Let's End Childhood Poverty in MA!

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate Don Berwick recently announced that if he is elected as our next Governor, he will work to end childhood poverty in our state within the next ten years.

I know what you’re thinking. “That’s ridiculous. Poverty has always been around and always will be around.” The truth is, with a finite number of impoverished people in the world and adequate resources to help them, as a society, we could end poverty in the world if we choose to do so. For example, Concern Worldwide estimates that it would cost $30 billion to end world hunger. While that may seem like a lot of money, the $40 billion Americans spend annually on weight loss products alone would be more than enough to solve this seemingly insurmountable problem.

So there is no good reason why we can’t win the war on poverty and the best place to start is with children living in our own state. One in seven children in Massachusetts currently lives below the poverty line. That’s up from one in ten children in the year 2008. Of the 20,000 homeless individuals living in our state, a staggering 7,000 of them are children. Picture 6,448 of those children filling every seat in the bleachers at Fenway Park.

How is it that there are 7,000 homeless children in our state and no one is talking about it? One reason is that most of us who can afford to pay hundreds of dollars for Red Sox tickets or the latest Apple product also hang up the phone the moment we hear it is a charity asking for a small donation. In our modern, plugged-in world, it is perhaps easier than ever before to distract ourselves from thinking about our neighbors who lack the most basic of human needs: nutritious food, clean water, and a place to call home.

Let’s resist the easy path of a passive life and take the road less traveled by- deciding that there is something seriously wrong with thousands of children going to bed hungry every night in Massachusetts and working to end this problem. Let’s start by electing government leaders that are willing to put forth bold goals to reduce needless suffering. Join me in supporting Don Berwick’s campaign at www.berwickforgovernor.com

Note: For more on how technology actually makes us less connected in many ways, I highly recommend this excellent NYT column by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. The column was adapted from his 2013 Middlebury College commencement address.