The information acquired by the Commission on Poverty during its relatively brief, twelve month life, has been summarized in earlier chapters. Extracted from the testimony of citizens, policymakers, and others intimately involved with the issue of poverty, the Commission has reported on many aspects of the problem as it exists in Kentucky, including the: number of poor, the geographic distribution of the poor, the problems experienced by different subgroups of poor, and the efforts of government and non-profit/private organizations to combat poverty. The Commission takes this opportunity to reflect on what it has learned and to describe its vision for Kentucky's future.

One of the earliest, and most significant lessons impressed upon the Commission was that the poor do not want to be poor. Although this statement seems patently obvious, much of the current rhetoric presumes that some people purposely plan to be poor and scheme to remain poor in order to receive public assistance and avoid the rigors of becoming economically independent. The Commission heard much testimony indicating otherwise. The comments of Anetha Lewis, a former public assistance recipient, reflected a sentiment common to all of the impoverished who spoke to the Commission. "We are not here to abuse the system. We're here to get off because it is abusing us."

Another lesson of particular importance, given its potential impact upon future policy, is that governmental antipoverty programs have improved the lives of many poor Americans over the years. Once again, the prevailing rhetoric presumes that the War on Poverty was a failure and that all current "welfare" programs have failed as well. As Danziger, Sandefur, and Weinberg (1994) explain, this analysis is simplistic because the person who created these programs did not foresee the profound social and economic changes that have occurred since the 1960s. Hence, the only reasonable conclusions about the effectiveness of the War on Poverty, and American social policy since that time, is that some programs have worked and some have not.

Furthermore, the simple characterization of the War on Poverty and all public assistance programs as failures ignores the good resulting from these programs. For example, our nation has been extremely successful in reducing poverty among the elderly over the last 30 years. Specifically, poverty rates for elderly Americans have declined since the 1960s. The national poverty rate for elderly citizens was 35 percent in 1959. In 1989 this rate had dropped to 12 percent. The expansion of Social Security and Medicare benefits accounts for most of this decline.

Another example of governmental program effectiveness involves Kentucky's success in assisting the poor on their quest for self-sufficiency. The General Assembly incorporated the ratable-reduction system into Kentucky's AFDC program in 1988. As explained in Chapter 6, this program's expenditures have been "under-budget" since 1992, and the average cash grant given to AFDC recipients under the ratable-reduction system has declined since July 1989. According to Rich Seckel of the Office of Kentucky Legal Services Program, this means that more AFDC recipients are working and making the transition to self-sufficiency. The bottom line is that Kentucky's AFDC program is having a positive impact on the lives of many poor citizens.

Finally, although it may seem like an elusive goal, the elimination of poverty in Kentucky, especially as a chronic condition for the individual, remains a possibility. Perhaps poverty reduction is a more realistic goal at the moment. Nevertheless, the Commission believes, despite all of the testimony and grim statistics about the poor in Kentucky, that its state possesses the ability to completely remove the scourge of poverty from its citizens. What is needed, however, is the will and the vision to accomplish the goal. Although the Commission on Poverty alone cannot forge a collective will among the citizens of the Commonwealth, hopefully its thoughts can serve as a motivating force for a unified, concerted assault on the problem.

The Commission on Poverty observed a world of work and industry that is changing day by day. Signs of the Industrial Society Information Age and Knowledge Society are ever present. The pressure to excel in the academic pursuits which are requisite to capturing and keeping a job in this high-tech age are enormous.

A problem encountered by the Commission is that many people are psychologically unable to move forward. They are unprepared to accept the new world or to compete in it. Consequently, they ignore reality, vainly trying to recapture the past and all its known quantities and shortcomings, or attempt to forge an alternative "reality" of how things should be.

The Commission recognizes that Kentucky has an obligation to bring everyone along on the road to progress. But at the same time, it urges the state's policymakers to remain mindful of the individual. The state's efforts must be directed toward leading-edge, information-age thinking, while exercising care not to exacerbate the adverse impact of the present era among those who lack the wherewithal to become a "knowledge worker." The Commonwealth's policies must have a human focus, and our state and community leaders must make a commitment to progress in improving the lives of all citizens.

Capital, capital formation, and economic development are buzzwords. Emerging realities have forced states and nations to forge a new consensus about the meaning of these terms for the 21st Century. As stated in Chapter 6, economic analyst Mark Memmot suggests that definitions of "wealth" and "capital" should be broadened to include human capital and social capital. These, along with natural capital (such as land, minerals, and other natural resources), financial capital, and produced assets (traditional "goods and services") create what is termed "wealth." According to Memmot, "Old ways of thinking about economies may lead to disaster. Resources need to be protected. People need to be invested in. And wealth isn’t measured by production alone."

