Oct 17
We have the oldest slate of presidential candidates in history, but this has not led to policy proposals or policy discussion of the needed responses to our aging society. This is somewhat surprising given the political centrality of Florida in this upcoming election. The agenda and need for a national aging policy could not be more compelling, but we have experienced radio silence in this campaign. Read more
Fifteen years ago I was told by a program officer at a major national foundation that I should never say the word “poverty” in meetings at her foundation. She lectured me that her board and the leadership were tired of hearing about poverty, that there was nothing that really could be done, and talking about poverty was so yesterday. She was anxious to hear about social entrepreneurship, innovation, and anything else that would be new and fresh and exciting, but not poverty.
In these fifteen years, with poverty largely out of the public vocabulary and public policy discussion, we have not made long term progress, including reducing child poverty. Despite the relatively good news this week in the 2015 Current Population Survey data, 1 in 5 children still live in poverty. Roughly 1 in every 2 children live in households with incomes less than two times the poverty level. The number of children who live in deep poverty – with household incomes below half the poverty level – is over 6 million. Read more
Social Policy is the home for progressive and provocative ideas, analysis, and commentary on social policy issues.
This blog is written by Edward F. Lawlor, the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Eddie Lawlor is the former dean of the Brown School at Washington University, former dean at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, and the founding editor of the Public Policy and Aging Report. He is the author of Redesigning the Medicare Contract: Politics, Agency, and Markets, as well as numerous articles in health policy, social services, and aging.
This year Professor Lawlor is on sabbatical from Washington University and serving as an Executive in Residence at the United Way of Greater St. Louis. He is working on a book on human service reform.
He has a long record of policy analysis, commentary, and public service.
Washington University Faculty Bio
This blog is devoted to the reform of human services, public health, education, and community development.
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