House of Representatives

Poverty Task Force Representative , Chair Representative , Co-Chair

Final Report February 2008 Poverty Task Force: Final Report

Creation and Charge Recognizing that Alabama’s poverty rate is now almost 17% compared to the national rate of 12%, House Speaker Seth Hammett officially created a Poverty Task Force in September 2007 for the purpose of identifying and assessing conditions that create or worsen poverty throughout Alabama and to develop and propose public policy initiatives to reduce and eliminate those conditions.

State Representative Patricia Todd (D-Jefferson) was appointed Chair by the Speaker. A fourteen member Task Force was then appointed to the Task Force, one that included bipartisan participation along with State Department Heads and the Executive Directors of Alabama Arise and the Alabama Poverty Project (See Attachment A, Task Force Membership List).

The Task Force members would like to recognize the contributions of the late Dr. Richard Dorrough who actively participated until his death.

The Task Force’s Approach: Guidelines and Objectives At the onset of embarking on this work the membership of the Task Force unanimously embraced four guidelines:

1. The state’s General Fund is currently strained and does not have room to add additional financial obligations without additional revenue streams 2. The Task Force will concentrate on programs that reach those in poverty who are able and motivated to move out of poverty 3. Consensus on policies will be the goal, understanding that not all members will support specific legislation. 4. Stakeholders, especially those living in poverty, will be provided an opportunity at every task force meeting to address the Task Force members

At its October 2007 meeting the Poverty Task Force agreed to approach its work by subscribing to three objectives:

1. Conduct a review of policy and programs that work to move people out of poverty. This work was conducted both in plenary sessions as well as through four working committees open to citizen participation: a. Human and Social Capital b. Education and Workforce Development c. Housing and Community Development d. Tax and Regulatory Policy 2. Develop a comprehensive database of services available for low and no income citizens 3. Explore ways to continue the work of the Poverty Task Force beyond its current time constraints.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 1 Meetings and Public Participation Over the course of three months, the Poverty Task Force held three meetings that drew the attendance and participation of over 100 people and 34 organizations (See Attachment B, Testifying/Participating Organizations). serving those in poverty from across the state. The public was invited to present testimony before the Task Force at its October and November meetings and actively participated in one of the four working committees in analyzing existing conditions in Alabama, assessing new opportunities and proposing innovative, realistic and feasible solutions to remediate Alabama poverty.

Special thanks go to the Community Action Agencies of Alabama for providing speakers who live in poverty at the Poverty Task Force Meetings. Testimonies from speakers are attached.

Committee Recommendations The working committees have recommended the following policies as their respective top priorities to address and eliminate poverty in Alabama:

Human and Social Capital . Coordinate a study of needs assessments already compiled by various poverty-focused agencies and develop an overall assessment report for the legislature. . Develop a dedicated funding stream for public transportation. . Enable and fund Individual Development Accounts to match savings for low income families. The savings can be used to purchase a home, higher education or to start a business. . Assure that medical providers do not charge those without insurance more than Medicaid patients or other insured groups.

Education and Workforce Development . Require workforce development programs funded by the State of Alabama have recruitment goals that include low income populations/areas. . Require businesses that receive economic incentives to pay a wage equal to the area median income level. . Provide additional funds to Head Start, until there is no waiting list, to make sure that children from poor families are prepared for school. . As funds are available, conditional approvals of “First Class” Pre K with two recommendations. Funds should target low income communities and the monthly co-pay for low income families should be reduced.

Housing and Community Development . Create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund Task Force charged with developing a comprehensive recommendation to the Legislature on a housing trust fund prior to its 2009 Session.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 2 Committee Recommendations, Continued

. Reduce the time that municipalities have to wait to destroy or sell a house that has been abandoned or destroyed. . Develop a current study of housing needs and conduct an analysis on its findings focusing on low income individuals and families in Alabama.

Tax and Regulatory Policy . Regulate the interest rate of pay day and title loan companies. . Eliminate sales tax on groceries/food. . Encourage the promotion of the Earned Income Tax Credit for low income workers. . Raise the income tax threshold to the poverty level. . Exempt thrift stores on military bases from sales tax.

Task Force Recommendations 1. In response to the work of its four committees, the Poverty Task Force membership has agreed that individual members of the Task Force will be sponsoring separate pieces of legislation related to the committee recommendations. 2. The Poverty Task Force supports the creation of a bi-partisan permanent formal Commission on the Reduction of Poverty. 3. Although the Task Force did not have time to review the current database under development through the Department of Children’s Services (211) it was encouraged by, and supportive of, the prospect of a comprehensive directory of services that would be available to all citizens of Alabama.

