Replace Poverty with Hope

Poverty Can Be Beaten

Not all at once. And poverty will always be with us, but there is a way out if we can offer hope.  Access to good schools, healthcare, electricity and safe water are among some of the basics needed to help people move out of poverty.

"People who believe in their futures are more likely to invest in those futures (for instance going back to school to get a job credential or following good preventive health practices) and to have better outcomes. The hope channel is particularly important for individuals with less means, for whom making such investments requires greater trade-offs. If they do not believe these investments will pay off, then they are much less likely to make them." Carol Graham - The Loss of Hope in Low Income America

The absence of hope defines true poverty

How Many?

Nearly 1/2 of the world's population — more than 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.

45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below Poverty Line: Census. 

Despite five years of economic recovery, poverty is still stubbornly high in America. More than 45 million people, or 14.5 percent of all Americans, lived below the poverty line last year, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.Sep 16, 2014

Declining Numbers

The numbers in the United States declined in 2015 and 2016 as the economy grew. According to the US Census Bureau:

• The official poverty rate in 2016 was 12.7 percent, down 0.8 percentage points from 13.5 percent in 2015. This is the second consecutive annual decline in poverty. 

• Since 2014, the poverty rate has fallen 2.1 percentage points from 14.8 percent to 12.7 percent. 

• In 2016 there were 40.6 million people in poverty, 2.5 million fewer than in 2015 and 6.0 million fewer than in 2014. 

• The poverty rate in 2016 (12.7 percent) was not significantly higher than the poverty rate in 2007 (12.5 percent), the year before the most recent recession. 

These are just numbers. They suggest that if we throw money at the problem all will be well. Poverty is a lot more than a lack of income. True poverty is the absence of hope. It is despair and misery because there seems to be no way out.

The Loss of Hope in Low-Income America

Carol Graham is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Professor at the University of Maryland. She recently wrote a book, “Happiness for All? Unequal Hopes and Lives in Pursuit of the American Dream,” published by Princeton University Press.


Her research uncovered a growing number of poor whites living in true poverty. Her work shows that poor whites have very little hope for the future on one hand, and high levels of stress, worry, and anger on the other. The lack of hope is manifesting itself in increasing isolation and poor health and preventable deaths (such as suicide, opioid overdose, and alcohol poisoning). It is because the American Dream no longer seems attainable. Growing income inequality is a root cause.

The World Bank's View

According to the World Bank, moving out of poverty means, "access to good schools, healthcare, electricity, safe water and other critical services remains elusive for many people, often determined by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and geography. Moreover, for those who have been able to move out of poverty, progress is often temporary: economic shocks, food insecurity and climate change threaten to rob them of their hard-won gains and force them back into poverty. "

The Cost

The cost of child poverty: $500 billion a year in the U.S. 

The United States has the second-highest child poverty rate among the world's richest 35 nations, and the cost in economic and educational outcomes is half a trillion dollars a year, according to a new report by the Educational Testing Service. Jul 25, 2013

About 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, a measurement that has been shown to underestimate the needs of families. Research shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. (National Center for Children in Poverty)

Is It A Big Deal?

Yes! According to Global Issues, "Poverty is the state for the majority of the world's people and nations. ... Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed. Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices."

Return the hope for a better future and people will work themselves out of despair. The beginning of new hope comes from listening to those who are living it.  From there... positive messages and increasing inclusiveness...not division.

Rents Are Up...Income Is Not

Household Income Not Keeping Pace

Pew Research and APM's Marketplace are reporting that household income is not keeping pace with increases in rent. According to Pew, after the recession of 2007 - 2009 fewer people were able to transition from rentals to home ownership. Add to that the influx of millennials into the workforce increasing the demand for rentals, and the supply of rentals is down while demand is up.

The Rent Is Too Damn High

Millennials are taking a double whammy. Home prices stagnated and fell during the recession and its aftermath have rebounded to the higher prices seen during the bubble of 2007. Millenials are priced out of the market. Millennials aren't the only demographic facing the financial pinch.

American Families Face a Growing Rent Burden

17 million are rent burdened and the numbers keep going up. Rent Burdened is defined by HUD as cost-burdened families. Those “who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing” and “may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.” Severe rent burden is defined as paying more than 50 percent of one's income on rent.

The Pew study finds 38 percent of all renter households are burdened. Severely rent burdened households—spending 50 percent or more of monthly income on rent—increased by 42 percent. It is now 17% of all renters.


The chart below demonstrates that the problem has been getting worse since 2001.

Less Disposable Income

Households that are rent burdened have fewer dollars to spend. They often make choices between healthcare, food and education. 
According to Pew's findings:
Rent-burdened families are also financially insecure in many other ways:

• Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) had less than $400 cash in the bank; most (84 percent) of such households are African-American-headed.
• Half had less than $10 in savings across various liquid accounts, while half of homeowners had more than $7,000.

The growing disparity is leading to a growing underclass that is on the outside looking in with little hope of reversing their situation.  Our economy is stronger when our citizens are able to participate as individuals and as consumers. Keeping large portions of the population on the outside will only further divide us. 

And there's a growing cost of poverty. The cost of child poverty: $500 billion a year. The United States has the second-highest child poverty rate among the world's richest 35 nations, and the cost in economic and educational outcomes is half a trillion dollars a year, according to a new report by the Educational Testing Service.

We were told to pursue our dreams. Reality may alter that. Be Ready!

Is Your Diploma Worth the Paper It's Printed On?

