Posted on 06/18/2007 8:32:02 PM PDT by Calpernia
NEW YORK -- Poor residents will get cash rewards for good behavior, like $300 for doing well on school tests, $150 for holding a job and $200 for visiting the doctor, under an experimental anti-poverty program detailed on Monday by city officials.
These healthy lifestyle payments, also known as conditional cash transfers, have been used in other countries including Brazil and Mexico, drawing widespread praise for their success in changing behavior among the poor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Mexico this spring to study it there.
In New York, the two-year pilot program with about 14,000 participants will use private funds Bloomberg has raised because he did not want to spend government money on something that is highly experimental. More than $43 million has been raised toward the $53 million goal, Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs said.
The theory behind cash rewards is that poor people are trapped in a cycle of repeated setbacks that keep them from climbing out of poverty. A person who doesn't keep up with his vaccinations and doctor's visits, for example, may get sick more often and struggle to stay employed.
Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican, said he believes paying people in such circumstances to make good decisions could help break those patterns.
The program "gives New Yorkers in poverty a financial incentive to look ahead and make decisions that will improve their prospects for the future," he said in a statement.
But some critics have raised questions about cash reward programs, saying they promote the misguided idea that poor people could be successful if they just made better choices.
"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts," said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.
Waller, who served as a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration, said it would be more effective to focus on labor issues, such as making sure wage laws are enforced and improving benefits for working people.
Among the possible rewards in New York's program are $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences, $25 per month for a child who maintains a 95 percent school attendance record, $400 for graduating high school, $100 for each family member who sees the dentist every six months and $150 a month for adults who work full time.
"There is a relationship of poverty to poor performance around these activities," Gibbs said.
The World Bank model for cash reward programs in other countries is that the value of the incentive should equal about a third of a household's income to have any lasting influence on changing behavior.
The average amount that a family or adult can earn through the rewards each year is about $3,000 to $6,000; a family of three living in poverty earns about $17,000 a year.
Recipients, who are being selected this summer before the program begins in the fall, will be able to have the money deposited directly into their bank accounts. If they don't have accounts, they can get cards that are like debit cards but cannot be overdrawn.
The city is asking the federal government to excuse the payments from being taxed.
Participants will be divided into three smaller programs that have different criteria and awards: one for about 2,550 families, one for 2,400 single adults and another for 9,000 children in grades 4 to 7.
To measure the effectiveness of the rewards, control groups of similar size will not be paid but will be studied by participating in regular surveys and reviews from an outside social policy research group, Gibbs said. The control participants will receive small incentives, such as weekly MetroCards for paying bus and subway fares, for their time and trouble. _____________________________________________________
Here's a look at some of the cash rewards poor New York residents will receive in return for good behavior and healthy lifestyle choices under a $53 million pilot program beginning in the fall:
$25 - for attending parent-teacher conferences.
$25 - for elementary and middle school students who maintain 95 percent attendance records.
$50 - for high school students with good attendance.
$50 - for getting a library card.
$100 - for seeing a dentist every six months.
$150 - for holding a full-time job.
$200 - for visiting the doctor yearly.
$300 - for elementary school students who pass standardized tests or whose scores improve.
$600 - for passing a Regents exam.
Up to $600 - for adults who take approved education and additional training courses while employed.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1809133/posts
NYC To Test Cash Incentives For The Poor
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1809302/posts
Poor Families to Get Cash for Healthy Choices Under NYC Mayor Bloomberg's Plan
ping
Bloomy plans on running for President too.
extortion
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Brain dead Liberalism at its best.
Reminds me when unemployment benefits were tied into the recipient actually looking for a job & getting an interview.
I was running a startup company in Stamford, CT in a mixed commercial zoned business park.
The prospective “interviewees” (large grain of salt here) would come by the dozens “cold calling” to get a signature so they could get their check.
I told the receptionist to start telling them they we would gladly interview them for the openings we have but they would have to fill out this 10 page application and wait about an hour or so for their interview.
Needless to say, there were no takers and word got around to stay away from my company!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Good move!
What the hell? Why not give them another reward for paying their taxes? Isn't that a good thing too?
Someone should tell liberals someone does need to mind the store.
According to the liberals, you need to get back to work. Millions on welfare are depending on you. </sarcasm>
Wish I had the bling-bling, Malt Liquor and Sean John concessions in New York City!!
Century High teen wins car in attendance raffle
Century High junior Isaias Ocampo won a new Chevrolet Aveo.
...The 16-year-old, who still doesn't have his driver's license, had won a brand new Chevrolet Aveo valued at $13,425.
...Ocampo was chosen in a raffle Saturday for the white, four-door compact car out of 606 eligible high school students in the Santa Ana Unified School District.
The students didn't miss a day of class for this past semester, from February through the end of May. Students' grades weren't considered in the giveaway, officials said.
The cash-strapped district offered the car as part of an effort to improve student attendance. Guaranty Chevrolet in Santa Ana donated the vehicle. Santa Ana Unified officials, who recently trimmed $17 million from the district budget, hoped the giveaway would save the district money by curbing absenteeism. Every day a student misses school costs the district about $25 to $40.
District spokesperson Angela Burrell said Sunday that it's still too early to determine if the car giveaway led to lower absenteeism rates this past semester.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1853069/posts
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg leaves GOP
A lot of children have little or NO guidance. Their role models are the TV, badly behaving sports stars, or gangsta rap stars. This is particularly true of the urban poor. Not only is their home life lacking, they don't have a social network of support to help them climb up and out. If anything, the culture, the values being presented to them are selfish, short-sighted, and destructive in the end.
I've seen people be the "bull in the china shop of their life." Damn stupid choices, over and over again, justified in their warped outlook of the world. Who pays for it the most? Their precious, innocent kids...and society - the taxpayers!
I'd rather spend a little on the kids and show them the RIGHT way to live, giving them the opportunity to be productive citizens, because this will save a bundle down the road on social services and jail costs. Part of doing that has to be changing the way the parents actually parent.
Bloomberg is raising PRIVATE money, not using tax dollars to implement this pilot program. If it's a bust, then a bunch of liberals will have tossed good money after bad. If it works, though, it will save US - the taxpayers - a bunch down the road.
A real Moron and he wants to run for president.
If he does, will he have to pay to come and go from NYC while campaigning??
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