it been four decad sinc bobbi kennedi crouch in a shack along the mississippi delta and look into the wide __PUNCT__ listless ey of a hungri child __PUNCT__
again and again he tri to talk to thi child __PUNCT__ but each time hi effort were met with onli a blank stare of desper __PUNCT__
and when kennedi turn to the report travel with him __PUNCT__ with tear in hi ey he ask a singl question about poverti in america __PUNCT__
__PUNCT__ how can a countri like thi allow it __PUNCT__
forti year later __PUNCT__ we still ask that question __PUNCT__
it echo on the street of compton and detroit __PUNCT__ and throughout the mine town of west virginia __PUNCT__
it linger with everi imag we see of the __NUM__ ward and the rural gulf coast __PUNCT__ where poverti thrive long befor katrina came ashor __PUNCT__
we stand not ten mile from the seat of power in the most affluent nation on earth __PUNCT__
decis ar made on both end of pennsylvania avenu that shape live and set the cours of histori __PUNCT__
with the stroke of a pen __PUNCT__ billion ar spent on program and polici __PUNCT__ on tax break for those who didn't need them and a war that should never been author and never been wage __PUNCT__
debat rage and accus fly and at the end of each dai __PUNCT__ the petti snipe is what light up the even new __PUNCT__
and yet here __PUNCT__ on the other side of the river __PUNCT__ everi other child in anacostia live below the poverti line __PUNCT__
too mani do not graduat and too mani more do not find work __PUNCT__
some join gang __PUNCT__ and other fall to their gunfir __PUNCT__
the street here ar close to our capit __PUNCT__ but far from the peopl it repres __PUNCT__
these american cannot hire lobbyist to roam the hall of congress on their behalf __PUNCT__ and thei cannot write thousand __PUNCT__ dollar campaign check to make their voic heard __PUNCT__
thei suffer most from a polit that ha been tip in favor of those with the most monei __PUNCT__ and influenc __PUNCT__ and power __PUNCT__
how can a countri like thi allow it __PUNCT__
no matter how mani time it ask or what the circumst ar __PUNCT__ the most american answer i can think of to that question is two word __PUNCT__
__PUNCT__ we can't __PUNCT__
we can't allow thi kind of suffer and hopeless to exist in our countri __PUNCT__
we can't afford to lose a gener of tomorrow doctor and scientist and teacher to poverti __PUNCT__
we can make excus for it or we can fight about it or we can ignor poverti altogeth __PUNCT__ but as long as it here it will alwai be a betray of the ideal we hold as american __PUNCT__
it not who we ar __PUNCT__
in thi countri __PUNCT__ of all countri __PUNCT__ no child destini should be determin befor he take hi first step __PUNCT__
no littl girl futur should be confin to the neighborhood she wa born into __PUNCT__
our govern cannot guarante success and happi in life __PUNCT__ but what we can do as a nation is to ensur that everi american who want to work is prepar to work __PUNCT__ abl to find a job __PUNCT__ and abl to stai out of poverti __PUNCT__
what we can do is make our neighborhood whole again __PUNCT__
what we can do is retir the phrase __PUNCT__ work poor __PUNCT__ in our time __PUNCT__
that what we can do __PUNCT__ becaus that who we ar __PUNCT__
the challeng is greater than it ha been in gener __PUNCT__ but that all the more reason for thi gener to act __PUNCT__
on in everi eight american now live in poverti __PUNCT__ a rate that ha nearli doubl sinc __NUM__ __PUNCT__
that an incom of about __MONEY__ a year for a famili of four __PUNCT__
on in three american __PUNCT__ on in everi three __PUNCT__ is now classifi as low __PUNCT__ incom __PUNCT__
that __MONEY__ a year for a famili of four __PUNCT__
todai economi ha made it easier to fall into poverti __PUNCT__
the fall is often more precipit and more perman than ever befor __PUNCT__
you us to be abl to find a good job without a degre from colleg or even high school __PUNCT__
todai that nearli imposs __PUNCT__
you us to be abl to count on your job to be there for your entir life __PUNCT__
todai almost ani job can be ship oversea in an instant __PUNCT__
the job that remain ar pai less and offer fewer benefit __PUNCT__ as employ have succeed in bust up union and cut back on health care and pension to stai competit with the compani abroad that ar pai their worker next to noth __PUNCT__
