FOR THEIR FUTURE, FOR OUR FUTURE

Strengthening American Competitiveness by Ending Child Poverty in the United States

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

FOR THEIR FUTURE, FOR OUR FUTURE: ENDING CHILD POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES INTRODUCTION The loss of one persons potential is a tragedy. The loss of millions is a national emergency. Heres why: America finds itself today in an unprecedented competition for talent, creativity and intelligence. The knowledge-based, high-skilled jobs of the future jobs that can support a family and drive a community will be won by those countries that can best realize the potentials of their people. This is a worldwide, cut-throat competition, and everyone is out to win it. Allowing an American child to grow up in poverty makes victory for the U.S. impossible. It may not guarantee the loss of that childs potential, but it comes awfully close. Because of child poverty, our nation loses out on the talent and ingenuity of millions of people. And precious tax dollars resources that will be stretched thinner with every passing Baby Boom year are misdirected: spent on prisons and preventable medical interventions, instead of our schools and universities, instead of countless priorities that would strengthen Americas competitive position. If we want to win this global competition, we have to be smarter. And we have to understand that this isnt an urban problem, a suburban problem, or a rural problem. Its an American problem. Fixing it does not simply mean strengthening our public education system, though, that is critical. We must acknowledge that there are large numbers of American children, who because of circumstance, are unlikely to be able to take advantage of the best schools or the best teachers. We must acknowledge this reality and do something about it. These children are born staring at a mountain they lack the tools to climb. In Newark, I see it every day: So many children, generation after generation, repeating history. Ive fought to help end this cycle, and weve made headway. Our fatherhood program has helped curb recidivism and strengthened families. Our financial empowerment centers have enabled households to keep more of what they make, and Ive worked to attract more than $200 million in new investment to Newarks public schools. But combating poverty is a national problem, and it requires national solutions. This plan is a roadmap for action. It is not only a plan to alleviate suffering and improve the lives of individuals: It is a blueprint for strengthening our competitiveness by fostering job growth and economic opportunity. 3

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

In Christs admonition to care for the poor, he said, What you do unto the least of these my brothers, you do unto me. There are far broader implications today for failing to heed these words. Its not just about an individuals soul. Its about the fate of our nation. In a global competition with finite resources, the U.S. cannot afford to waste human capital. We must harness the potential of every American. That means acting on the simple truth that our fates today are tied together in unprecedented ways. THE CHALLENGE Make no mistake: Child poverty is a national epidemic that affects kids in every town in New Jersey. It is linked to higher rates of asthma, diabetes, obesity, and crime,1 as well as lower test scores,2 graduation rates, and earnings.3 Once concentrated in our cities, child poverty is both spreading to our suburbs and growing statewide. It has increased 25 percent across New Jersey since 2007,4 with marked increases in many smaller cities and towns. Nationally, child and adult poverty rose by nearly two thirds in the suburbs between 2000 and 2011, over twice the rate in cities.5 In New Jersey, some rural and suburban counties have seen child poverty rates increase more than 100 percent since 2007.6 It has been estimated that child poverty costs the U.S. $500 billion annuallynearly 4 percent of GDP.7 This tally includes tens of billions of dollars lost to the associated costs of crime, increased health expenditures, and foregone productivity. 8 On top of costing taxpayers and failing our moral obligations, New Jersey cannot compete economically if it leaves behind more of its future workforce each year. There will always be other states,
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Susan Popkin, Treating the Disease of Childhood Poverty, The Urban Institute (May 29, 2013), http://blog.metrotrends.org/2013/05/treating-disease-child-poverty/ 2 Richard J. Murnane. Improving the Education of Children Living in Poverty, 17 The Future of Children 161-82 (2007), http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/foc/summary/v017/17.2murnane.html. 3 Harry J. Holzer et al., The Economic Costs of Poverty in the United States: Subsequent Effects of Children Growing up Poor, Center for American Progress (2007), http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/report/2007/01/24/2450/the-economic-costs-ofpoverty/. 4 Between 2007-2011, child poverty increased by 27% in New Jersey. Advocates for Children of New Jersey, New Jersey Pocket Guide: The State of Our Counties (2013), http://www.acnj.org/admin.asp?uri=2081&action=15&di=2514&ext=pdf&view=yes 5 Poverty rates in cities increased by 29% and by 64% in suburbs between 2000-2011. Brad Plumer, Poverty Is Growing Twice As Fast in the Suburbs As in Cities, Washington Post (May 23, 2013), http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/23/poverty-is-nowgrowing-twice-as-fast-in-the-suburbs-as-in-the-city. 6 Child poverty rates increased by 102% in Cape May County, 124% in Hunterdon County, and 129% in Somerset County between 2007-2011. See New Jersey Pocket Guide, supra note 3. 7 Holzer et. al., supra note 1. 8 Id. at pg. 1.

