Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America

Senate Finance Committee Fails to Move SCHIP Before July

This week, leaders in the U.S. Senate Finance Committee failed to come to an agreement that would move legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Without reauthorization, SCHIP will expire on September 30th, 2007.

Catholic Charities USA continues to urge the Senate and the House to move forward quickly in reauthorizing the program. We continue to call for significant improvements to the program, including simplifying the application processes, providing coverage for eligible but not enrolled children, and removing restrictions to legal immigrant children and pregnant women. In a joint letter from Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Health Association, and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic leaders urged the Senate Finance Committee to fully utilize the $50 billion provided for SCHIP reauthorization in the budget resolution, both to maintain coverage for children currently in SCHIP and allow states to enroll six million uninsured children who are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to move aggressively on SCHIP reauthorization after the July 4th recess.  On the House side, staff has indicated that the Energy and Commerce Committee will start discussions during the second week of July.  In July, please look for critical opportunities to take action as the Senate and House move forward on legislation.

Children's Health Still Matters!

Since the creation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Catholic Charities agencies across the country and Catholic Charities USA have worked aggressively to ensure that children would benefit from the program. During the Children’s Health Matters initiative, we assisted nearly 600,000 families in applying for Medicaid and SCHIP, held 8,500 community education events about the availability of insurance, and worked with state Medicaid agencies to simplify enrollment.

Our commitment to children’s health care remains strong today— we must press on towards the goal It’s time that all our nation’s children got the health coverage they need. Let your Senator know children’s health still matters

ACTION NEEDED the Senate Finance Committee is currently drafting legislation to change SCHIP. Ask your Senator to craft SCHIP policy that:

• Ensures the full $50 billon provided by the Budget Resolution will be available for program improvements
• Simplifies the SCHIP enrollment and application process for families
• Continues allowing states to insure children in families above 200 percent of poverty;
• Allows states to serve vulnerable populations, including immigrant children and pregnant women and youth aging out of foster care; and
• Fixes the citizenship documentation requirement

To see a list of Senators on the Finance Committee, click

BACKGROUND: SCHIP provides high quality, vital health coverage to 6 million children whose families would otherwise be unable to afford insurance.

For more information, please contact Desmond Brown, dbrown@catholiccharitiesusa.org, or Karen Wong, kwong@catholiccharitiesusa.org,

Reaching Children through the Parents, and Reaching Parents through the Children

Catholic Charities of St. Paul & Minneapolis offers many opportunities and supports for fathers through the Parenting Services program. The motto of our services is “Reaching Children through the Parents, and Reaching Parents through the Children.” Our philosophy is one of relationship. We partner with families to support them through life’s transitions. There are four primary components of our services for fathers

Young Men In Transition (YMIT) – Support for Teen Dads through groups, activities and individual mentorship. Most of the outreach and groups are conducted directly in the St Paul High Schools. The focus is to support the young dads as they engage with their children and continue their education.

Positive Alternatives – A state grant that promotes “positive alternatives to abortions.” We offer services to new and expecting fathers that include birth ed classes, support groups, law clinics and home visits.

Dads Connection – The target population is low-income, non-custodial fathers. These men are recognized as fathers and treated with the respect they deserve

Family Formation Project – A partnership with the University of Minnesota on their new research project. The goal is to partner Mentor Couples with young, unmarried couples who have a child together and could benefit from the involvement of role-models in their lives who have a positive view of marriage.

Learn more about Catholic Charities of St. Paul & Minneapolis

Post Submitted by Nate Rauschendorfer, MSW, LGSW

Through Counseling and Personal Development, Men Learn to Be Fathers

Supporting Low-Income Dads is Key to Reducing Long-term Poverty, says Catholic Charities USA

Many children in our country grow up not just in income poverty, but also in the poverty of absent fathers. With numerous studies showing how important fathers are to their child’s development and sense of self-worth, many local Catholic Charities nationwide are offering programs to help low-income fathers become and stay engaged in the lives of their children.

There’s no question that children are better off when both parents are involved in their lives, but this is too often not the case, as nearly 14 million children under age 15 live with a single mother. And sadly, millions of these children have fallen into poverty as a result,” said Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA. “By helping low-income dads, these local Catholic Charities programs are reducing many of the challenges that cause families to fall apart and children to fall into poverty.”

One example of a local program that strives to improve the economic stability of fathers and promote the positive involvement of fathers with their children is the Catholic Family Services’ Fatherhood Initiative in St. Louis. The program provides group counseling and education sessions to help fathers develop personally and socially so that they can positively affect the lives of their children.

The St. Louis program’s six-week intensive course, which meets for several hours daily, helps men learn how to engage with their children in positive ways and take on the responsibilities of fatherhood. The program also provides education on job search and interviewing skills, healthy behaviors and lifestyles, anger management, life skills, money management, substance abuse, parenting, and violence prevention. In addition, the men are able to get a physical exam and routine health care, an important support since many of the men have been using drugs and eating poorly for many years.

Father's Day is Sunday, June 17th

Building Strong Family Connections is vital to reducing poverty

If we truly want cut poverty in half by 2020, building strong family connections—especially through providing more support for low-income fathers—must be part of the solution. Our nation’s public policies and programs have often left fathers out of the resources that have been made available to children.
By supporting low-income men and fathers in a more comprehensive way, we can reduce many of the challenges that cause families to fall apart and children to fall into poverty.