everi american is vulner to the insecur and anxieti of thi new economi __PUNCT__
and that why the singl most import focu of my econom agenda as presid will be to pursu polici that creat job and make work pai __PUNCT__
thi mean invest in educ from earli childhood through colleg __PUNCT__ so our worker ar readi to compet with ani worker for the best job the world ha to offer __PUNCT__
it mean invest more in research __PUNCT__ scienc __PUNCT__ and technolog so that those new job and those new industri ar creat right here in america __PUNCT__
and while we can't stop everi job from go oversea __PUNCT__ we can stop give tax break to the compani who send them there and start give them to compani who creat job at home __PUNCT__
we can also start make sure these job keep folk out of poverti __PUNCT__
when i presid __PUNCT__ i will rais the minimum wage and make it a live wage by make sure that it rise everi time the cost of live doe __PUNCT__
i start let our union do what thei do best again __PUNCT__ organ our worker and lift up our middl __PUNCT__ class __PUNCT__
and i final make sure everi american ha afford health care that stai with you no matter what happen by pass my plan to provid univers coverag and cut the cost of health care by up to __MONEY__ per famili __PUNCT__
all of these polici will give more famili a chanc to grab hold of the ladder to middl __PUNCT__ class secur __PUNCT__ and thei make the climb a littl easier __PUNCT__
but poverti is not just a function of simpl econom __PUNCT__
it also a matter of where you live __PUNCT__
there ar vast swath of rural america and block after block in our citi where poverti is not just a crisi that hit pocketbook __PUNCT__ but a diseas that infect everi corner of the commun __PUNCT__
i will be outlin my rural agenda in the come week __PUNCT__ but todai i want to talk about what we can do as a nation to combat the poverti that persist in our citi __PUNCT__
thi kind of poverti is not an issu i just discov for the purpos of a campaign __PUNCT__ it is the caus that led me to a life of public servic almost twenti __PUNCT__ five year ago __PUNCT__
i wa just two year out of colleg when i first move to the south side of chicago to becom a commun organ __PUNCT__
i wa hire by a group of church that were try to deal with steel plant closur that had devast the surround neighborhood __PUNCT__
everywher you look __PUNCT__ busi were board up and school were crumbl and teenag were stand aimlessli on street corner __PUNCT__ without job and without hope __PUNCT__
what most overwhelm about urban poverti is that it so difficult to escap __PUNCT__ it isol and it everywher __PUNCT__
if you ar an african __PUNCT__ american child unlucki enough to be born into on of these neighborhood __PUNCT__ you ar most like to start life hungri or malnourish __PUNCT__
you ar less like to start with a father in your household __PUNCT__ and if he is there __PUNCT__ there a fifti __PUNCT__ fifti chanc that he never finish high school and the same chanc he doesn't have a job __PUNCT__
your school isn't like to have the right book or the best teacher __PUNCT__
you more like to encount gang __PUNCT__ activ than after __PUNCT__ school activ __PUNCT__
and if you can't find a job becaus the most success businessman in your neighborhood is a drug dealer __PUNCT__ you more like to join that gang yourself __PUNCT__
opportun is scarc __PUNCT__ role model ar few __PUNCT__ and there is littl contact with the normalci of life outsid those street __PUNCT__
what you learn when you spend your time in these neighborhood try to solv these problem is that there ar no easi solut and no perfect argument __PUNCT__
and you come to understand that for the last four decad __PUNCT__ both end of the polit spectrum have been talk past on anoth __PUNCT__
it true that there were mani effect program that emerg from lyndon johnson war on poverti __PUNCT__
but there were also some ineffect program that were defend anywai __PUNCT__ as well as an inabl of some on the left to acknowledg that the problem of absent father or persist crime were inde problem that need to be address __PUNCT__