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

and other countries, willing to work for less. Weboth New Jersey and the United Stateswin not by being cheaper, but by being better. We win by offering the finest workforce in the country, at the center of the global economy. We must make eradicating child poverty and its effects a national mission. Fortunately, it is entirely within our power. The United States cut poverty nearly in half in a single decade from 1959 to 1969.9 If given the opportunity to be your Senator, I will make eliminating child poverty the moral and economic priority it must be for New Jersey and the United States to continue leading the world. TAKING ACTION I. Support strong families, affordable housing, and work that pays a. Make work pay; and b. Support adequate, geographically diverse affordable housing; and c. Promote family success by supporting the involvement of two parents, gay or straight, in their childs life, and providing robust assistance to the heroic work of single parents. II. Improve health and nutrition a. Deliver seamless health coverage that starts in the womb to every child, with a focus on preventing costly chronic conditions before they develop; and b. Ensure access to nutrition for every child, and improve available food choices so parents and children can make healthier decisions. III. Provide world-class early care and education a. Provide universal access to high-quality preschool starting at age 3; and b. Make sure that every child has the opportunity to attend a world-class public school with strong social supports and competitive, 21st-century standards. IV. Provide Affordable College and Post-Secondary Career Training Options a. Congress must reverse its recent failure to keep federal student loan rates from doubling; and

U.S. Census Bureau, Number in Poverty and Poverty Rate: 1950 to 2010, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2010/figure4.pdf.

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

b. Start college and professional / technical school trust accounts for children in Earned Income Tax Credit households.

STRONG SUPPORT, HIGH EXPECTATIONS Every child in New Jersey and across America should grow up in a strong family and community, receive excellent nutrition and healthcare, and have access to high-quality pre-K and world-class public schools. We should give every child a strong foundation and make crystal clear that with strong support comes high expectations. The weight of Americas future challenges, ranging from international competition to growing out of our deficit by creating a stronger economy, rests on their shoulders.

I. STRONG FAMILIES, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, AND WORK THAT PAYS Strong families and communities are the bedrock of success, yet too many kids grow up in surroundings too strained to provide the support they need. To strengthen our families and communities, we should: a. Make work pay. Work doesnt work for many of our families and communities, robbing both of the support they need and providing our children less incentive to study hard and stay in school. The $7.25 minimum wage does not come close to supporting an adequate standard of living in most places, including in New Jersey. Create pathways out of low-wage work by making sure jobs supported by federal funds, like those in health care and child care, offer a real career track upward, with decent wages and opportunities for training and advancement.10 Pass The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which, among other reforms, will raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour over two years. If the minimum wage had tracked productivity growth since 1968, it would be over $21 per hour. 11 Studies have found that for every dollar increase in the minimum wage, spending by households

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Jacob S. Hacker & Nate Loewentheil, Prosperity Economics: Building an Economy for All (2012), http://www.goiam.org/images/pdfs/Hacker%20-%20Prosperity%20Economics.pdf. 11 Nick Hanauer, The Capitalists Case for a $15 Minimum Wage, Bloomberg News (June 19, 2013), http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-19/the-capitalist-s-case-for-a-15-minimumwage.html.

