Famed American historian Henry Adams once said, “During a campaign, the air is full of speeches – and vice versa.” More than 100 years later, not much has changed.
Candidates love to make speeches about the state of Philadelphia’s children and youth, and how it would be so much better if they were in charge. In fact, we tend to hear the same refrain every election.
The sad truth is that this election is happening against the backdrop of 120,000 children living in poverty, and 60,000 of them are in families so poor that they live on less than $10,000 a year.
Tragically, Philadelphia is the poorest big city in America. Budget cuts to education threaten graduation rates and future success. Two-thirds of Philadelphia’s children do not have access to high-quality pre-K. Too many children will go hungry this summer and suffer without access to health care.
Our organizations have a long-standing and shared history – 35 years for Public Citizens for Children and Youth and 100 years for Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania – of advocating for our youth, yet we are still facing these critical issues today.
Living conditions for Philadelphia’s children can and must be improved, not with platitudes but with distinct policy solutions. These solutions include championing school funding, achieving universal pre-K access, establishing a higher minimum wage, expanding participation in childhood hunger-prevention programs, upgrading city health-care and recreation centers, and creating an Office of Children’s Services Integration.
To achieve these solutions, 29 diverse organizations from across the city have come together and released the Pledge for Philadelphia’s Children, which calls on candidates for mayor to commit to this specific set of goals to better the lives of the city’s children.
Every mayoral candidate except Milton Street has signed the pledge, committing his or her administration to an agenda that includes:
Directing sufficient city resources to ensure the operation of a high-quality school district and aligning city resources to support the School District’s success;
Giving every 3- and 4-year-old access to affordable pre-K by 2020;
Expanding school meal participation and free summer meals;
Increasing the share of our poorest children who can affordably access our great museums and sports teams;
Directing every city agency to submit a four-year “children’s strategy” to improve child outcomes;
Guaranteeing that all children and their parents have access to the health care they need and investing in the training needed to ensure that every health-care and child-welfare provider is prepared to meet the needs of youths and families who have suffered from trauma; and
Establishing a minimum wage consistent with other big cities, with reasonable incremental increases, and using city resources to guarantee that every young person has worked in at least one job before he or she graduates from high school in order to be prepared for success in the workforce.
The pledge does not end with candidate signatures; that is where it begins. Now that it has been signed, the organizations behind the pledge are readying themselves to make sure words are turned into actions.
If life is to improve for the city’s children and not take a path like the unfortunate recent incidents in Baltimore, Philadelphians must hold their leaders accountable. They will have taken not just an oath of office, but an oath to accomplish the policy solutions needed to create a better Philadelphia for the city’s youngest. On that, they will be judged.
This year, candidates’ promises will hold weight. We will make sure of that
Donna Cooper is executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth. donnac@childrenfirstpa.org
Marcus Allen is CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania. mallen@bbbssepa.org
The Philadelphia Inquirer – May 12, 2015 – Read article online