On Monday evening September 30,, more than eighty people gathered at Acton Town Hall for a forum entitled, “Pathways to Equality”, organized by State Senator Jamie Eldridge and the Acton Democratic Town Committee. Several other local organizations co-sponsored the event including the Acton Boxborough United Way, Congregation Beth Elohim, and Acton Housing for All.
Acton Town Democratic Committee chair, Sahana Purohit, welcomed the audience to the forum. State Senator Jamie Eldridge described the forum as one of a series of conversations on critical issues he has organized over the last two years throughout his senate district including a forum earlier this year in Harvard on the challenges facing migrant families.
Senator Eldridge said his concerns about inequality in our society go back to his work as a legal aid attorney when he represented residents of a public housing development in Lowell where the plumbing had failed, and residents were facing homelessness as a result. Sen. Eldridge also cited his work to create the Massachusetts Asset Development Commission, which developed a policy agenda to help lower-income families build financial assets.
The three guest panelists, Jeff Fuhrer, Geeta Pradhan, and Colin Jones were then introduced by Sen. Jamie Eldridge. Acton resident Jeff Fuhrer, a Ph.D. research economist who worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for many years, led off the panel.
Fuhrer, the author of the recent book, “The Myth that Made Us”, argued that “income inequality and low income are not an accident“. Fuhrer said that we must understand that the myth that underlies much of our society’s views of poverty and wealth is just that, a myth. If you are poor, working hard will not result in you rising to the middle class. He continued by pointing out that the system that has produced this inequality is not the creation of one party and that the public sector has also been complicit in this system. He emphasized the importance of “raising the incomes of the lowest income members of our society even if the highest earners continue to get paid.”
Next to speak was Geeta Pradhan, President of the Cambridge Community Foundation. Pradhan and the Cambridge Community Foundation led an effort with the City of Cambridge to provide a guaranteed income to low-income families in Cambridge. The initiative, “Rise Up Cambridge”, provided a $500 per month stipend to nearly two thousand families with children in Cambridge for 18 months. Eligible households had incomes below $75,000 for a family of four. This effort grew out of an earlier pilot project. The results of the project were higher employment, improved financial health, and increased time and space for parenting. Pradhan said that despite the positive results, local guaranteed income programs faced major challenges because of the eligibility guidelines for many safety net programs utilized by these families.
Finally, Colin Jones, Deputy Policy Director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center discussed the work of his organization fighting for the millionaire’s tax and for education policies that move toward equality. Jones argued that “education reproduces inequality” in our state because resources for education are based on local wealth.
Following the presentations, Senator Eldridge posed a number of questions to the panelists, both his own and from the audience. The final question to the panel was to name one policy change that they would like to see. Fuhrer called for more affordable housing. Pradhan cited the child tax credit, and Jones cited both better support for childcare and more support for career tech high schools.
Bob Van Meter is a long-time resident of Acton who has spent his career in affordable housing and community development. He is deeply interested in history, particularly the untold stories of our region.