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

with minimum wage worers increases by $2,800 a year.12 One study found that this legislation, specifically, would generate more than $32 billion in GDP growth.13 Bolster the earned income tax credit (EITC) by reducing its marriage penalty, in which a single parents credit may decrease once she or he marries and files a joint tax return. Expanding the eligibility range by $5,000 for married filers would substantially reduce the penalty. The EITC benefits nearly 600,000 households in New Jersey and each year lifts about 3 million children out of poverty nationally14 more than any other federal program.15

b. Support adequate, geographically diverse affordable housing, and do more to help families facing foreclosure. Affordable housing is the foundation of strong families and communities. Yet, in many towns, hard-working New Jerseyans cannot afford a home without spending over a third of their income on rent or mortgage payments.16 Residents of affordable homes have the means to support a family and purchase goods and services in their communities. Preserve and expand federal housing programs like Section 8 that make housing more affordable for thousands of New Jersey families, and improve enforcement of anti-discrimination laws that too often fail to protect tenants using Section 8 vouchers from being turned away from wealthier and geographically diverse communities. Expand affordable housing options with convenient access to urban areas by public transit, so that young professionals, empty-nesters, and workers can afford a home in New Jerseys more affluent towns,

Daniel Aaronson, Sumit Angarwal & Eric French, The Spending and Debt Response to Minimum Wage Hikes, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Feb. 2011), http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/publications/working_papers/2007/wp_23.cfm. 13 David Cooper and Doug Hall, Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10 Would Give Working Families, and the Overall Economy, A Much-Needed Boost. Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper (March 13, 2013), http://www.epi.org/publication/bp357-federal-minimum-wageincrease/. 14 581,000 households in New Jersey receive EITC benefits. Chuck Marr, Jimmy Charite & Chye-Ching Huang, Earned Income Tax Credit Promotes Work, Encourages Childrens Success at School, Research Finds, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (Apr. 9, 2013), http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3793. 15 Arloc Sherman, Safety Net Effective at Fighting Poverty But Has Weakened for the Very Poorest, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, (July 6, 2009), http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2859. 16 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Affordable Housing (May 9, 2013), http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/.
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Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

which can develop greener, denser, more vibrant downtowns in the process. In low-income suburbs only a quarter of jobs in metro areas are accessible via transit in less than 90 minutes.17 The Federal Housing Finance Agency should immediately take steps to approve principal reductions for underwater mortgages held by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Negative equity is a driving cause of mortgage delinquency 18 and Fannie and Freddie should play a leadership role in helping homeowners stay in their homes. The federal government should also help community development finance institutions and nonprofit community banks to compete in the secondary mortgage markets by appropriating additional Hardest Hit Funds to acquire distressed home mortgages. Building on FHA's Distressed Asset Stabilization Program, HUD and the U.S. Treasury should incentivize portfolio and private-label security mortgage holders to auction distressed mortgages at deep discounts to face value in order to prevent foreclosures and help housing markets recover. Finally, the federal government should restore funding to the network of nonprofit foreclosure counselors who are the front line of defense to predators and scam artists preying on desperate homeowners.

c. Promote family success by supporting the involvement of two parents, gay or straight, in their childs life, and providing robust assistance to the heroic work of single parents. Work towards participation by two parents, regardless of sexual orientation, in childrens lives. Nationwide, over 40 percent of births are to unmarried women.19 One parent is often enough, and countless single mothers and fathers do the job of raising a child as well or better than two-parent households despite the serious challenges of raising a child alone. That said, two sets of handsand two paychecksis usually better, especially for families juggling several jobs and struggling to make ends meet. The federal government should support

Confronting Suburban Poverty, Infographic: Whats Driving the Rapid Rise of Poverty (May 17, 2013), http://confrontingsuburbanpoverty.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/05/Brookings_Toolkit_National-Infographic.jpg. 18 Ronel Elul et. al., What Triggers Mortgage Default? Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, (April 2010), https://www.philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/publications/workingpapers/2010/wp10-13.pdf. 19 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Unmarried Childbearing (Jan. 18, 2013), http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarry.htm (In 2010, 40.8% of all births were to unmarried women.).
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Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

the expansion of successful local initiatives like Newarks Fatherhood Program, which engages more fathers in the lives of their children. It is never too late for lapsed fathers and mothers to reengage. Work to support single parent or grandparent households. In Newark, for example, we started a program focused on grandparents raising grandchildren. The federal government should provide funding to support existing programs and incentivize their growth and proliferation.

