[Kansas] Focus on poverty sought

from The Hutchinson Newx

By Sarah Kessinger

TOPEKA - Leaders from community safety-net agencies questioned Thursday whether political candidates would even mention the nation's growing rate of poverty during upcoming campaigns.

"We need to have a discussion about what happens when you don't deal with poverty," said Ottawa Mayor Richard Jackson, who helped lead this week's Kansas Poverty Conference held in Topeka by the Kansas Association of Community Action Programs.

"The numbers are growing, particularly among children. Everything - health care, housing costs, fuel costs just feed into it," he said. "And people don't talk about it."

Jackson, executive director of the East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corporation, said things won't change unless struggling Kansans vote.

"All too often, we spend time getting people to register to vote and then they don't vote," he said.

Tawny Stottlemire, the association's executive director, said it is disheartening how little attention candidates pay to poverty, which comes at a high cost to society in general.

"I would hope poverty even shows up in the dialogue," she said.

Although all candidates in the governor's race were invited to the conference, just one showed up Thursday.

Ken Canfield, a Johnson County Republican, told the crowd that the country suffers from a variety of poverty - emotional, relational and familial.

Canfield said nongovernment organizations should join with government in helping raise people out of poverty. He also said he hoped to bring his experience as founder of the National Center for Fathering to the governor's job.

"I want to make Kansas the most father-active state in this nation," he said. "The nation is looking for leadership."

Two women who have made their way out of poverty told the crowd that the cost of health insurance was a major barrier to people trying to better their lives.

"We'd like to hear candidates discuss universal health care," said Michelle Eckan, a policy council member for South East Kansas Community Action Programs, which includes some of the state's poorest counties. "I think it's a great idea. I don't see why other countries have it and we don't."

Alissa Benton, a Topeka single mother of two, said she only managed to enroll in college recently because of a local aid agency's help. The organization paid her health insurance through a waiting period before she could enroll in state insurance. But they had only enough monthly funding to help one family with insurance.

"We need government to address education, better jobs, affordable health insurance," Benton said. "A lot of people I know want to go to college so they can make enough to live on, but they can't because they need health insurance."

"It's sad when kids have to worry whether mom can put supper on the table or whether she can pay to keep the lights on or keep the gas on."