Poverty Task Force outlines concrete steps to tackle economic inequity

This article originally appeared in The Alpena News on March 3, 2021.

As an organization that has been working to promote economic security in Michigan since 1912, we know how pervasive and persistent poverty is. We also know that our work is most important in times of crisis.

Our organization’s role and goals really crystallized in the 1930s in response to the Great Depression and the increased needs of our fellow Michiganders. Nearly a century later, the League’s work was also vital during the Great Recession, using research and analysis to identify the state and federal policies at the root of our economic struggles, and the ones that could help get our workforce, economy and state budget back on track. 

And as it has been for us all, personally and professionally, the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic crisis have become another critical inflection point for our organization and the people we serve. With a public health crisis at hand, the increased strain on our government safety net programs, and COVID-19 exposing long-standing inequities for people of color and residents with lower incomes, our work has felt more important than ever.

But luckily for the Michigan League for Public Policy and the struggling residents we represent every day, we are not alone in the fight against poverty. And we have a particularly strong ally who happens to be our top leader during these harrowing times: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. 

No other governor has made combating poverty a top priority, but Gov. Whitmer has since she first took office, from her annual budgets to the positive, proactive changes made by the Department of Health and Human Services and other departments to make services more accessible for residents.

And most recently, the governor created the Michigan Poverty Task Force, which released its findings and policy recommendations last month. The breadth and depth of the Task Force’s policy recommendations show how poverty is impacted by nearly every area of public policy, but it also shows how many tools are at policymakers’ disposal to improve residents’ economic standing. And there is a commitment to ensure that all departments work in concert to advance these policies and system changes.

These recommendations include some of the League’s longstanding policy recommendations, including restoring the state Earned Income Tax Credit, strengthening safety net programs, improving child care access and affordability, and more. But the recommendations also include new and innovative ideas like establishing a new program to help residents pay their water bills, eliminating the ‘reduced-price’ fee for school meals, and working to eliminate the digital divide and widen broadband and device access. The Task Force’s full report and policy recommendations can be found here.

Poverty is, unfortunately, an issue for families in every part of the state, even more so right now.  While the COVID-19 crisis and its various effects on our lives caught us all off guard, it is unacceptable to let our coworkers, neighbors, friends and family members struggle to make ends meet. And we all need to work together to help them get through this crisis–and the many other challenges that lie ahead.

As a data-driven policy advocacy organization, we know that public policies almost always are moving the needle on poverty one way or the other. The Michigan Poverty Task Force has outlined some plausible, immediate solutions, and I hope there will be bipartisan and universal support for these recommendations to better support our struggling residents around the state.