the right ha often seiz on these fail as proof that the govern can't and shouldn't do a thing about poverti __PUNCT__ that it is a result of individu moral fail and cultur patholog and so we should just sit back and let these citi fend for themselv __PUNCT__
and so ronald reagan launch hi assault on welfar queen __PUNCT__ and georg bush spent the last six year slash program to combat poverti __PUNCT__ and job train __PUNCT__ and substanc abus __PUNCT__ and child abus __PUNCT__
well __PUNCT__ we know that not the answer __PUNCT__
when you in these neighborhood __PUNCT__ you can see what a differ it make to have a govern that care __PUNCT__
you can see what a free lunch program doe for a hungri child __PUNCT__
you can see what a littl extra monei from an earn incom tax credit doe for a famili that struggl __PUNCT__
you can see what prenat care doe for the health of a mother and a newborn __PUNCT__
so don't tell me there no role for govern in lift up our citi __PUNCT__
but you can also see what a differ it make when peopl start care for themselv __PUNCT__
it make a differ when a father realiz that respons doe not end at concept __PUNCT__ when he understand that what make you a man is not the abil to have a child but the courag to rais on __PUNCT__
it make a differ when a parent turn off the tv onc in awhil __PUNCT__ put awai the video game __PUNCT__ and start read to their child __PUNCT__ and get involv in hi educ __PUNCT__
it make a differ when we realiz that a child who shoot anoth child ha a hole in hi heart that no govern can fill __PUNCT__
that make a differ __PUNCT__
so there ar no easi answer and perfect argument __PUNCT__
as dr __PUNCT__ king said __PUNCT__ it is not either __PUNCT__ or __PUNCT__ it is both __PUNCT__ and __PUNCT__
hope is not found in ani singl ideolog __PUNCT__ an insist on do the same thing with the same result year after year __PUNCT__
hope is found in what work __PUNCT__
in those south side neighborhood __PUNCT__ hope wa found in the after school program we creat __PUNCT__ and the job train program we put togeth __PUNCT__ and the organ skill we taught resid so that thei could stand up to a govern that wasn't stand up for them __PUNCT__
hope is found here at thearc __PUNCT__ where you provid thousand of children with shelter from the street and a home awai from home __PUNCT__
and if you travel a few hour north of here __PUNCT__ you will find hope amid nineti __PUNCT__ seven neighborhood block in the heart of harlem __PUNCT__
thi is the home of the harlem children zone __PUNCT__ an all __PUNCT__ encompass __PUNCT__ all __PUNCT__ hand __PUNCT__ on __PUNCT__ deck anti __PUNCT__ poverti effort that is liter save a gener of children in a neighborhood where thei were never suppos to have a chanc __PUNCT__
the philosophi behind the project is simpl __PUNCT__ if poverti is a diseas that infect an entir commun in the form of unemploy and violenc __PUNCT__ fail school and broken home __PUNCT__ then we can't just treat those symptom in isol __PUNCT__
we have to heal that entir commun __PUNCT__
and we have to focu on what actual work __PUNCT__
if you a child who born in the harlem children zone __PUNCT__ you start life differ than other inner __PUNCT__ citi children __PUNCT__
your parent probabl went to what thei call __PUNCT__ babi colleg __PUNCT__ a place where thei receiv counsel on how to care for newborn and what to expect in those first month __PUNCT__
you start school right awai __PUNCT__ becaus there earli childhood educ __PUNCT__
when your parent ar at work __PUNCT__ you have a safe place to plai and learn __PUNCT__ becaus there child care __PUNCT__ and after school program __PUNCT__ even in the summer __PUNCT__
there ar innov charter school to attend __PUNCT__
there free medic servic that offer care when you sick and prevent servic to stai healthi __PUNCT__
there afford __PUNCT__ good food avail so you not malnourish __PUNCT__
there ar job counselor and financi counselor __PUNCT__
there technolog train and crime prevent __PUNCT__
you don't just sign up for thi program __PUNCT__ you activ recruit for it __PUNCT__ becaus the idea is that if everyon is involv __PUNCT__ and no on slip through the crack __PUNCT__ then you realli can chang an entir commun __PUNCT__