With this new conceptualization of wealth and capital in mind, Memmot suggests that America rethink its priorities. He states:

A nation that ignores or fails to adequately protect and invest in any of those areas risks ruining the long-term health of its economy in favor of short-term gains. It won’t achieve sustainable growth ... (We must be committed to ) ‘giving future generations as many opportunities as, if not more than, we have had ourselves.’

Essentially, he advocates enhancing human capital through investments in education, training, nutrition, and health care. If such investment occurs, citizens "... can expect to earn good incomes most of their lives." With more responsibilities now settling on the shoulders of the state (as part of the block-grant phenomenon), the Commission on Poverty believes that redefining wealth and capital, and enhancing human capital through investments in education, training, nutrition, and health care is worthy advice for Kentucky.

The spirit of volunteerism is alive and well in America. In the Commission's view, Americans tend to doubt that government can solve problems on the national and state levels, although most believe that they can still solve their own problems on the community level (however they choose to define "community"). The Commission thinks it is reasonable to assume that many citizens (who comprise what Peter Drucker calls the "social sector") desire to become involved in community development. According to Drucker:

one thing is already clear. The knowledge society has to be a society of three sectors: a public sector of government, a private sector of business, and a social sector. And I submit that it is becoming increasingly clear that through the social sector a modern developed society can again create responsible and achieving citizenship, and can again give individuals -- especially knowledge workers -- a sphere in which they can make a difference in society and re-create community .... The social sector will increasingly be crucial to the performance, if not to the cohesion, of the knowledge society.

It is for this reason that the Commission on Poverty believes that a modified model of Oregon’s community empowerment/collaboration legislation is needed to strengthen Kentucky communities’ self-organized initiatives within a broad framework of agreed outcomes, standards, and flexible approaches to problem-solving in ways appropriate to each community. In order to create the broadest possible community ownership and synergy, these citizen- and consumer-driven collaboratives can serve as the local partner with the respective state agencies to help devise and oversee local efforts, coordinate and contract with local service providers and serve as conduits for public funding.

A number of models for this approach (all different, but all effective) already exist in Kentucky. Three of these (the Gateway area; Louisville-Jefferson County; Northern Kentucky; and Owensboro-Daviess County) were highlighted in the previous chapter. These initiatives represent the kind of self-defined, self-organizing initiatives that 1) overcome the problems of complexity, 2) engage the social and private sectors and create synergy, and 3) predict what the Commission, the General Assembly and the people of Kentucky want: successful outcomes and brighter futures for all our citizens.

While community collaboratives may seem at first to be somewhat loosely constructed, they, in fact, would carry the same safeguards on public resources presently found in more controlled, restrictive, and bureaucratic approaches. At the same time, these collaboratives would be much more dynamic and would invite everyone and every organization to "the community table" to bring what they can to help set and achieve community goals. This effort would result in the dynamic of ownership. This kind of ownership does not accrue when one party, political or otherwise, stands supreme while all others function as "junior partners" -- if indeed the concept of partnership could even be conceived in that way. People and organizations today respond to and flourish in an environment of empowerment, relationships, teamwork, and shared goals.

Various interests are working to create the next "paradigm" for the delivery of human services. In lieu of block grants and increased state discretion over virtually every human service program’s rules and design, there will indeed be a new day in addressing human needs in the Commonwealth. The Commission on Poverty suggests that it is not nearly as important who or what entities control or "deliver" human services as how the system is conceived, implemented, and directed. All of us are aware of the saying, "For every complex problem there is a simple solution which is logical, neat, plausible -- and wrong!" Does this Commonwealth want "solutions" that are neat, controlled, and like previous politically soothing approaches, ineffective? Or, does it want results? The Commission believes the public outcry is for effectiveness, broad citizen and institutional participation, and positive results for our people.

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 repercussions attendant to certain 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 businesses 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 underemployed 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.

The overwhelming complexity and durability of the poverty phenomenon demand the constant vigilance of citizens and policymakers. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for this problem to drift from the public agenda, only to return many years in the future. The Commission believes that Kentucky should avoid this imminent lapse of attention by continuing to grapple with poverty and its effects. Reconstituting the Commission on Poverty for the 1996-97 interim period would ensure that this formidable foe continues to receive the attention it requires -- at least in the immediate future. The new Commission would be responsible for promoting public awareness and motivating citizens and policymakers to begin a dialogue about poverty. Most importantly, it would also study the problem in greater detail and examine several areas left unexplored by the previous commission.