George,

Meredith makes some really good points in her piece on dealing with poverty in the June issue of the Tribune. Our Country has made no real progress on poverty since President Johnson's War on Poverty in the Sixties. Despite decades of strong economic growth, the percentage of Americans in poverty has actually increased from the mid Seventies level of 11 percent. Poverty now claims 12.5 percent of all Americans and 17.6 percent of all children. In Charlottesville, more than a quarter of all residents live in poverty (although this number is inflated by college students which the Census over counts as living in poverty). The number of families in poverty is probably a more reliable measure. 935 families, or 12 percent of Charlottesville families were living in poverty in 2000. The number of children living in poverty in Charlottesville is even higher - 1383 children live in poverty, which is 20 percent of our community's children.

We need to acknowledge that 20 percent of children living in poverty is simply unacceptable, especially in a community like Charlottesville which has so many resources. It is a regional issue - many families in poverty migrate to the City from the surrounding counties - but it appears that Charlottesville residents are the ones who will have to solve the problem. Many elected leaders in the surrounding counties recognize that we have a regional poverty problem, and some have done an admirable job to address this, but it doesn't seem to be a big priority for voters outside of the City.

Poverty imposes huge costs on society. The 2000 Poverty Threshold for a family of four in the continental United States with two related children was 17,463 dollars a year, which is less half of what it really takes for a family of four to make ends meet in Charlottesville. Public subsidies often make up the rest, and in some cases families simply dont make it. In addition, poverty imposes a huge opportunity cost on children and ultimately on society. These opportunity costs are reflected in lower graduation rates, higher incarceration rates and lower lifetime wages, all of which impact the larger society as well as the individual

The costs of poverty have a huge impact on the City budget. I believe that the single biggest thing that Charlottesville could do to make sure that we dont eventually tax residents out of their houses is to cut the poverty rate in half over the next two decades. I believe we can do this if we make a commitment to end generational poverty, which is a big percentage of our total poverty. To do this we have to ensure that every child in our City has a path out of poverty.

Charlottesville is going to need a lot of help from the State if we are to be expected to solve the City's and region's poverty problems. I would really like to hear the thoughts of the 57th district candidates on this, as I dont recall that poverty was addressed specifically in the forums that I attended. All of the candidates have ideas and initiatives that address important parts of the problem. I know that we're in the final stretch of the campaign and the candidates are probably looking forward to a break from the questions, but I would really appreciate hearing how each of the candidates is going to help Charlottesville cut our poverty rate in half in the next two decades.

Kevin Lynch (electronic mail, June 11, 2005)