In addition to these recommendations the Poverty Task Force also produced a one page fact sheet on the current state of Poverty in Alabama for dissemination and education. A copy of that sheet is included as Attachment C with this report.

On behalf of the Poverty Task Force this report is hereby submitted to Speaker Seth Hammet on February 5, 2008 with our grateful appreciation for the charge you placed upon this body and the opportunities that remain before us with your support.

______Representative Patricia Todd Chair

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 3 Poverty Task Force Final Report ATTACHMENT A Task Force Membership List

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 4 Poverty Task Force Membership

Representative Mike Ball Representative James Buskey Richard Dorrough (Children’s Affairs) Kimble Forrister (Alabama Arise) Nick Foster (Alabama Poverty Project) Representative Representative Representative Earl Hilliard, Jr. Bill Johnson (ADECA) Representative John Knight Representative A.J. McCampbell Carol Steckel (Medicaid) Page Walley (Department of Human Resources)

Representative Patricia Todd, Chair

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 5 Poverty Task Force Final Report ATTACHMENT B Testifying/Participating Organizations

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 6 Testifying/Participating Organizations

AIDS Alabama Alabama Alliance to End Homelessness Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Alabama Arise Alabama Birth Coalition Alabama Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Alabama Civil Justice Foundation Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Center Birmingham Urban League Community Action Agencies of Alabama Community Foundation of South Alabama Empower Alabama Family Connection, Inc. Family Guidance Center First Light Greater Birmingham Ministries Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama Independent Living Resource Center Jefferson County Economic Opportunity League of Women Voters Legal Services of Alabama Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama Neighborhood Services of Birmingham Pathways Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama Save Alabama’s Small Schools Sheppard Center East The Center for Rural Alabama United Way of Central Alabama VOICES Wings Over Alabama YWCA Central Alabama

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 7 Poverty Task Force Final Report ATTACHMENT C Poverty Fact Sheet

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 8 POVERTY in ALABAMA FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION Poverty can be understood in many ways. Generally when we discuss poverty, we think of income disparities. Despite our understanding of poverty as an expression of a lack of income and wealth, poverty is also a descriptor of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, and or lacks the essentials for, a minimum standard of well-being and life. These essentials may be material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and shelter; they may be social resources such as access to information, education, health care, social status, political power, and/or the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society; and they may be needs and social relationships that include social exclusion and dependency and the extent to which one can participate in society. Poverty Statistics: Alabama.2006 . Alabama has a 16.6% poverty rate, the 10th highest rate in the nation. . The child poverty in the United States is double and triple that of most Western industrialized nations; the south has the highest child poverty rates in the entire country. In Alabama, 23% of children under the age of 18 are in poverty, the 9th highest nationwide. . Alabama has a 12.6% poverty rate for those over age 65, the 7th highest in the country. . Almost 13% of Alabama families live at or below the Poverty can be categorized in two very different ways: poverty level or $20,000 for a family of four. generational poverty and situational poverty. . Alabama poverty statistics are consistently worse . Generational poverty is defined as being in than the national average. poverty for two generations or longer. . Situational poverty is a shorter time and is . Almost half of all Americans will caused by circumstance (i.e. death, illness, have experienced poverty for a divorce, etc.) year or more at some point in their lives by the time they In her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Dr. reach age 60. Payne identifies four major causes of poverty: . Poverty disproportionately affects the most vulnerable . Behaviors of the Individual among us—children, the aged, Including dependence on welfare, crime, morality, minorities, those living with family break-ups, racism and discrimination, planning skills, work ethic, domestic violence, addictions, etc. disabilities, females.

. Human and Social Capital in the Community Important Links for Alabama Poverty Information: Including intellectual capital, social capital, availability of jobs and well paying jobs, adequate skills sets, city www.alabamapoverty.org and regional planning, childcare for working families, www.alarise.org declining neighborhoods, etc.

. Exploitation In 2007, Alabama House Speaker Seth Hammett Including drug trade, cash-advance lenders, sub-prime commissioned the Alabama House Poverty Task Force in lenders, lease-purchase outlets, gambling, temp work, an effort to begin exploring tangible solutions to sweatshops, sex trade, internet scams, etc. addressing and eradicating poverty in Alabama. In so . Political/Economic Structures doing, Speaker Hammett appointed Representative Including corporate influence on legislators, declining Patricia Todd as chair. Rep. Todd invites you to assist the middle class, de-industrialization, job loss, decline of Task Force by sharing your opinions and ideas at any of unions, taxation patterns and economic disparity. its meetings that are always open to the public.

--Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. For more information, contact Rep. Todd at 205.599.2856 A Framework for Understanding Poverty or at [email protected].

Sources of information relied upon for this information include: those cited and Wikipedia, the U.S. Census, American FactFinder, Alabama Poverty Project, the Alabama Hunger Coalition and Alabama Arise.

Representative Patricia Todd, Chair, Alabama House Task Force on Poverty Poverty Task Force Final Report ATTACHMENT D Testimony

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 10 Testimony: Jenny Oliphant on behalf of Betty Tucker

Good morning: Ladies, gentlemen and members of the Task Force. Once upon a time there was a family of six, Mama, Papa, 2 boys, and 2 girls. The House that Mama and Papa bought was adequate for all. The years passed kids grew up and moved away to have families of there own and Papa passed away. One daughter moved back in with Mama and the struggle began. We were faced with selling the home the family grew up in for 30 years. We wanted to stay in our home and had heard of reverse mortgages. Tuscaloosa Community Family Outreach Services provided counseling on reverse mortgages. This is how we met Barbara Smith, she led us every step of he way. Providing Mama with books and all the answers to the questions Mama had. She lessened the burden right away by arranging to have 2 over due power bills paid and a referral for food for the family. The whole process of applying and getting paperwork done was somewhat overwhelming but Barbara was there with her delightful personality and calming advice that facilitated the process in a timely manner. Barbara is the perfect person for the line of work she’s chosen. There are not enough positive adjectives to describe her. She was wonderful to be around in during a traumatic time. Tuscaloosa Community Services are very fortunate to have chosen her for this position. Thank you for giving our family the opportunity to speak today having an organization like the Tuscaloosa Community Services program can really make a difference in our area. This helps people like us to stay in our newly painted home, and allows Mama to relax and enjoy the rest of her long life without burden.

Thank you on behalf of Betty Tucker.

Testimony: Harry Olmstead

Good morning I’m Harry Olmstead and I’m living in poverty this came about as a result of my medial condition. As you can see I am an above the knee amputee, but I also have several hidden disabilities such as hypertension, diabetes, and narcolepsy. My greatest concern is transportation I live in subsidize housing in a rural area 15 minutes outside of Birmingham, Alabama. I have to pay $8 round trip Monday – Friday between 10:30 pm – 3:30 pm to get to medical services or other needs. I can’t afford to pay this and I miss out on many activities such as church, working, entertainment and shopping. The needs of disabled in poverty must also be addressed and considered as part of your stakeholders groups.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 11 Testimony: Athanasius Isaac

My name is Athanasius Isaac. I am a 37 year old single father of a 7 year old boy and an 11 year old girl who both live with me. My children are on the reduced lunch plan at school and are on the All Kids insurance program. Although on paper my home is descent, the real world often dictates a different condition. I was born into a military family and I have lived in Tuscaloosa, AL for 20 years. I am currently a Data Systems Administrator for CSRWAL. There I hose the data for the Head Start program in 6 counties and I track the services that our agency provides to families that are considered program eligible.

Prior to my current position, I was incarcerated for six months in the Tuscaloosa County Jail. I was held without bond for a probation violation while awaiting a court appearance. Now I am serving out a three-year sentence with the Department of Corrections and carry a felony conviction. While in the Tuscaloosa County Jail, I made several observations which were both grotesque and disturbing regarding the treatment of humans and the perpetuation of poverty.

Poverty is perpetuated through “ghetto mentality” and access denial, Poverty to most is a matter of income and income potential that may make one a good consumer; however, I am here to tell the task force that poverty in many ways is not a quantifiable particular, but a qualitative one. My experience has shown me that poverty is inadequate access to resources (material, culture, and social) and social exclusion (to some degree) because of this inadequacy.

This condition then in turn preludes the impoverished individuals from being accepted by general society. They are excluded and marginalized from particular activities which are considered the norm for all others in society. There are many ways to address the poverty issue, but before it can be tackled, poverty must be understood as a systemic particular. It is built into the system of economics and cultural transmission of education.

From the walls of the Tuscaloosa County Jail, for six months all that I heard was how to make money the “easy way”. I heard how sex, drugs, music, and sports were the hopes of the impoverished world. I was told stories about people having thousands of dollars in their possession, yet not one had a car or house of their own, nor did they pay any child support for their many children. As I began to ask how all of this could be, I unearthed a pattern among all of the hustlers and “big money makers”. They were of lower level education and they were never given access to opportunity and resources.

