More children are living below the poverty line in America today than when the war on poverty began almost fifty years ago. Despite consistent efforts by the government, nonprofit organizations, and the people themselves, poverty rates in 2012 are very similar to the early 1960s. Social security and Medicaid have reduced the number of seniors living in poverty, but the plight of children has worsened. Several factors have contributed to this problem. As measured by inflation adjusted dollars, wages of low-skill jobs have declined. The number of families headed by unmarried mothers has risen, and large numbers of immigrants with little education have entered the U.S. The combination of these factors have resulted in approximately 20% of our country’s children living in poverty, which is 50% higher than 1969.
Historically, the foundational basis for lifting the disenfranchised out of poverty is education. One of the first steps of the civil rights movement was a grassroots movement educating the poor and disenfranchised to a level of literacy that would enable them to register to vote. This strategy was led by Stephen Currier and his wife, Audrey Bruce, the granddaughter of Andrew Mellon, during the early 1960s. Their Taconic Foundation brought the leading civil rights groups together with other foundations including the Stern, Rockefeller, and Norman foundations. The funding to civil rights advocacy associations was matched with volunteers throughout the South who tutored prospective voters in literacy and then sent them back to their own communities to teach others.
The Currier’s Taconic Foundation also funded a program in Harlem that had been developed at New York University. The goal was teaching disadvantaged children concepts and skills needed for school, while developing motivation and self-confidence. It was possibly the first project to focus on