A Poverty Of Understanding

Nancy Cauthen
September 30, 2005

Dr. Nancy Cauthen is deputy director of the National Center for Children in Poverty, the nation’s leading public policy center dedicated to promoting the health, economic security, and well-being of America’s most vulnerable children and families. NCCP is a non-partisan, public interest organization that creates knowledge to find solutions at the state and national levels. For more information, visit: www.nccp.org.

In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina—and the contribution of various governments to the catastrophe—we suddenly have national leaders talking about poverty. Not surprisingly, they’re simply talking past one another.

For starters, they can’t agree on the nature and depth of poverty in the United States. Using the federal government’s official poverty measure—which is about $16,000 annually for a family of three and $19,000 for a family of four—17 percent of the nation’s children are living in poor families. That’s 12 million children, and the number is increasing.