Now as for the education aspect, there is a long debate as to it’s systemic role but I will say from my experience, a free compulsory public education has cost me upwards of $1,000 or more per year for my two children. Also, I have seen the constant “dumbing down” of their curriculum as they pass from grade to grade. Many of my inmates who were of lower income communities spoke of not participating in the majority of activities like their classmates begins preparing them for social exclusion.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 12 It is systemic because it teaches children that the person who cannot afford to participate is excluded from the group. As this pattern continues throughout the school career the student who is excluded, he or she develops low self esteem and a rebellious attitude towards the educational system, which they carry with them into the prison industrial complex. With the ideas of neighborhood schools becoming more and more popular this only adds to the systemic reality. Malcolm X once said “If you grow up in a poor neighborhood, you will go to a poor school. If you go to a poor school, you will get a poor education.” With a poor education, you can only get a poor job, poor job means poor pay, and poor pay means you can only live in a poor neighborhood when means your kids will go to poor schools and so goes the cycle. If boards of education persist with neighbor school plans and also refuse to inform parents of rights under the “No Child Left Behind” act then the board consciously and systematically supports poverty and the duel binary.

With regard to economics, in a laissez-faire economy and capitalist society, profit is king. The profit notion is what has driven over 85% of the people that I was incarcerated with to commit crimes that have landed them in jail. The want for capital gain is encouraged and supported. I find myself struggling to make ends meet as I try to keep my children from being socially excluded. What is needed here is surgery or a tourniquet to stop the bleeding-not a band aid or pressure dressing. You as policy makers make the decision to either perform surgery or apply the band aid in every aspect of social life. Consumerism is the other aspect of the economic dilemma. Many of my former cellmates even while incarcerated continued to talk about what they were going to buy when they got out. Not one talked about what they were going to save, just what they were going to buy. This is blind consumerism. Without continued education on how to save and why one should save and be an educated consumer and how to invest, low educated or conditioned consumers, will only continue to fill the jails and prisons and they will never come out of the realm of social exclusion. As I have seen, not only are the low educated exploited systematically but the well educated are also taught (carefully taught) to exclude those who are less fortunate and who have a denial of access to opportunity and resources. For them, persistence and consistency in maintaining the status quo is the placing of low educated workers in positions of authority over inmates. By placing people of low education in the positions is reminiscent of accounts of slavery and poor whites as overseers.

By placing impoverished people in such positions they develop a mentality of being better although they realize that they are not economically (so much) this mentality becomes a metaphor that we live by and thus the impoverished go and will systematically keep down the inmate. The bottom line here is that whether they realized or not, poverty is systematically perpetuated by economics and education and until they are well meaning and understanding, individuals in power-brokering positions then this issue will never change. Thank you for the opportunity and please consider the systemic concern of poverty.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 13 Testimony: Jennifer Clarke, Vice President: ALAEH

As a proud member of the YWCA of Central Alabama’s staff and as the newly-elected Vice President of ALAEH, I am grateful for the opportunity to address the Poverty Task Force this morning and want you each to know that our organization considers this a privilege.

ALAEH is an acronym for the Alabama Alliance to End Homelessness; we are… . A statewide membership organization . Comprised of public and private individuals representing organizations who are involved in providing housing and support services for those individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Alabama. . We’re an organization largely focused on training and education for those providing housing and supportive services to those in homelessness, and we are . Growing in membership as we move into our 6th year of operation

ALAEH is largely a collective of the state’s continua of care. There are eight continuums throughout Alabama, seven regionally and one that covers the balance of the state not falling within one of the seven regions.

For those who may not be familiar with the continuum of care concept—it is philosophy for housing and service for those experiencing homelessness set forth by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Continuum’s typically include initiatives, supportive services and housing that work toward: . Homeless prevention . Provide crisis-based emergency shelter services including domestic violence settings . Transitional housing and supportive services that offer shelter and supports that stabilize lives, and . Permanent housing with supportive services. Many may recognize the term “housing first” and understand it as a way of moving folks directly into stable housing with the kind of supports they need to sustain their living situations.

ALAEH is a training and education-based organization that hosts an annual statewide conference for all social workers, case managers, shift workers, shelter staff, administrative personnel and housing specialists throughout Alabama who’s work somehow involves the lives of those in homelessness.

