DICKENSIAN? Poverty in Bay County Appears Something Like 1840s England

July 18, 2015
By: Dave Rogers

Remember Charles Dickens' play "Scrooge," in which the operative mentality of 1840s England was "are there no prisons, are there no workhouses?"

We in Bay County have not retrograded to Dickens' days, but there are places where you might think so.

Places where the homeless still hang out, some living in cars,

--where some of the poor have no source of income but selling their blood, and

--where most of their meals are courtesy of the Salvation Army.

To be sure, some qualify for Bridge Cards that get a poor person around $200 a month in food. That's $6.66 a day, by my calculations just enough for a Big Mac and a Coke that will barely keep them alive.

Beneath the surface is the astounding number of runaway and homeless youth 18 and under, by school district: Bangor, 18; Bay Arenac Community High school, 63; Bay City Academy, 24; Bay County Public School Academy, 14; Bay City Public, 98; Essexville-Hampton, 39; Pinconning, 49; Arenac Eastern, 11; Standish-Sterling, 44; and AuGres-Sims, 24.

These statistics come from the Bay-Arenac Behavioral Health Agency.

In the course of a social welfare/job training experiment over the past few weeks, for which I will make a report at Michigan State University this fall, this columnist's eyes have been opened about an underclass that is struggling just to stay alive.

This is a class that is costing society (read we taxpayers) dreadful amounts for our policies and failure to react to the needs of humanity. We have written here lately about the abysmal prison/industrial complex that seems to create a perpetual dependent class.

America seems to have no stomach for charity for this class of people, not realizing they are not failures totally of their own accord, we are complicit, let's say guilty, for our ignorance and blind obeisance to the P/IC (Prison/Industrial Complex). We bear the outrageous costs of our own failure to care for our fellow man, for our arrogance and what amounts to class warfare.

Let's not forget the failure to educate. The dropout rate, despite agonizing and machinations of the government and schools, has stayed steady at 25 percent for years. Why can't the state find a formula to help the unfortunate at least complete high school?

Society doesn't win by locking up the selected culprit cohort of the underclass (often for minor crimes or parole/probation violation) -- WE LOSE!

I recently have encountered startling cases involving many young men who have fathered several children and cannot get work to support them, although most seem to want to work and some are desperate to help their children and their mothers.

Plus, they often get in trouble with the law and go to jail or prison, causing a double whammy: society then must support the mother and children and also pay for incarceration of the father -- up to $40,000 a year in some cases.

Of course the women pay a heavy penalty for this failed system, too, as the YWCA found. If the father is in jail for failure to pay child support, that sometimes happens, there is no chance for any income plus the debtor then has a record that disqualifies him for employment in most cases.

The YWCA Advocacy Committee of the Great Lakes Region reported on poverty, mainly involving women and children, last year, noting:

"Michigan has experienced an increase poverty rates especially in relation to children.

"In addition, Governor Snyder has not made friends with many of his policies aimed at cutting public assistance programs and earned income tax credit for working families," stated the YWCA.

But, in 2013 Governor Snyder announced a statewide social entrepreneurship competition specific to Michigan. The competition aimed to "bring together the best innovative minds to design sustainable solutions to address unemployment."

A website offers information about how to register and submit your ideas for consideration. A great article by Rich Tafel for Forbes online provides a great description of the venture. Tafel states "This effort -- affectionately called the Michigan Model -- showed that it's possible to harness capitalism to address chronic social problems, thereby laying the groundwork for a model that transforms business and charity."

Tafel partnered with Elizabeth Garlow to write a short but inspiring article for the Stanford Social Innovation review titled "The Power of a Simple and Inclusive Definition."

Tafel suggests Michigan is innovative not just for creating this challenging but becoming the first state to introduce this model. Tafel states "Michigan faces difficult social challenges with its two largest cities. Flint and Detroit are ranked as the first and second most dangerous cities in the United States, respectively -- a result of myriad of social issues. This is the kind of place where the social entrepreneur movement needs to scale."

This idea was accompanied by much hoopla but so far no follow-up that we can discern. It appears state government really has no solid commitment to alleviating poverty -- and saving us all tax money.

The YWCA report continues: "Those under 18 years of age have long been most affected by poverty. According to the American Psychological Association, "psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and well being of children. Poverty impacts children within their home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities."

The APA identifies some of these negative effects as:

* Poorer children and teens are also at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, school dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and socio-emotional problems, physical health problems, and developmental delays.

* Chronic stress associated with living in poverty has been shown to adversely affect children's concentration and memory which may impact their ability to learn.

* The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2008, the dropout rate of students living in low-income families was about four and one-half times greater than the rate of children from higher-income families (8.7 percent versus 2.0 percent).

In summary, we as a society are carrying an unnecessarily costly burden. Conservatives scream about high taxes but manage to tax themselves, and everybody, at outrageous cost with thoughtless attitudes and policies toward the poor.

Certainly we can think our way out of this no win situation and create a better world for everyone.

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