geoffrei canada __PUNCT__ the program inspir __PUNCT__ innov founder __PUNCT__ put it best __PUNCT__ instead of help some kid beat the odd __PUNCT__ the harlem children zone is actual chang the odd altogeth __PUNCT__
and it work __PUNCT__
parent in harlem ar actual read more to their children __PUNCT__
their kid ar stai in school and pass statewid test at higher rate than other children in new york citi __PUNCT__
thei go to colleg in a place where it wa onc unheard of __PUNCT__
thei even place third at a nation chess championship __PUNCT__
so we know thi work __PUNCT__
and if we know it work __PUNCT__ there no reason thi program should stop at the end of those block in harlem __PUNCT__
it time to chang the odd for neighborhood all across america __PUNCT__
and that why when i presid __PUNCT__ the first part of my plan to combat urban poverti will be to replic the harlem children zone in twenti citi across the countri __PUNCT__
we train staff __PUNCT__ we have them draw up detail plan with attain goal __PUNCT__ and the feder govern will provid half of the fund for each citi __PUNCT__ with the rest come from philanthropi and busi __PUNCT__
now __PUNCT__ how much will thi cost __PUNCT__ i be honest __PUNCT__ it can't be done on the cheap __PUNCT__
it will cost a few billion dollar a year __PUNCT__
we won't just spend the monei becaus we can __PUNCT__ everi step these citi take will be evalu __PUNCT__ and if certain plan or program aren't work __PUNCT__ we will stop them and try someth els __PUNCT__
but we will find the monei to do thi becaus we can't afford not to __PUNCT__
dr __PUNCT__ king onc remark that if we can find the monei to put a man on the moon __PUNCT__ then we can find the monei to put a man on hi own two feet __PUNCT__
there no reason we should be spend ten of thousand of dollar a year to imprison on of these kid when thei turn eighteen when we could be spend __MONEY__ to turn their live around with thi program __PUNCT__
and to realli put it in perspect __PUNCT__ think of it thi wai __PUNCT__
the harlem children zone is save a gener of children for __MONEY__ million a year __PUNCT__
that about what the war in iraq cost american taxpay everi four hour __PUNCT__
so let invest thi monei __PUNCT__
let chang the odd in urban america by focus on what work __PUNCT__
the second part of my plan will do thi by provid famili the support thei need to rais their children __PUNCT__
i pass the plan i outlin last year that will provid more financi support to father who make the respons choic to help rais their children and crack down on the father who don't __PUNCT__
and we help new mother with their new respons by expand a pioneer program known as the nurs __PUNCT__ famili partnership that offer home visit by train regist nurs to low __PUNCT__ incom mother and mother __PUNCT__ to __PUNCT__ be __PUNCT__
thi program ha been proven to reduc childhood injuri __PUNCT__ unintend pregnanc __PUNCT__ and the us of welfar and food stamp __PUNCT__
it increas father involv __PUNCT__ women employ __PUNCT__ and children school readi __PUNCT__
it produc more than __MONEY__ in net save for everi high __PUNCT__ risk famili enrol in the program __PUNCT__
it work __PUNCT__ and i expand the program to __NUM__ first __PUNCT__ time mother each year __PUNCT__
the third part of my plan for urban america is to help peopl find work and make that work pai __PUNCT__
i will invest __MONEY__ billion over five year in innov transit job program that have been highli success at place the unemploi into temporari job and then train them for perman on __PUNCT__
peopl in these program get the chanc to work in a commun servic __PUNCT__ type job __PUNCT__ earn a paycheck everi week __PUNCT__ and learn the skill thei need for gain employ __PUNCT__
and by leav with refer and a resum __PUNCT__ often time thei find that employ __PUNCT__
still __PUNCT__ even for those worker who do find a perman job __PUNCT__ mani time there no wai for them to advanc their career onc thei in those job __PUNCT__
that why we also work with commun organ and busi to creat career pathwai that provid worker with the addit skill and train thei need to earn more monei __PUNCT__
and we make sure that public transport is both avail and afford for low __PUNCT__ incom worker __PUNCT__ becaus no on should be deni work in thi countri becaus thei can't get there __PUNCT__