This past October, ALAEH worked collaboratively with SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) and the National Homeless Conference in providing trauma-based and clinically-centered training in addition to sessions on the Alabama Tenant Landlord Legislation and the Low Income Housing Coalition to name just a few.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 14 ALAEH is an organization whose membership is on the front lines of homelessness and, by virtue of this position, remains inextricably linked to the reality of poverty in this state.

A 2007 data report that the Governor’s Interagency Task Force on Homelessness is preparing to release reveals that:

. 5391 Alabamians are homeless on any given night in 2007 . 70% men, 30% women 34% white, 64% black . Roughly 20% of these individuals are in families with dependent children . Every night there are over 200 persons living with HIV/AIDS . amost 1000 veterans . 1500 severely mentally ill and . Over 400 victims of domestic violence who are all homeless. Every single night. . And every night there are over 1,600 Alabamians who are unsheltered, taking refuge in places not meant for human habitation like under our highway overpasses, by railroad tracks, in doorways and in cars. . Every night hundreds of parents and their children go home to these kinds of places . During 2005-2006 school year, almost 16,000 children in public schools experienced homelessness; the highest percentage of these were in kindergarten.

These numbers, this reality…is unacceptable. These individuals and families are impoverished and affect every single one of us whether we are aware of it or not.

Recognizing both the criticality of housing and that those who live in poverty are at greatest risk for losing their housing, ALAEH will endorse mechanisms that will work toward increasing the availability of safe, decent and affordable housing in Alabama.

Homelessness affects each one of us—both morally and economically. Homelessness disproportionately affects marginalized populations and those most vulnerable among us—our disabled, our elderly and our children.

. ALAEH is grateful for the work of this Poverty Task Force and its leadership. . We will always avail itself to any collaboration that works toward alleviating conditions of poverty and homelessness in Alabama. . And we look forward to endorsing creative legislative remedies and good public policy that empowers and emboldens the least among us.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 15 Testimony: Jim Williams, Executive Director Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 16 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 17 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 18 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 19 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 20 Testimony: Bobby Milligan

I am Bobby Milligan and I am 30 years old. I am from Fayette County. There are 4 members in my family. I’m here this morning to tell you about my son and the Head Start he goes to.

Brian is 4 years old. When he started at Fayette Head Start he couldn’t read or write. He didn’t know how to act with other kids even his baby brother. That was then …

The teachers and staff are teaching Brian how to read and write, but they are also teaching him more. They are teaching him how to be a good person.

I’ve seen him go from the little boy who didn’t want daddy to leave him to a boy who cried last week “I don’t want to be sick anymore, I want to go to school.” He even begs to go on weekends.

Head Start has given my son a start I never had. Because of it Brian is more outgoing. He has learned how to play and get along with other kids even his little brother. Brian has learned how to share with others and is trying to teach his brother what he is learning. Brian wants to learn about everything now and I thank all the Staff at Head Start for that. They have opened up a new world for him. He can go on fieldtrips to places I have never thought to take him. I came to their boat day and worked with Brian making a boat. I was also lucky enough to be able to help some of the other kids too.

Head Start doesn’t stop with just the kids they help the whole family. Ms. Beth the case manager noticed Brian was wearing some old worn sandals. We tried to get him to wear his boots but he wouldn’t. She went and got him some tennis shoes that light up. Now we have to fight to get him to take them off. She’s even gotten him a coat and winter outfits for winter. Ms. Beth knew how hard it has been for my wife and me being low income. My wife’s had back surgery and can’t go back to work. I make the only money coming into the house. I wasn’t sure how I was going to give my kids a Christmas. Ms. Beth stopped me one day and asked if she could help us. I know now that Brian and Tristan will be able to enjoy Christmas after all.

Brian and his brother were sick for 2 weeks. When my wife called to tell Ms. Beth we were looking for a new doctor and gave her his name she told us to tell them she sent us. This doctor hardly takes new patients but when we told them what she said, the doctor saw the kids the very next day. They have treated us as part of their family not just as Brian’s parents. I am so glad we have gotten to know them all. I couldn’t think of a better place for Brian to be.

I am lucky to have someone to bring me here to speak today but I would like for the Task Force to come to my town and see how people in low-income household actually live. Thank you for letting me speak to you today and I hope I can make a difference in someone’s life as Head Start has made in my families.

Thank you.

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 21 Testimony: Tanya Coleman

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 22 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 23 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 24 Testimony: Derrick Coleman

Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 25 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 26 Alabama House of Representatives Poverty Task Force Final Report February 2008 27