Speaker: Poverty solutions here

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Dec 5, 2008 - Page: 13A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Solutions for Louisiana families living in poverty are already at work in the state, the director of a research group in Lafayette said Thursday.

Health clinics and early childhood education programs at school sites in West Feliciana Parish helped residents double their average annual income and improve students’ test scores in about 12 years, Billy Stokes, director of the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning.

Stokes made his comments to the Louisiana Child Poverty Prevention Council. The  council was created this year to reduce child poverty in Louisiana by 50 percent in the next 10 years.

“Pay attention to Louisiana,” Stokes said. “Let the data drive you as opposed to ideology and other things.”

The West Feliciana model has been copied in other areas of Louisiana and a similar program is being mandated by the state.

They are among many initiatives going on in the state discussed by the council, which includes representatives from state departments, legislative committees, universities and nonprofit organizations.

“There is a lot on the ground in the state right now that is working in a positive way to end poverty,” said Martis Jones, vice president of public policy and research for the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

The council began discussions last month about what programs and policies will help them reach their goal. A final action plan is due by April.

Collaboration between the agencies was evident as members pointed to each other as colleagues in programs such as the state earned income tax credit, individual savings accounts for first time homebuyers, and nurse-family partnerships for new single mothers.

Members said more work is needed to change policies that keep families in poverty.

Among the goals of the New Orleans-based Agenda for Children is raising the threshold at which Louisiana families have to pay state income taxes and preventing the immediate loss of assistance when families begin earning more money, said Judy Watts, the organization’s president.

Next year will be the first year that Louisiana taxpayers can also file for a state earned income tax credit.

“This is where I think legislatively we can actually get some things accomplished,” Department of Revenue Deputy Secretary Earl Millet said.