to make work pai __PUNCT__ i will also tripl the earn incom tax credit for full __PUNCT__ time worker make the minimum wage __PUNCT__
thi is on of the most success anti __PUNCT__ poverti program in histori and lift nearli __NUM__ million american out of poverti everi year __PUNCT__
i wa abl to expand thi program when i wa a state senat in illinoi __PUNCT__ and as presid i do it again __PUNCT__
the fourth part of my plan will be to help bring busi back to our inner __PUNCT__ citi __PUNCT__
a long time ago __PUNCT__ thi countri creat a world bank that ha help spur econom develop in some of the world poorest region __PUNCT__
i think it about time we had someth like that right here in america __PUNCT__
less than on percent of the __MONEY__ billion in ventur capit that invest each year goe to minor busi that ar try to breath life into our citi __PUNCT__
thi ha to chang __PUNCT__
when i presid __PUNCT__ i make sure that everi commun ha the access to the capit and resourc it need to creat a stronger busi climat by provid more loan to small busi and set up the financi institut that can help get them start __PUNCT__
i also creat a nation network of busi incub __PUNCT__ which ar local servic that help first __PUNCT__ time busi owner design their busi plan __PUNCT__ find the best locat __PUNCT__ and receiv expert advic on how to run their busi whenev thei need it __PUNCT__
and i will take step to help close the digit divid and increas internet access for citi so that urban america is just as connect as the rest of america __PUNCT__
the final part of my plan to chang the odd in our citi will be to ensur that more american have access to safe __PUNCT__ afford hous __PUNCT__
as presid __PUNCT__ i creat an afford hous trust fund that would add as mani as __NUM__ new afford unit in mix incom neighborhood __PUNCT__
we also do more to protect homeown from mortgag fraud and subprim lend by pass my plan to provid counsel to tenant __PUNCT__ homeown __PUNCT__ and other consum so thei get the advic and guidanc thei need befor bui a hous and support if thei get in to troubl down the road __PUNCT__
and we will crack down on mortgag profession found guilti of fraud by increas enforc and creat new crimin penalti __PUNCT__
what thi agenda to combat urban poverti attempt to do is not easi __PUNCT__ and it will not happen overnight __PUNCT__
chang the odd in our citi will requir humil in what we can accomplish and patienc with our progress __PUNCT__
but most importantli __PUNCT__ it will requir the sustain commit of the presid of the unit state __PUNCT__ and that is why i will also appoint a new director of urban polici who will cut through the disorgan bureaucraci that current exist and report directli to me on how these effort ar go __PUNCT__ on what work and what not __PUNCT__
becaus in the end __PUNCT__ hope is found in what work __PUNCT__
the moral question about poverti in america __PUNCT__ how can a countri like thi allow it __PUNCT__ ha an easi answer __PUNCT__ we can't __PUNCT__
the polit question that follow __PUNCT__ what do we do about it __PUNCT__ ha alwai been more difficult __PUNCT__
but now that we final see the begin of an answer __PUNCT__ thi countri ha an oblig to keep try __PUNCT__
the idea for the harlem children zone began with a list __PUNCT__
it wa a wait list that geoffrei canada kept of all the children who couldn't get into hi program back when it wa just a few block wide __PUNCT__
it wa __NUM__ peopl long __PUNCT__
and on dai he look at that list and thought __PUNCT__ why shouldn't those __NUM__ kid get the same chanc in life as the __NUM__ who were alreadi in the program __PUNCT__ why not expand it to includ those __NUM__ __PUNCT__ why not __NUM__ __PUNCT__ why not __PUNCT__
and that __PUNCT__ of cours __PUNCT__ is the final question about poverti in america __PUNCT__
it the hope on that bobbi kennedi wa also famou for ask __PUNCT__
why not __PUNCT__ it leav the cynic without an answer __PUNCT__ and it call on the rest of us to get to work __PUNCT__
i will be do exactli that from the first dai i becom your presid __PUNCT__ and i ask you all to join me in get it done __PUNCT__
thank you __PUNCT__
