JACKSON — Congress has begun paying more attention to counties whose poverty rates persist at 20% or more over a 30-year period. Forty-three of Mississippi’s 82 counties rate among these “persistent poverty counties,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
The 2022 report said up to 15.9% of the nation’s 3,143 counties suffer persistent poverty. But Mississippi’s ratio was triple that at 52.4%.
What is Mississippi’s strategy to address persistent poverty in these counties?
Well, there is a statewide goal, often expressed as “moving people from poverty to prosperity.” Of course, a glib goal is neither a strategy nor a plan.
The concept that Mississippi leaders appear to have embraced is that putting people to work will eradicate poverty. So, the state has invested heavily in basic skills and workforce training to prepare poor people with few skills for jobs.
The State Workforce Investment Board, called the SWIB, controls state and federal dollars to fund these programs. Federal dollars go into programs for “out-of-school youth” and adult “dislocated workers” coordinated through regional Workforce Investment Boards and planning and development districts. State dollars mostly go into community college training programs but also into targeted training programs run by other organizations.
However, training programs are not available in all areas, so daily transportation is a problem for many. Lack of money to pay fees is another.
The federally funded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program managed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services also has a role in placing poor people into jobs.
However, we have seen TANF money corruptly siphoned off and used for other purposes. And in many years, the state somehow was unable to use all its TANF funds despite thousands of unaccepted applications.
Despite all the training that is available, the lack of available jobs in rural, persistently poor counties makes it tough to put people to work in their home areas.
Then there is the hole in the whole — the great big hole in the whole scheme. In Mississippi, putting people to work often does not alleviate poverty. With the lowest average wages in the nation, Mississippi has many hard-working people who earn so little they remain in poverty.
Indeed, many poor people find themselves worse off when they take low-wage jobs. Costs for child care and traveling eat up limited income. Rent subsidies and charitable care in emergency rooms disappear. When they get behind on bills, their meager pay can be garnished.
Tough, say the politicians who determine state policies. Taxpayers shouldn’t bear their burdens. Cut back on federally funded subsidies, tighten up access, and make ’em go to work.
Alternatively, places committed to working with poor families have plugged the hole. Using well-coordinated federal, state and local resources sustained over time, they step many families out of poverty.
In Mississippi the mechanisms are in place but not the sustained commitment and coordination. Instead we sustain our persistent poverty, low wages, world-leading incarceration rate and nation-lowest workforce participation rate.
But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself. — Romans 2:5
- Bill Crawford is a Republican former state lawmaker from Jackson.
