for struggling parents.
- Make a difference for the future.
- Help other Latinas to get treatment we deserve.
- My goal is to provide my daughter with the education she deserves.
Parents value education and building social skills—both for themselves and their children—as key to achieving those goals. They also believe they have a role in providing that and want parenting skills to help build such skills.
- Social behavior that is acceptable and social skills that will help them in the real world.
- [We need] good learning environments.
- Need to have more parent education.
- Children need to know laws and rules.
- [I am] thankful for programs that help me be in a better position but also want programs that help me be a better parent so that I can raise my child.
Parents mentioned the stress of the uncertainty of not knowing how you will provide for your family.
- When I had the extra stimulus, it was this little pink pig of hope. I didn’t stress out. Now I am stressed and not sure where I’m going—like my hope is gone.
- A lot of stressful nights, after you pay rent, you still have expenses for your child’s school and other things. How can you provide for your child and still have a normal life for yourself?
Parents identified barriers that they and their children face in achieving their goals.
- Parents need to be aware of benefits so that they can provide for their children.
- Parents need to be better educated.
- Biggest barrier is mental health; need assistance in finding help to get better. Currently, Medicaid just throws drugs at you.
- My Dad was troubled, so I was troubled too.
- We have to work longer so that means we aren’t spending time with our kids.
- I stress that my kids won’t have enough food. Do we skip a bill or eat?
- To qualify for benefits you have to fit in a box. I don’t fit in a box because I am a grandmother and not a traditional caregiver and so don’t qualify.
Several parents highlighted the phasing out of benefits—the cliff effect—as a key barrier:
- When you are about to get ahead, they cut you off.
- [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] and Section 8 have so many hoops you have to jump through that it is not worth it.
- Change income limits so that we don’t have a benefits cliff.
- When you are trying to help people, help them gradually walk themselves off the program but don’t drastically cut them off. Living on these programs wasn’t intended to be a way of life but a help to be where you need to be in life.
Among the responses when asked which government programs helped them personally:
- Subsidized housing (although a help and hindrance, because they are a help when you don’t have a job but a hindrance if you have a job and have earnings and triggers a bureaucratic nightmare as well as new, higher rent.)
- [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], important but not enough; disconnect between what a family actually needs and what the government thinks a family needs; doesn’t take into account non-traditional parents.
- Our children deserve the stars and the moon but we can’t give it to them.
- Child Tax Credit and the Stimulus checks were helpful as it made it able for me to save as well as meet our needs. Now that it’s gone, I had to use all my savings.
Public Policy Perspectives
Public policy experts shared their perspectives on how federal policy can be used to encourage and support the most effective programs at the federal, state, and local levels. They discussed what the committee needs to know about current mechanisms and processes for designing policy and delivering these potential interventions at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as policy areas that the committee should be considering. They suggested that those living in poverty should be involved in the conversation, that important policy should not be narrow or restrained, and that states and localities offer important contributions to this conversation.
- We must talk to people who live in intergenerational poverty and see what they want. Start with people and offer dignity back to them.
- Siloes at the federal level are harmful.
- We need good practices that aren’t regionally bound.
- Bring states to the table—that is where federal levers can come in and make states act another way.
Rural Community Perspectives
Representatives from community- and state-level organizations serving rural communities spoke to the committee about the unique challenges of rural poverty and the kinds of programs that are needed to serve these families.
- In communities impacted by substance abuse disorder, we struggle with how to protect privacy but help humans whose lives are rugged and ragged. There is no anonymity in rural areas. How do we be transparent but still acknowledge families who have these “marks” about them? How do we give families with substance abuse problems stigma-free assistance?
- Rural folks are isolated. People believe that poverty is because something is wrong with you. But it is important for folks to understand, No it’s the system.
- We can’t count on anybody to come save us. What we have to do to is to save ourselves. The light bulb comes on when you are exposed to new ideas on how to make stuff happen.
- Programs should be designed by families; there is a lot of talent among the families we serve, and we should tap into that.
- They should be creating programs that promote social capital.
- Best programs are in response to and together with people whose lives show up as not doing well. Mindset shift needs to happen. Programs push us to do better but wish they would also ask us to report on the dreams and aspirations rural families have. We only get info on what’s wrong with the family.
- Be intentional about families. Identify their aspirations and then help families achieve those aspirations.
Alaskan Native and Pacific Islander Community Perspectives
Representatives from organizations serving Alaskan Native and Pacific Islander communities noted the need to support social connectedness and a sense of well-being among community (cultural/spiritual wellness), as a key factor in uplifting families out of poverty. Participants also highlighted the positive role of community organizations and called for more “trust-based” philanthropy, which would give these organizations the flexibility to meet the needs of families. They noted they often feel “their hands are tied” with government funding, and they do not have the ability to make real-time decisions to help families. They also expressed the need to create/develop programming with the community. Participants highlighted administrative burden to accessing social safety net programs as a key barrier and suggested more “cross-enrollment” opportunities are needed.
- Our families often share that our current systems here (education, housing, health) focus on preserving wealth for the already wealthy, even at the expense of others. This reinforces injustices perpetuated against Native Hawaiians, disconnects us from our culture, and limits opportunities for families to thrive.
- The most inspiring folks are people in hard situations. They have the best energy as they are most motivated for change but don’t know how to make that change. Keeps you inspired.
- Our families seek fiscal stability, education, healthy relationships, healthy families and cultural/spiritual wellness.
- Common themes that I find among our families: Limited choices for our families, disempowerment, exploitation, and unaccountability of those in power. All as a result of ongoing trauma. In response to those barriers, our people dig into cultural identity, communities and connecting to the collective.
Latino Community Perspectives
Representatives from organizations serving Latino communities shared their thoughts on the challenges these communities face and what they need most to improve their children’s chances for upward mobility.
- The biggest issue for us is immigration. We have families with mixed status so being able to access various resources may be challenging.
- Winter and seasonal work especially for immigrant families is a barrier. Their hours of work go down and with the increase in the cost of living it is harder for families to have a sense of economic stability.
- Our families talk all the time about not having access to opportunities, about being turned away, about being fearful of talking to anyone because they don’t know if they will speak their language.
- Just because resources are available in our community, doesn’t mean they are accessible. If there is a child care center even in your neighborhood, if they are not operating from six am to seven pm and they don’t have teachers who speak your language, as much as you want access to that child care, it is not going to work for your family.
