Millions of people in the United States—roughly one-in-seven adults and one-in-five children—live in poverty. Childhood poverty often means growing up without the advantages of a stable home, high-quality schools, or consistent nutrition. Adults in poverty are often burdened with inadequate skills and education, leading to limited wages and job opportunities.
On June 19–20, The Hamilton Project at Brookings brought together leading scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and business and labor leaders for a two-day summit to discuss a range of policy approaches for combating poverty in the United States.
The Hamilton Project released 14 new policy proposals, written by academic experts, offering pragmatic, evidence-based strategies for combating poverty. They include proposals to promote early childhood development, support disadvantaged youth, build skills for American workers, and improve safety net and work support.
Day One: Thursday, June 19, 2014
Day one of Addressing America’s Poverty Crisis focused on new approaches to building skills, through both a CEO-level conversation on the demand for high-skill training and apprenticeship programs, and a roundtable of scholars and practitioners discussing the three new workforce training proposals. The agenda for day one also included a roundtable to discuss the three new proposals for supporting disadvantaged youth, and a roundtable to discuss the three new proposals to promote early childhood development.
Day Two: Friday, June 20, 2014
Day two of Addressing America’s Poverty Crisis focused on new policies to improve the safety net and work support, including a roundtable to discuss new proposals for a refundable child-care credit, an expansion to the Earned Income Tax Credit, and opportunities to harness innovative capacities to improve the administration of social services. The agenda for day two will also include a roundtable that will focus on opportunities to strengthen minimum wage and work-share policies to benefit low-wage workers.
Agenda
Day 1
8:15 a.m. Registration Opens
A light breakfast served.
9:15 a.m. Welcoming Remarks
Robert E. Rubin
Co-Chair, Council on Foreign Relations
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary
9:25 a.m. Framing Remarks
Melissa S. Kearney
Director, The Hamilton Project
9:35 a.m. Roundtable: View from the Private Sector on High-Skill Training and Apprenticeship
Discussant: Mike Petters
President and CEO, Huntington Ingalls Industries
@HIIndustries
Discussant: Klaus Kleinfeld
Chairman and CEO, Alcoa
@Alcoa
Facilitator: Sudeep Reddy
Economics Editor, Wall Street Journal
@Reddy
10:30 a.m. Roundtable: New Approaches to Building Skills
Author: Harry Holzer
Professor of Public Policy, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
@GUPublicPolicy
Author: Robert Lerman
Professor, Department of Economics, American University
@AmericanU
Author: Sheena McConnell
Vice President and Director, Human Services Research, Mathematica Policy Research
@MathPolResearch
Discussant: Rhandi Berth
Vice President, Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership
@wrtpbigstep
Chief of Staff, North America’s Building Trades Unions
Moderator: Ralph Schlosstein
President and CEO, Evercore
11:45 a.m. Lunch Break
Boxed lunches provided.
12:15 p.m. Keynote Address
The Honorable Bill Clinton
Founder of the Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States
1:15 p.m. Roundtable: Supporting Disadvantaged Youth
Author: Phillip Levine
Katharine Coman and A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics, Wellesley College
@Wellesley
Author: Amy Ellen Schwartz
Professor of Public Policy, Education, and Economics; Director, Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University
@nyusteinhardt
Author: Bridget Terry Long
Academic Dean and Xander Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
@hgse
Discussant: Linda Gibbs
Former Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, City of New York
@lindagibbs
Moderator: Cecilia Rouse
Dean, Lawrence and Shirley Katzman and Lewis and Anna Ernst Professor in the Economics of Education; Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
@princeton
2:30 p.m. Break
Light refreshments provided.
2:45 p.m. Roundtable: Promoting Early Childhood Development
Author: Ariel Kalil
Professor, Harris School of Public Policy; Director, Center for Human Potential and Public Policy, University of Chicago
@UChicagoHarris
Author: Isabel Sawhill
Co-Director, Center on Children and Families; Co-Director, Budgeting for National Priorities; Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution
@isawhill
Author: Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
Associate Professor, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University
@dwschanz
Discussant: Linda Gibbs
Former Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, City of New York
@lindagibbs
Discussant: JoAnn Hsueh
Deputy Director, Family Well-Being and Children’s Development Policy, MDRC
@MDRC_News
Moderator: Glenn Hutchins
Co-Founder, Silver Lake; Founder, the Hutchins Center for Fiscal and Monetary Policy, The Brookings Institution
4:00 p.m. Day One of the Summit Concludes
Day 2
8:30 a.m. Registration Opens
A light breakfast served.
9:30 a.m. Opening Remarks
Roger C. Altman
Founder and Chairman, Evercore
9:45 a.m. Roundtable: Improving Social-Program Design and Delivery
Author: Scott Cody
Vice President and Director, Cambridge Human Services Research, Mathematica Policy Research
@MathPolResearch
Author: Hilary Hoynes
Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
@GoldmanSchool
Author: James Ziliak
Gatton Endowed Chair in Microeconomics; Department of Economics, University of Kentucky
@UKGattonCollege
Discussant: Gordon Berlin
President, MDRC
@MDRC_News
Discussant: Robert Greenstein
Founder and President, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
@GreensteinCBPP
Moderator: Melissa Kearney
Director, The Hamilton Project
@hamiltonproj
11:00 a.m. Break
Light refreshments served.
11:15 a.m. Roundtable: The Role of Work-Sharing and Minimum Wage Policy in Supporting Workers
Author: Katharine Abraham
Professor, Department of Economics and Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland
@UofMaryland
Author: Arindrajit Dube
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
@arindube
Discussant: Jared Bernstein
Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
@econjared
Discussant: Gregory Mankiw
Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics, Harvard University
@Harvard
Moderator: Christopher Edley, Jr.
The Honorable William H. Orrick, Jr. Distinguished Professor; Faculty Director, Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, Boalt School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
@profedley
12:30 p.m. Closing Remarks – Day Two of Summit Concludes
