Panel Paper:
Place-Based Policies to End Child Poverty: An Analysis of U.S. Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods Initiative
Saturday, April 8, 2017
:
10:55 AM
Founders Hall Room 476 (George Mason University Schar School of Policy)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
This paper explores how geography informs anti-poverty policies and programs geared towards children and families, particularly in recent years through the Obama Administration's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) which has adopted a place-based, child-focused approach. I analyze the geographically based theories of poverty as they intersect with historical structural conditions and how politically partisan beliefs on the causes of poverty have shaped anti-poverty policies. The United States Department of Education's (DoED) Promise Neighborhoods Initiative will be examined as one such place-based, child-focused program. I argue that the neighborhood context (geography) is essential to effective anti-poverty policies centered on children and families. I make recommendations for an anti-poverty strategy that is less partisan and more “place-conscious” than narrowly “place-based” to improve children's well-being and quality of life, preventing detrimental economic and social outcomes for the U.S.
