Susan Collins
States, local governments and tribes would have more flexibility to invest in families living in poverty under bipartisan legislation reintroduced by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Friday.
The Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act would foster collaboration among existing systems and funding streams to establish partnerships that ensure economic stability, educational success, social capital, and health and well-being for families living in poverty.
“Just as a child’s ZIP code should not determine his or her future success, neither should bureaucratic inflexibility make it so difficult for families to get the help they need to escape intergenerational poverty,” Collins said.
“It has been more than 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson declared a ‘War on Poverty.’ Despite our good intentions and having spent trillions of dollars, we have made very limited progress in lifting families out of poverty,” she said.
In Maine, for example, the poverty rate stands at 13.4 percent, just under the national rate.
The bill would allow federal, state and local authorities to use existing federal resources to test innovative programs that help lift parents and children out of poverty.
Additionally, home visiting programs that offer information on education, workforce training and employment opportunities would be expanded. Low-income students with young children would also have access to career services and childhood development programs through their schools.
“Our bill proposes a new approach to fighting poverty, one that focuses on addressing the needs of children and their parents together – two-generations – in order to help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty,” Collins said.
The measure also outlines a pilot program in which private investors would lend money to two-generation service providers that would then be expected to meet measurable goals by a given date. Then, if those goals are reached, the federal government would repay the initial investment.
Collins reintroduced the bill with U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM).