11.9 million children live in poverty in the United States. Fifty-eight (58%) percent of all poor children live with single-mothers. By helping poor mothers nationwide access adequate training and support to earn higher incomes, we can alleviate mothers off of welfare and millions of children out of poverty. Help support our strategic plan, 1MMOW toolkit, and web interface designed to educate and provide resources to help one million moms and their families escape welfare dependency.
Current public housing and welfare policies contribute to an addictive reliance on government assistance, making it difficult for the poor to change their circumstances for the better. Often individuals who receive subsidies make a very simple decision not to work. Why? Because it costs more to work than it does to do nothing and sit at home. This exacerbates mental depression. Outdated policies continue to contribute to complacency and dependency, thus contributing to the growth of poverty.
The only way to address the problem of poverty and government dependency is through research, education, career training, and policy changes that incentivize efforts to increase one's self-sufficiency. And while the solution to reducing poverty is an elusive one, the literature is clear that the 1MMOW approach is an effective strategy to break the cycle of generational poverty. The strategy does not reinvent the wheel but improves all the great programs currently in existence today.
If at least 1 million women, currently receiving welfare, were adequately assessed, educated, and trained to find jobs that positioned them for growth-the results would not only benefit the lives of these women, but it would also add new revenue to local and national economies. If 1 million women were removed from welfare subsidy rolls over a 10-year period, and as a result of becoming gainfully employed, they would pay an additional $19 billion in federal income taxes.
