It is a very sad situation that 27,000 children live in poverty in San Mateo County. The summit to End Child Poverty presented by U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, as well as former U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier and San Mateo Supervisors Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller — article in the Daily Journal, dated Aug. 21 — emphasizes the need of financial support for poor children. However, in my opinion, it would be recommendable to educate parents in the first place. This should start with a program in high school. Parents, before they become parents, should learn that every child is a big responsibility … every child needs personal time, care, food, clothes, education, communication and so much more. It definitely costs.
A mother should be able to stay home to raise her child, one of the most fulfilling tasks in life (again: that is my opinion, many women nowadays prefer to work and have a nanny raise the child.) Sometimes, in San Mateo I see mothers with three or four children, just one year apart and I ask myself how do they get the individual attention and care they need. Funding by giving families $300 a month is just a drop in the bucket. Education and classes for future parents would be a better solution.
It may be more appropriate to redefine what living in poverty means. What standard is used? Coming from a very large family myself, we never felt poor although we did not have the fancy toys and vacations that other small families may have enjoyed. Yet, having siblings and frugal parents fulfilled my life with joy and gratitude. Perhaps additional aid for such families may need to be means-tested. If we are to survive as a society we should encourage families and provide support where needed. Every time I see parents with a number of children of various ages I feel that the future of this country is secure.
Perhaps some people simply have too many children, Dirk? Three should be max, considering what the globe can carry, while one may be too many for some! Birth control?
Ms Thiel - Thank you for the wisdom. Also. "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Seems we have a very divided country.
One direction leads to personal education, freedom and empowerment, the other to gifts from the government, and being controlled. Thus potential permanent enslavement (both financial and emotional) and poverty.
Given that a major recent study on homelessness found that as little as $300 a month could have made the difference between folks staying in stable housing versus ending up homeless, the dollar amount makes a lot of sense. A single "inconvenience" for me, like a flat tire, is annoying. For a family struggling to make ends meet it can be devastating. Doing an experiment with 200 families, to see if just $300 a month can make a real difference, is a great way to see if there is a positive effect. And, I love your desire to help educate families. Many of the programs I've supported over the last 30 years do a great job of combining financial support WITH education and other wraparound services to make sure that families don't just survive, they thrive. I'm guessing you have experience raising a family so you'd probably be a great volunteer for many of the organizations helping families in need. Our friends at CORA in San Mateo, for example, have a new fantastic "First Five" program for helping to build healthy families. I'm proud of Jackie's initiative and hope that in a couple of years we'll have evidence to show that it makes a real difference.... I suspect it will but am open to learning otherwise.
Craig - my point is that not all families need that $300. Some need more, others less. In the Netherlands, where I grew up, families regardless of income, received a periodic payment based on the number of children they had. The children had to be examined at least once a year to ensure that they were given the proper nutrition and health care. It was, and still is, a solid investment in the health of the population which after all of these years has resulted in a very high life expectancy of the Dutch population. However, the government social services kept track of all of these programs to make sure that the funding was well spent. That is still lacking in California; just give it away without any controls. It was never a political game in the Netherlands, it served the population without grand standing. Where was Ms. Speier all of these years?
I was responding to the main LTE and appreciate your points. A partnership between government and NGOs to distribute assistance and monitor how it is being spent and whether it is making a positive difference makes sense and, as you've described, works in other places. Since Jackie Speier's foundation is just getting started AND looking for feedback, donations, and I'd bet volunteers, I'm hoping folks will get involved. https://www.venturesfoundation.org/community-initiatives/the-jackie-speier-fund/
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(7) comments
It may be more appropriate to redefine what living in poverty means. What standard is used? Coming from a very large family myself, we never felt poor although we did not have the fancy toys and vacations that other small families may have enjoyed. Yet, having siblings and frugal parents fulfilled my life with joy and gratitude. Perhaps additional aid for such families may need to be means-tested. If we are to survive as a society we should encourage families and provide support where needed. Every time I see parents with a number of children of various ages I feel that the future of this country is secure.
Perhaps some people simply have too many children, Dirk? Three should be max, considering what the globe can carry, while one may be too many for some! Birth control?
I meant max. 3, while we chose to stop at 2.
Ms Thiel - Thank you for the wisdom. Also. "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Seems we have a very divided country.
One direction leads to personal education, freedom and empowerment, the other to gifts from the government, and being controlled. Thus potential permanent enslavement (both financial and emotional) and poverty.
Given that a major recent study on homelessness found that as little as $300 a month could have made the difference between folks staying in stable housing versus ending up homeless, the dollar amount makes a lot of sense. A single "inconvenience" for me, like a flat tire, is annoying. For a family struggling to make ends meet it can be devastating. Doing an experiment with 200 families, to see if just $300 a month can make a real difference, is a great way to see if there is a positive effect. And, I love your desire to help educate families. Many of the programs I've supported over the last 30 years do a great job of combining financial support WITH education and other wraparound services to make sure that families don't just survive, they thrive. I'm guessing you have experience raising a family so you'd probably be a great volunteer for many of the organizations helping families in need. Our friends at CORA in San Mateo, for example, have a new fantastic "First Five" program for helping to build healthy families. I'm proud of Jackie's initiative and hope that in a couple of years we'll have evidence to show that it makes a real difference.... I suspect it will but am open to learning otherwise.
Craig - my point is that not all families need that $300. Some need more, others less. In the Netherlands, where I grew up, families regardless of income, received a periodic payment based on the number of children they had. The children had to be examined at least once a year to ensure that they were given the proper nutrition and health care. It was, and still is, a solid investment in the health of the population which after all of these years has resulted in a very high life expectancy of the Dutch population. However, the government social services kept track of all of these programs to make sure that the funding was well spent. That is still lacking in California; just give it away without any controls. It was never a political game in the Netherlands, it served the population without grand standing. Where was Ms. Speier all of these years?
I was responding to the main LTE and appreciate your points. A partnership between government and NGOs to distribute assistance and monitor how it is being spent and whether it is making a positive difference makes sense and, as you've described, works in other places. Since Jackie Speier's foundation is just getting started AND looking for feedback, donations, and I'd bet volunteers, I'm hoping folks will get involved. https://www.venturesfoundation.org/community-initiatives/the-jackie-speier-fund/
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