II. HEALTH AND NUTRITION Few things slow a childs development more dramatically than chronic disease, and few conditions predict a lifetime of health challenges more reliably than childhood obesity. Making sure our future parents, workers, and leaders are healthy is the most basic step to ensuring future prosperity. To do so, we should: a. Deliver seamless health coverage that starts in the womb for every child and prevents costly chronic conditions before they develop. About one in 10 New Jersey kids lacks health insurance, nearly quadruple the rate in Massachusetts and almost double the rate in Connecticut. 20 Even for those with coverage, over a quarter of children in Medicaid experienced one or more gaps in coverage over just a three-year period.21 Expand access to health care through implementation of the landmark Affordable Care Act, and work hard to expand Medicaid enrollment among poor and immigrant communities. By expanding federal funding for education and outreach efforts, particularly for states that regrettably did not opt for state run exchanges, states will be better able to collaborate with community-based organizations and schools to identify and enroll our most vulnerable citizens. The goal is health insurance for every single child; regular doctor visits and preventive care improve health and save money.

20

9.4% of children in New Jersey do not have health insurance, compared to 2.5% in Massachusetts and 5.3% in Connecticut. Childrens Defense Fund, State Data Repository, http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-datarepository/cits/2013/2013-children-in-the-states-complete.pdf (last updated March 2013). 21 26.7% of children with full Medicaid benefits experienced at least one gap in coverage between 2005-2007. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid Policy Brief (June 2012), http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Computer-Data-andSystems/MedicaidDataSourcesGenInfo/Downloads/MAX_IB6_EnrollGaps.pdf.

Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

Use competitive grants to support the design and implementation of state-level comprehensive performance monitoring systems that quarterback the care of every child in Medicaid. Programs similar to Connecticuts HUSKY independent performance monitoring system will help ensure that children stay enrolled and receive appropriate, effective treatment. Too often, changes in eligibility or life circumstances create gaps in care that allow preventable illnesses to go undetected or untreated. The Connecticut program has also gone a long way to ensure accountability for tax dollars spent on Medicaid.22 Increase the federal governments support of Nurse Family Partnership-type programs, creating a federal 50 percent matching program to provide at-home prenatal care and counseling for all firsttime, at-risk pregnancies. Such a program, at a 2.5-year price tag of approximately $8,500 per pregnancy, would provide intensive at-home nurse services to the mother and child from the second trimester until the childs second birthday. A study funded by the Pew Center estimated the returns of such a program exceed $73,000 over the life of the child.23 Other studies have shown a reduction in crime of 56 percent for mothers and 16 percent for children; 24 a 48 percent reduction in child abuse and neglect; a 67 percent reduction in behavioral and cognitive problems;25 and a 60 percent decline in infant death rates.26

b. Ensure access to nutrition for every child, and improve available food choices so parents and children can make healthier decisions. Even here in one of Americas richest states, one in eight households do not have enough food, and nearly 400,000 children depend on food stamps.27 And the food that is available tends to be very unhealthy: More than a third of New Jersey kids from ages 2-5
Connecticut Voices for Children: Independent Performance Monitoring in the HUSKY Program: Ensuring Accountability for Scarce State Dollars, (February, 2013), http://www.ctvoices.org/sites/default/files/h13perfmonitorfacts.pdf . 23 Ted R. Miller, Nurse-Family Partnership Home Visitation: Costs, Outcomes, and Return on Investment, H.B.S.A, Inc. (Sept. 2012), http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2013/Costs_and_ROI_executive_summary. pdf. 24 Washington State Institute for Public Policy, Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal Justice Costs, and Crime Rates (2006), http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/06-10-1201.pdf. 25 Nurse-Family Partnership, Benefits and Costs (Nov. 2011), http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/assets/PDF/Fact-sheets/NFP_Benefits-Cost. 26 Miller, supra note 24. 27 Roughly 396,000 children in New Jersey were SNAP program participants in 2012. Advocates for Children of New Jersey, New Jersey Kids Count: The State of Our Children: 2013, http://www.acnj.org/admin.asp?uri=2081&action=15&di=2463&ext=pdf&view=yes.
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Paid for by Cory Booker for Senate.

