Tackling the Experience of Child Poverty in San Diego
Challenge
Even before the economic recession caused by COVID-19, 40% of San Diego children under the age of 12 were experiencing poverty. That means that over 200,000 of San Diego County’s youngest children are growing up with unequal access to critical building blocks. And we know it is even worse now. But it doesn’t have to be this way!
A Solution
A San Diego where every child—no matter the income of their family—has healthy food, stable housing, reliable healthcare, and quality childcare and early education.
Explore
The Problem
San Diego has an inequitable distribution of resources, which has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Thousands of children are part of families struggling to make ends meet. Families are having to make tough decisions between things like paying the rent and bills, buying groceries, caring for sick loved ones, and finding childcare solutions with schools fully or partially closed.
This problem is two-fold: part one is that even with multiple family members working, stagnant and low wages make it difficult to stay afloat in an increasingly expensive place to live. Part two is that San Diego’s social safety net is often difficult to navigate and the sectors (housing, hunger-relief, health care, and child care) are often siloed themselves.
The Solution
The solution to ending child poverty in San Diego multi-faceted—there is no single solution. However, we believe that solutions should be focused on both getting families more money and ensuring that our local social safety net is functioning as effectively as possible. We believe that to achieve these two outcomes, we need: 1) more San Diegans supporting structural and systemic policy changes centered on helping children who are in families struggling to make ends meet; 2) greater collaboration across the service sectors—hunger-relief, housing, health care, and child care; and 3) more investment in innovative ideas crafted by families themselves closest to the problem.
So what are the ways you can help?
1) Brainstorming and coming up with more ways we can help build San Diegans’ awareness of this problem and get them involved in being part of the solution.
2) Helping us to find innovative ideas from community members themselves—you can interview your friends, family members, the family members of friends, etc.
Investigate
San Diego for Every Child is a great place to start, both by looking at our Map specific to San Diego and What We’re Reading.
There has been a lot of research done on this topic, and here are some examples which have risen to the top for us:
· Opportunity Insights research on policy
· Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Taskforce Issues Report
· New York City’s Community Risk Ranking
· Framing Two-Generation Approaches to Supporting Families, Guidance from the FrameWorks Institute
And so much more!
Plan
What do you need?
A notebook and pen or pencil to keep track of your research.
A device and internet connectivity.
A way to connect with friends/family from a safe distance (6’)—over the phone, via Zoom, etc.
Time & Place
Any interviews done in-person with an adult should have at least another trusted adult present. We recommend that interviews be done within daylight hours, but research and ideation around solutions can be done at any time.
Action Steps
Ask yourself some questions.
Research.
Hypothesize.
Summarize findings.
Do
Action Step 1: Ask yourself some questions.
Think about the issue of child poverty and your personal understanding of it. Work through the following questions:
· Why do you think poverty happens?
· What do you think the top three contributors to child poverty are in San Diego?
· How do you think poverty is different in San Diego than from other places in the country or world?
· What factors do you think influence your understanding of poverty?
· What are the benefits of ending child poverty?
· Have you experienced any aspect of poverty in your own life? How does that insight shape how you think about the problem?
Action Step 2: Research.
Now that you’ve done some thinking about child poverty and your understanding of it, it’s time to do some research. Research simply means going beyond your own thoughts on the subject and finding out what other sources are saying.
· Try asking the questions above to friends and family. Or looking it up on the Internet—what do news outlets, scholarly articles, or TED Talks say about poverty?
· Is the additional information your finding different from your own, and if so, how?
· What additional questions have come up for you through your research?
· Do one or two areas come up repeatedly?
Action Step 3: Hypothesize.
Now that you’ve thought about the issue of poverty yourself, and done some research, it’s time to start thinking about what potential solutions might be. Take one or two things that came up repeatedly in your reflection and/or research, and think about what solving that might look like.
· What is the problem you are focusing on?
· What is your favorite proposed solution for that problem?
· How is it different from other proposed solutions you may have found in your research?
Action Step 4: The Plan.
If you were to put your proposed solution into place, what are all the parts and how are they prioritized? Work through the WWWWHW…
· Who?
· What?
· Where?
· When?
· How?
· Why?
Action Step 4: Summarize your findings.
Create a summary which outlines:
· The element of child poverty you chose to address.
· A brief review of your research and any findings.
· The hypothesis you’ve identified as a possible solution.
· Your step-by-step plan for how to approach that solution.
Share
Step 1:
To submit your entry, Please share your creation here. (click hyperlink to submit)
Step 2:
Email the challenge to info@sandiegoforeverychild.org for your solution to be considered by our Steering Committee for implementation.
Step 3:
Share with San Diego for Every Child on social media using the handle @SDforEveryChild and #SDforEveryChild and #EndChildPoverty for us to re-post your solution!