This June, Catholic Charities USA will leverage Father’s Day to reignite a national dialogue in our country about the importance fathers play in helping their children grow up in safe and supportive families. Creating strong family connections is critical in ultimately reducing poverty.

Within the Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America and this framework, we will:

• advocate for more effective public policies and strategies to help low-income fathers become more active and engaged in the lives of their children.
• engage local Catholic Charities and the communities they serve in joining in this dialogue as well as help them create, share, or improve their existing programs that support dads and families.
• create more awareness in the wider community on the importance of this issue and what they can do to support fathers in reducing poverty.

Father's Day is coming soon- Write your Local Editors Today

This June, support the Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America by sending letters to the editors of your local newspapers about fatherhood and the importance of strengthening family connections.

Legislation may soon be introduced in Congress that would strengthen low-income families by eliminating government barriers to healthy relationships and strong family connections. This legislation would focus on improving economic stability and cooperative parenting skills among low-income parents. It will also provide incentives to non-custodial parents to fulfill financial and emotional support responsibilities, and increase opportunities for incarcerated parents to be reintegrated with their children and families

We need your help to spread the word!

ACTION NEEDED: Click on Take Action and enter your zip code to find contact information for your local media outlets and a sample letter to the editor to get you started. We strongly encourage you to personalize this letter to paint a picture of issues in your community and what you may be doing to help.

BACKGROUND: Improving public policies that strengthen the economic security families is a key issue area of Catholic Charities USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America.

For more tips on writing letters to the editor and working with the media, check out our advocacy manual, Taking Action, Catholic Charities USA’s Guide to Effective Advocacy.

Thank you - you efforts make a difference

Marriage increasingly reserved for the wealthy

A recent On Point program on WAMU 88.5 FM explored the growing gap in marriage rates between lower and upper income Americans.  It seems that while the total number of divorces in this country is on the decline, there is a disturbing increase in divorce among low-income couples.  At the same time, upper-income people are much more likely to marry than low-income people.  “We are now a country where a huge portion of the affluent marry, and a huge portion of the poor do not,” On Point host Tom Ashbrook said.  Ashbrook went on to point out that major trends like this aren’t easily or quickly reversed.  Go here to listen to the program:  http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/05/20070531_a_main.asp

To me the implications are both numerous and ominous:  children of divorced low-income parents are dramatically less likely to attend college, and unmarried households are at a much greater risk for economic peril as the result of a job loss, a health concern, a lack of affordable day care, etc.

My question then is this:  How do we develop programs in the public and private sectors that support low-income families, but at the same time do not punish low-income people who do not marry or who get divorced? 

One of the most heated debates over the last decade has been the move to promote public policy that “incentivizes” marriage at the expense of those who aren’t married.  Isn’t it possible to do one, without the other?  If implemented, I think that the recommendations to strengthen families and marriage in the Catholic Charities USA Policy Paper “Poverty in America:  A Threat to the Common Good,” would begin to accomplish this goal – without pitting the married against the unmarried and divorced.  Public policy that is just shouldn’t lift up one group at the expense of another.  A basic tenant of Catholic social teaching is the dignity and equality of all, without exceptions.  Read about Catholic Charities USA’s suggestions here:  http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/poverty/downloads/policy06.pdf

Post submitted by Brian Stevens, Manager Parish Social Ministry Training

Does Poverty influence your vote?

Zogby Poll: Majority Call Fighting Poverty a "Top Priority"

58% of voters more likely to vote for '08 candidate who sets goal of halving poverty within a decade

Poverty is on the minds of a majority of Americans as the 2008 presidential contest moves headlong toward a compressed primary calendar, new polling conducted by Zogby International ahead of a Democratic candidate forum shows.

The poll of 933 likely voters nationwide is being released in conjunction with a Monday forum on poverty at George Washington University, featuring expected appearances by top-tier Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.

The poll, conducted in conjunction with the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America and the Center for American Progress, found half of likely voters (58%) calling poverty either the single most important priority facing the nation’s leaders or a top priority for Congress and the President.

Poverty appears poised to be a major issue heading into the 2008 elections, with 55% saying they are very concerned about it, and 58% of likely voters saying they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who set a national goal of cutting poverty in half within a decade. Just 8% said they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. This issue had particular resonance with Democratic Party voters, where 40% of likely voters said they would be “much more likely” to vote for such a candidate.

Continue reading the survey here

Catholic Charities USA to Discuss Poverty with Presidential Hopefuls on CNN

When Catholic Charities USA launched its Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America, we said we would hold our elected officials accountable in ensuring that they give a much higher priority to the needs of the poor in their policymaking decisions.

Tonight before a nationwide audience, Catholic Charities USA has an enormous opportunity to hold several of the Democratic presidential candidates accountable and hear their strategies for attending to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable persons in society.

On CNN tonight at 7:00 pm EDT, Catholic Charities USA will be participating in the Presidential Forum on Faith, Values, and Poverty, featuring the three leading Democratic presidential contenders--Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator John Edwards, and Senator Barack Obama.

With Father Larry Snyder away in Rome for a Caritas meeting, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, will be representing Catholic Charities USA and the network as one of four faith leaders who will pose questions to the candidates.

Catholic Charities USA was invited to be on this panel by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (one of the event co-sponsors) who has endorsed our Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America.

Father Snyder will participate in a similar forum this fall with the Republican presidential candidates.

The forum is sponsored by CNN and Sojourners, and co-sponsored by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, the ONE Campaign, Oxfam, and Eastern University.