are overweight or obese,28 and nationally, severe obesity rates are almost twice as high among poor children.29 Given the choices they face, from the large size of portions to the high sugar and fat content of many foods, it is little surprise so many poor children struggle with weight. These are serious challenges, but we arent without options. Preserve funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), as well as for free and reduced-price school lunches. The stalled Farm Bill debate, with two sides debating between bad and worse when it comes to SNAP, is indicative of Congresss deep misunderstanding of a fundamental truth: That in the richest nation on earth, not a single child should go hungrynor can we afford them to. Eradicate food deserts places without easy access to fresh food, where the main sources of food are convenience stores and fast food restaurants. The problem in New Jersey is enormous: 300,000 of our residents live in more than 100 food deserts.30 We must support proven and promising food access programs, such as Newarks Fresh Foods Program, and the First Ladys focus on strategic public-private partnerships to assist underserved neighborhoods. Such initiatives do not only bring healthy fresh foods to food deserts, but also new jobs and economic development to some of our most heavily impacted communities. Engage in a forceful and public dialogue with the food industry focused on how to stem the tide of child obesity. The problem is far bigger than sugary drinks and Happy Mealsit implicates portion sizes, dinner-plate diameters, and sedentary lifestyles, and we must solve it. We must have this conversation, just as I did as co-chair of the First Ladys Partnership for a Healthier America, and work with the food industry to address this crisis.

Centers for Disease Control, New Jersey: State Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Profile, (Sept. 2012), http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/stateprograms/fundedstates/pdf/New-JerseyState-Profile.pdf (34.3% of New Jersey children are overweight or obese). 29 Nationally, children in low-income families are 1.7 times more likely to be severely obese. Food Research and Action Center, Relationship Between Poverty and Overweight or Obesity, http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/are-low-income-people-at-greater-risk-foroverweight-or-obesity/ (last visited July 1, 2013). 30 Stranded in Food Deserts, Hundreds of Thousands of N.J. Residents Lack Access to Healthy, Fresh Food, Newark Star-Ledger (Aug. 8, 2011), http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/stranded_in_food_deserts_hundr.html (more than 340,000 New Jerseyans live in food deserts).
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III. WORLD-CLASS EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION Healthy children from strong families and communities are a good start, but education is essential. The United States lags many of its peer nations in student achievement,31 and New Jersey lags many of its peer states in educational attainment: Maryland, Connecticut, Colorado, and Massachusetts all boast a greater proportion of high school and college graduates.32 Creating a world-class education system means that we must: a. Provide universal access to high-quality preschool for children beginning at age three. High-quality pre-kindergarten education produces huge improvements in the lives of children and extraordinarily high returns on every dollar spent, yet America is one of only a few advanced nations that does not provide universal early education.33 Guarantee universal access to preschool, starting at age 3, for every child by 2025. Universal access does not mean paying for preschool for families who can already afford it; it means ensuring those who cannot are able to provide that opportunity to their children. A quality pre-kindergarten foundation improves educational and health outcomes for at-risk children and enhances long-term economic productivity.34 Implement a rigorous quality assurance system to hold preschools to the same high standards we expect of the rest of our education system. The early years are when the opportunity for progress is greatest. Our education priorities should reflect that.

b. Make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a world-class public school with strong social supports and competitive, 21st-century standards. Public schools are the chief institution in our country for preparing children to succeed in the world. Yet, millions of children attend underperforming schools that leave them unprepared to compete at home and abroad. Support competitive grant programs for expanded learning time in low-performing schools. Increased instruction time ensures that

31

National Center for Education Statistics, Program for International Student Assessment Results: 2009, http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2009highlights.asp. 32 U.S. Census Bureau, Educational Attainment by State (2012), http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.pdf. 33 Hacker & Loewentheil, supra note 10. 34 Cynthia Brown et al., Investing in Our Children: A Plan to Expand Access to Preschool and Child Care, Center for American Progress (2013), http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2013/02/07/52071/investing-in-ourchildren/.

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teachers have the time they need to close the achievement gap, and has been implemented by many of the most successful schools in lowincome areas. In a study of schools that have extended learning time, over half outperformed district averages by more than 20 percent in Math and/or English.35 Promote the use of competitive federal dollars, like Race to the Top funding, to spur innovation and reform in our schools. These programs encourage schools to adopt a framework of best practices and provide support through funding and metrics-based assessments. Over the past two years, states that received federal Race to the Top funding have adopted innovative STEM education programs, built intensive data systems to enhance classroom instruction, and used teacher evaluations to improve the quality of instruction.

