Guest Commentary: Sacramento Region Excels at Fostering Poverty and Economic Disparities

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By Michael Bisch

As the Executive Director of Yolo Food Bank, I read with interest the Vanguard’s recent commentary on “Sacramento’s surprising rank on a new list of best cities for startup companies” in the June 24th edition of the Sacramento Bee.  While I have encouraged a culture of celebrating successes at Yolo Food Bank, we also find it equally important to face our shortcomings and address our failures.  I would certainly expect no less from the community leadership in the Sacramento region.

According to a recent Brookings Institution “candid, data-driven” assessment commissioned by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the six-county Sacramento region also lays claim to the dubious honor of being ranked 16th out of the 100 largest metro areas nationally in fostering poverty and economic disparities.  Brookings researchers have revealed that an astonishing 34% of the region’s families “do not earn enough to cover their basic household expenses.”  The researchers rightly point out that this level of poverty in the Sacramento region is “alarming.”

The assessment further states that, …the share of struggling families is disproportionately concentrated in communities of color and individuals with lower levels of education…a region cannot be economically prosperous if it fails to provide access to growth and opportunity for all…existing vulnerabilities and disparities will only be exacerbated unless the region takes deliberate action.”

This level of poverty and economic disparity in our state capital region has not been the result of happenstance.  Quite the contrary, the abysmal findings are the inevitable result of decades of tax, housing, land-use, economic, education, and social policies meant to benefit only some who call our region home, and not all who work hard and raise their families here.  The consequence is that a third of the population has been left behind entirely.  Worse yet, the predicament has become inter-generational, with the barriers to breaking the cycle of poverty statistically insurmountable.  The costs imposed by policy-induced poverty in health and wellness outcomes, impeded educational achievement, mental health challenges, income deprivation and other social disparities are immeasurable.

It’s beyond disappointing that despite the clear call for “deliberate action,” there is little evidence that such action is pending.  Instead, what we continue to see proposed are a host of feel-good measures, recently described by the Yolo County Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Advisory Board as, “putting band-aids on issues.”  Another disturbing, yet common place approach is a 21st century version of “trickle down” regional infrastructure investments, seemingly based upon the notion that some of the benefits not only will advance those of means, but that a portion of the benefit also will accrue to those that have been left behind.  The Brookings assessment has laid bare, once and for all, the failure of these policies.

Instead, what is required are the development and execution of a comprehensive set of policies that focus on the root causes of poverty.  These policies must drive down household expense, increase household income, or achieve a combination of both.  In our work at Yolo Food Bank, we primarily serve food insecure working families and their children.  Despite full-time employment, many of these families are living in poverty, and faced with tough choices between paychecks as the month too often stretches further than the money.  It’s only because they can turn to Yolo Food Bank for nutrition that they’re able to meet their expenses for housing, medical care, and other basic needs.  These families deserve the sense of pride and accomplishment of meeting all of their expenses on their own in exchange for their hard work

The Brookings assessment is a clarion call for regional action, as SACOG itself acknowledges in their 2019 Prosperity Strategy Framework.  Deliberate, collective focus is needed on the local, regional, state and national levels to resolve this decades-long leadership failure.  The time for transformative change is now.

Michael Bisch is the Executive Director of Yolo Food Bank


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Disclaimer: the views expressed by guest writers are strictly those of the author and may not reflect the views of the Vanguard, its editor, or its editorial board.

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9 thoughts on “Guest Commentary: Sacramento Region Excels at Fostering Poverty and Economic Disparities”

  1. Tia Will

    Michael

    I agree with you that transformative change is needed. Not only in the Sacramento area but in the nation if we are to deal in a meaningful way with poverty. I am curious about what substantive and specific steps you would recommend for the Sacramento region.

  2. Craig Ross

    “Instead, what is required are the development and execution of a comprehensive set of policies that focus on the root causes of poverty.  These policies must drive down household expense, increase household income, or achieve a combination of both.”

    Lack of housing that is affordable.  Lack of good paying jobs.  Inadequate education.  Am I missing something?

  3. Alan Miller

    what is required are the development and execution of a comprehensive set of policies that focus on the root causes of poverty.  These policies must drive down household expense, increase household income, or achieve a combination of both.

    I suggest continuing to raise taxes and create new ones in order to grow government programs and fund non-profits, and after filtering these taxes through multiple programs, agencies and bureaucracies, give the scraps back to those in need.  Am I missing something?

  4. Kristine Gual

    I love the calculator, Don!

    I would love to see Yolo County and our individual cities prioritize goals and projects in two concrete areas that would provide immediate relief for working families: an aggressive affordable housing development strategy and a push for a local living wage.

    The $15/hour minimum wage is a public health issue: 
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/21/magazine/minimum-wage-saving-lives.html.

    In California, we are also over 1 million units short on housing units for our needs today – it’s the primary root cause of our homeless crisis and our state’s rank at the bottom for income inequality and equity in a host of areas mentioned by Michael and others. From my vantage point, there is no issue more pressing for any community state-wide.

  5. Don Shor

    The living wage calculator demonstrates that in Yolo County $15 is more than necessary for a single person, particularly for a younger adult, nowhere near enough for a single parent, and about what’s necessary for a working couple with a child. So it is an arbitrary amount that can potentially harm small businesses while providing minimum benefits to those who the advocates are trying to help. Raising the minimum wage to $15/hour would adversely affect some people who are marginal in the workforce, particularly those seeking their first jobs or who have limited experience to offer an employer. So there are winners and losers whenever you try to hike the minimum wage. The old saying is that it’s great for your college kid who already has a job, and really bad for your high school kid who’s looking for their first job.

    1. Bill Marshall

      Don… a quick perusal does not indicate whether the housing cost (avg rent) is SF/MF or an amalgam… same quick perusal is that employer contributions to health insurance, may be more cost effective, for both employer and employee, and reduces risk of serious medical costs to the employee…

      The latter, leading to the concept that perhaps, as has been discussed in the public sector discussions, the calculus should be based on ‘livable total comp’, rather than just ‘livable wage’

      Pure speculation, but I suggest the appropriate folk investigate, and ‘run the numbers’… beyond my ken/expertise… just a thought, for discussion purposes…

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