Poverty is a multi-faceted problem, requiring a multi-dimensional solution. Education, jobs, public assistance, self worth, state goals and community involvement are factors involved in the issue, to name a few.

The Commission on Poverty has concluded that poverty can be overcome only by raising the level of awareness to the problem, and by making the impact upon the poor an item on the checklist applied to each and every state and local program or action.

A modern day war against poverty must include assaults on as many fronts as can be identified. There is no one solution to poverty, and even for the individual, a number of factors must fall into place to preclude economic deprivation.

Young people who are socially deprived must be given the opportunity to enter school at the same level of development as their more fortunate peers. Elementary school students must be instilled with a work ethic and an assumption and expectation of study or training beyond the secondary level. Middle school students must be afforded the opportunity to contract to qualify for admittance to a postsecondary program through adoption of a predetermined course of study. Secondary students must be exposed to the myriad of financial assistance available for postsecondary education, so that finances may never inadvertently be a barrier to further education. And students at all appropriate ages must be taught the responsibilities attendant to behavior which could thwart their development into self-reliant citizens.

Kentucky's economic development efforts must be redirected to give substantial weight to the recruitment and financing of local entrepreneurs and the establishment of indigenous business which, in many cases, is the only development feasible for rural, high poverty rate areas. Economic development policy should also address the plight of those individuals who are unemployed or under employed by encouraging their employment by firms receiving state and local tax subsidies. Employers in general must be educated in the advantages of providing employee benefits, particularly benefits which will remove barriers to employment for low income individuals.

The state's transitional, income maintenance programs must be adjusted to encourage and permit movement to self-reliance by removing disincentives to gaining or keeping a job. Public assistance recipients must be required to do their part by acquiring life skills and technical knowledge which will not only open doors to employment but also establish a standard of living which will encourage their children to strive "to be the best they can be."

Communities must take an active role in identifying and providing services to families and children which are appropriate to the immediate locale. And the state must do its part to empower communities with the framework and funds to fulfill their responsibilities.

State programs involving transportation facilities, tax policy, health policy, and a host of other issues however remotely appearing in their impact upon reducing poverty, must be viewed with that goal in mind. To paraphrase an earlier statement, poverty will only be overcome by heightening the awareness of the problem, and formulating solutions at every opportunity.