IV. Provide Affordable College and Post-Secondary Career Training Options A highly reliable predictor of whether an American is poor is whether his or her parents were poor. Access to higher education offers a pathway out of this cycle. Yet, in the past ten years the cost of tuition at four-year public colleges has increased by 66 percent 36 and low-income families now spend the equivalent of 72 percent of their income to pay for one year of higher education.37 a. Congress must reverse its recent failure to keep federal student loan rates from doubling and make post-secondary education more affordable. The current trends make it difficult for most, from the poor to the middle class, to afford college. We must also do more to control costs and offer alternatives. Act to address Congresss failure last week to stop Stafford student loan rates from doubling. This affects all students with federal loans, from the poor to the middle class, and is fundamentally inexcusable. We must do more to ensure that every young child has the resources they need to advance their education. Their success and our economic

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18 of 30 schools studied outperformed the district average in Math and/or English by more than 20 percent. See Claire Kaplan & Roy Chan, Time Well Spent: Eight Powerful Practices of Successful Expanded-Time Schools, National Center on Time & Learning (2013), http://issuu.com/nationalcenterontimelearning/docs/timewellspent/1?e=0. 36 "The Price of College: A Background Primer," New America Foundation, (2013), http://pnpi.newamerica.net/spotlight/the_price_of_college. 37 "High College Costs, Low Aid Burden Struggling Families," The Education Trust, (2011), http://www.finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=16f12ec7-f0db-4e15-95a41aad82db2f8a.

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competitiveness rely upon it. Support President Obama's efforts to link federal funding for campusbased aid programs to college affordability and improvements in education quality. The President's plan provides states with significant financial incentives to curb rising costs and helps ensure that taxpayer dollars go to colleges that are doing as much as possible to provide affordable, high-quality education. Promote innovative policies, such as technical training programs, that strengthen alternatives to traditional four-year schools and give participants a concrete path to the middle class.38 By strengthening community colleges and providing credit for skills acquired outside the classroom we can reward individual initiative, decrease the cost of education, and make college more accessible to students with nontraditional schedules.

b. Start college and professional / technical school trust accounts for children in Earned Income Tax Credit households. We can promote work, deliver the American Dream, and reduce long-term costs to society by making college a reality for millions of low-income children. We should help poor working families plan for college by launching an ambitious college savings trust plan tied to the Earned Income Tax Credit: a $400 per year (tied to inflation), per child deposit, into a trust account that is specifically designated for approved post-secondary college or career education. The deposit would be issued in conjunction with a familys EITC payment and would need to be accessed within a set time frame following high school graduation. This program will: o Incentivize work by bolstering EITC benefits; and o Promote planning for college or post-secondary professional education in poor households; and o Pay for close to a quarter of an average four-year public

38

"300 Million Engines of Growth: A Middle-Out Plan for Jobs, Business, and a Growing Economy," Center for American Progress, (June 2013), http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2013/06/13/66204/300-millionengines-of-growth/.

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college tuition,39 and an even higher share of most technical or vocational training; and o Allow states, localities, philanthropists, and the families and friends of participating children to access up to $100 per year (tied to inflation) of supplemental federal matching funds for accounts, and make supplemental unmatched deposits beyond that. WERE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER Child poverty is not an us versus them problem, as it has too often been framed. Allowing a single child to fall through the cracks is a catastrophic failure for that child, to be sure, but it also comes at a high cost for everyone in our society. We, in New Jersey and in America, need everyone to pull his or her own weight. Our competitiveness in the world, the strength of our families and communities, our ability to grow our economy out of our long-term deficits, and the very question of whether we will offer the American Dream to everyone, depends on how we face the epidemic of child poverty.

39

The average cost of tuition and fees at public four-year institutions is $8,655. College Board, In-State Tuition and Fees by State and Sector: 2012-13 and 5-Year Percentage Change, (2013), http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/state-tuition-and-fees-state-andsector-2012-13-and-5-year-percentage-change. The EITC college tax credit would set aside up to $7,200 (or $9,000 with full matching funds) before a child attends college.

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