Bootstraps and Benefits

Ideology, more often than not, drives policy. Denise Rhoades, a fervent conservative and Circles enthusiast, approached me after hearing my panel remarks at the fall 2015 Midwestern Governors Association conference on poverty and commented, “You are a progressive with a conservative accent.” Bemused, I asked her what she meant. She said that my focus on economic development, job creation, qualifying people for the workforce, and changing the accountability of the system are topics on which both progressives and conservatives can agree.  

Denise and I continued our conversation, and she suggested we write a book together, which we did, titled Bootstraps and Benefits: What the Right and Left Understand about Poverty and How We Can Work Together for Lasting Solutions. In the book, we describe ideological assumptions of those who believe in creating more benefit programs and those who believe in offering bootstrap incentives. Generalizing about benefit programs and a “bootstrap” approach is fraught with opportunities for misunderstanding and fault finding. Yet, for those who would appreciate more explanation of what we mean by Bootstraps and Benefits, here are a few broad stroke generalizations: 

Our book appreciates both perspectives, while keeping a focus on reducing the poverty rate by 10% and on supporting families to achieve 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL). The FPL for a family of four is roughly $25,000, so we aim for a family of this size to earn twice that income or roughly $50,000 annually. 

Focusing on clear goals is a unifying way to address the differences between conservative and liberal political ideologies. It isn’t necessary to agree or compromise on key values when we are disciplined in working together to achieve mutual goals. We can avoid arguing about hot topics by viewing them as distractions that prevent us from supporting people out of poverty. 

Regarding legislation, administrations will always support policies consistent with their political party’s viewpoints. Thus, our work must align with both right and left policy opportunities that show efficacy in reducing poverty rates. Furthermore, evidence shows that poverty rates go down when the economy is producing more and better jobs. Therefore, transformational leaders should become interested in economic development planning to align poverty reduction efforts with the emerging economy. 

The Poverty Solution equips employers with tools and technical assistance to become Preferred Employers within a poverty alleviation system. Through targeted training and coaching, employers learn strategies to recruit, retain, and advance employees who come from backgrounds of poverty. As the demand for qualified labor remains a challenge nationwide, building the "poverty IQ" of human resource teams in the private sector is essential for fostering a strong, healthy community economy. This is something that both the right and left can embrace together.  

In the next blog we look at the power of the culture of poverty management system and what leaders must do to build a new world.  

-Scott C. Miller 

Founder, The Poverty Solution