What if we could eliminate child poverty? Erase it completely, lifting hundreds of families up to better economic conditions and improving health and wellness outcomes for children in the process? What if all this could be done for only a fraction of the city budget?
It can. At least according to Julie Van Domelen, executive director of the Emergency Family Assistance Association.
There are just under 600 families with children living under the federal poverty line ($20,780 for a family of three) in Boulder, according to 2017 Census data. The average gap in income for these families and the poverty line is $9,000. So for $5.4 million, according to EFFA, which put out a white paper on the topic, Boulder could effectively end child poverty.
Van Domelen has seen the effects of giving families even an extra $1,500 a year to use for whatever they like — rent, groceries, paying back friends and family — through a program that is tied to kids’ care (going to the doctor or dentist, or early childhood developmental screenings).
She describes the effects of the program after two years: “Families were far less rent-burdened, they tended to have less debt to other family members. Food security increased tremendously. We saw all kinds of improvements in income and employment. It reduced a lot of stress in the home,” she said.
Boulder’s general fund in 2019 was more than $158 million. To tackle child poverty in the way Van Domelen describes would cost less than 3.5% of the city’s general fund — less than it spends on efforts to fight climate change.
“We forget how much money we have,” Van Domelen said. “Boulder is going to spend (6%) of our budget to meet our climate goals, and nothing that Boulder does is actually going to change the planet. All you’re saying is we’re going to do our part. We could also do our part to end child poverty in this community, because we can afford it, because it’s a good investment, because it’s sympathetic. It’s not a radical proposition. It’s the simplest, most obvious scenario.”
