alabama possible from the alabama poverty project

Birmingham News Editorial Board

October 4, 2007

THE ISSUE: A new bipartisan House task force on poverty will work on solutions, not identifying the problem.

The House Task Force on Poverty, created this year by Speaker Seth Hammett, comes as a result of the legendary dysfunction of the Alabama Legislature.

State Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, sponsored a joint resolution setting up a House-Senate task force to look into the causes of and cures for poverty in Alabama.

There’s no question it’s a real problem, with about 700,000 residents living in poverty. Todd’s resolution easily passed the House, but died in the Senate.

So instead of a House-Senate committee, it’s just a House task force now. Give credit to Hammett and Todd for refusing to put poverty on the back burner simply because the state Senate preferred to brawl (literally and figuratively) instead of take care of business.

Anybody who follows Alabama politics knows that setting up a task force on just about anything – tax reform, education, child welfare, tiddlywinks – is no great accomplishment. Often, these task forces meet, develop proposals, give them to the Legislature and are never heard from again.

Todd, the task force chairwoman, has pledged not to let that happen this time. Considering the task force’s makeup and mission, there does seem to be a great deal of common sense in this effort.

Two of the state’s major poverty organizations, Alabama Arise and the

Alabama Poverty Project, have seats on the committee. So do two Republican House members, ensuring bipartisan representation.

The task force’s main goal is to review the economic impact of poverty in Alabama and make policy recommendations to be considered by the Legislature in its 2008 session.

But there will be no expensive study paid for by taxpayers, or anybody else, Todd says. That’s why groups such as Alabama Arise and the Alabama Poverty Project are involved – they already have more data than the task force needs.

Todd wants to see action. For example, Alabama’s economy is smoking; the problem is the state’s good economic fortune isn’t getting to many of the people living in poverty. One thing that might help is aggressive recruitment efforts in work force development, Todd says, so people who live in low-income communities have real job options. The task force also plans to keep tabs on state or local laws that could hurt poor people, such as increases in taxes.

Of course, if the Senate can’t even pass a resolution setting up a poverty task force, what are the chances it’ll go along with bills to help break the cycle of poverty?

“All you can do is try,” Todd says. And, if you don’t succeed, try, try again.