Youthful Rebellion

Bob Dylan once wrote, "20 years of Schooling and they put you on the day-shift." It was a smack at a system that was trying to assign all of us a number. Remember, Don't fold, spindle or mutilate? That was a counter culture rebellion against making all of us a data point. Both had underlying motivations in the desire to be valued as an individual. The Graduate was told his future was in plastics, and we snickered.

50 years later the data points have won. The best we can do is prepare for the future.

Gigging Millennials

Millennials are facing the brunt of a sea change in how we find work.  The Gig Economy is taking over. Estimates are that 34% of the workforce participates in the gig economy. Intuit is estimating that within two years that in two years 43% will be in the gig economy. Work in the gig economy is temporary, with the best gigs going to people with the right skills. The best jobs are in IT and computers. 

Education is how workers get the skills, but the model used by boomers, go to school, learn to think, get a degree and get a job isn't really working anymore. The required skill sets are much more specific. 

With that in mind here are some of the weakest majors for today's job market.

A posting from from CollegeGrad.Com ranks the Top Ten Worst majors for Jobs. You'll see a lot of majors that were popular through the 90's. It is not surprising that Liberal Arts tops this list. With liberal arts colleges charging as much as $70,000 per year for a full ride, you might have to question, "Is this really worth it?" It sure seemed that way when I went to school.

1. Liberal Arts/Liberal Studies
2. English
3. Humanities
4. Journalism
5. Art
6. Music
7. Theater Arts
8. Marketing
9. Public Relations
10. Management

The Only Constant is Change

Change is coming at us faster than any of could have imagined in the 60's and 70's. We're all struggling to keep up, and that includes educational institutions. According to the authors the book Careermegeddon - Cracking the 21st Century Career Code, Marcia LaReau and Neil Patrick assert events are conspiring to make good scarce and hard to retain. They cite six engines of change:

1. Globalization and offshoring
2. Technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics
3. Disruptive business models
4. Education and the speed of  institutional change
5. Demographics and the aging population
6. Fiscal policy

With job requirements changing so rapidly, and job skills becoming obsolete within five years, keeping current is the only hope for employment that provides a sustainable lifestyle. That coupled with the trend toward more contract workers makes the work environment a lot less stable. This book is a place to start working on your career plans.

Advancement and Education

Getting the right training and keeping skills current are essential, but are educational institutions able to keep up with the rapid change? When I went to college, we were supposed to follow our dreams. I was encouraged to pursue a career in a field that most closely matched my gifts and my dreams. It would all work out, and for 31 years it did. That is, until the great recession. Changes in how people consume media and age have conspired to force me to re-purpose myself, and I'm not alone.

Millennials and Uncertainty

Could it be as simple as a STEM education? It all depends on the direction. According to the National Science Foundation STEM careers in computing are going unfilled right now with many more jobs than qualified applicants. The same is not true for careers in engineering, physical sciences and mathematics. There are exceptions in engineering. Jobs that deal with extracting mineral wealth from the earth pay well with low unemployment rates. It's a highly skilled position with a limited number of openings.

The gig economy has highs and lows matched with uncertainty. It's an uneven ride. We all need to be prepared.

Music Makes Your Tasks Easier

You Probably Already Knew That

This blog isn't about what you and I might think our listeners ought to be hearing. It is about how a portion of our listeners spend their time listening to the music.  I've been through this discussion many times, but in order to serve your audience, you must have your audience in mind. You are here to serve the audience. There is no service of nobody is listening.

Core Values of Music

If you were part of the discovery of the Core Values Project, you might remember the revelation that the classical core used music as a way to help them concentrate on work and other tasks. Classical music has intensive and ambient qualities depending on what the listener brings to the music.

There's plenty of research to support that assumption.

The research was done by the Public Radio Program Directors Association. If you look at Qualities of the Heart and Spirit notice the top two qualities.

• Internal State (peaceful, soothing, relaxing)
• Inspired by Beauty and Majesty (of the music)

Head Clearing Experience

The Station Research Group published listener comments from the focus groups. Among them:

(3. CLASSICAL MUSIC CLEARS THE MIND AND HELPS LISTENERS FOCUS ON THEIR TASK)

• Classical music does alter your brain waves. 
• Has anybody else seen that? it has a physical reaction 
• …Lowers your blood pressure. 
• Yes, you can concentrate better. 
• ...Or whether it’s writing a poem and you just need the feeling. So then you want to listen to feeling. 
• It seems to be enjoyable yet you can achieve what you want to. 
• It just seems to help clear the way and make it easier. 
• It gives me something to focus on; it brings order into chaos. 
• If you listen to Bach, it just orders your mind. For some reason, if I have to do a lot of paperwork I love classical music
• I've heard they’ve done studies like Mozart stimulates your intellect or something.

Music Helps You Concentrate

Chad Grills, CEO of the Mission and publisher of the podcast The Story, wrote and article about 

The Science Backed Ways Music Affects Your Brain and Productivity

Among his findings:

• Music with lyrics works better with mundane tasks.
• Ambient music works better with more challenging tasks.
• Music can help relieve negative emotions like stress, anxiety and depression. 
• It can even decrease instances of confusion and delirium in elderly medical patients recovering from surgery.
• For the most part, research suggests that listening to music can improve your efficiency, creativity and happiness in terms of work-related tasks.

There are even some lines in the article you might want to borrow for your next fund raiser. The benefits of music could be applied to any format and platform.