In Springfield, we have many legislators committed to ending poverty, and each year many bills are introduced to tackle it. Everyone has their heart in the right place. This year we finally got our heads in the right place when we created a commission to target the reduction of poverty.
Our failure to move this issue forward was due in part to the lack of a unified effort. That is why I sponsored House Bill 4369, to create the Commission on the Elimination of Poverty -- the first step towards the primary goal of a 50 percent reduction of poverty in Illinois by 2015. The commission will provide recommendations on how the state legislature can address access to safe and affordable housing, food and nutrition, affordable health care, quality education and training, and dependable transportation. The recently signed bill is the result of several statewide forums on poverty organized by the Mid-America Institute on Poverty at the Heartland Alliance.
In Illinois, it is estimated that 1.4 million people fall below the poverty line and 700,000 live in extreme poverty. While anyone can find themselves in such dire circumstances, some are at greater risk than others. For instance, senior women are 61 percent more likely to live in extreme poverty than senior men, and individuals without a high school diploma are three times more likely than those with a college degree. These are just a few of the findings contained in the Heartland Alliance's recent report "Realizing Human Rights in Illinois."
In a changing economy, it is difficult to define poverty in dollar amounts. Indeed, it is easier to do so by pointing out what an individual lacks.
The poor don't have healthcare. They can't afford dental work or visits to the eye doctor. They don't have healthy eating habits because all they can pay for is processed junk food. They don't have a college education, which means they can't get a job and make a decent wage.
And just as important, they are worried day and night about how to keep the lights on and pay the bills, and as a result don't have time to participate in our civic process. This contributes to a vicious cycle. Each year we fail to act, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
But this isn't about the inability to buy new cars, houses, or toys. Poverty affects the health and well-being of all our state residents. Poverty is danger. Poverty is crime. Poverty is hopelessness.
By setting the goal of 2015, we are declaring that poverty can be reduced. The Commission on the Elimination of Poverty will make sure it happens, providing delineated goals and specific timelines backed by individuals tasked with making sure we fulfill them.
Our parents and grandparents have worked their entire lives, yet our country has squandered every opportunity to build a strong and reliable health and social service infrastructure that can support a rapidly aging population. We don't have much time to figure this out, but if we work together and get serious, we can change our quality of life for the better.
Hubert Humphrey suggested that the moral test of government is how we treat those who are in the dawn of life (the children), shadows of life (the homeless and working poor), and the twilight of life (the seniors). We need to support the American patriots who get up every day and serve food, wash dishes, and clean houses for a minimum wage. Every day they keep at it so their children won't starve. They hear the promises we make, and it's time we start to work together to actually deliver on them.
Karen A. Yarbrough represents the 7th District (Broadview) in the Illinois House of Representatives.
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