One out of every eight Americans—about 40 million people, including nearly 10 million children—live in poverty in the United States. Our child poverty rate is among the highest of any advanced economy, and child poverty alone costs the United States between $800 billion and $1.1 trillion each year, an aggregation of the detrimental effects of poverty on human health, earning potential, incarceration, and so many other harms that last a lifetime.

The numbers are even more distressing for communities of color: Black and Latino children are more than twice as likely to grow up in poverty as white children. Those disparities are reinforced by segregated housing and school districts that concentrate poverty and deny many children a fair opportunity to rise into the middle class. This has resulted in deteriorating economic mobility and rising inequality, as well as stubborn racial gaps in wealth, income, health, education, incarceration, and a host of other areas.

There aren’t just disparities along racial lines, but also regional lines. Poverty rates in rural areas are 25 percent higher than in metropolitan areas.

Living in poverty is a daily and persistent crisis for families experiencing it. Behind the numbers are individual stories of struggle, stress, and pain that have no place in the wealthiest country the world has ever known. Yet the politicians in Washington almost never discuss—much less grapple with—the huge disparities faced by kids like the ones I served as superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, the majority of whom are kids of color and kids living in poverty. These students are doing their jobs, trying to finish their homework, study for exams, and learn the skills they need to succeed as workers and citizens. All they are asking is that we do our jobs and commit to providing every person in America with the opportunity to live a decent life.

Despite these daunting statistics, many politicians in Washington choose to focus their efforts and policies on affluent people with ready access to our political system, while mostly ignoring people living in poverty.

When I was a school superintendent, I often used to ask, “Why is Washington so mean to our kids?” When I arrived in the Senate, it became immediately clear that there was no place further from our classrooms.

People who are struggling to make ends meet financially do not have the time or financial means to travel to Washington, hire a lobbyist, or make large political donations. They face barriers to voting that lead to lower rates of turnout in elections, especially in states that are actively seeking to disenfranchise low-income voters and people of color. They need leaders who are putting the interests of the next generation first because it is the right thing to do, not because there is a political incentive or reward on the other end.

Here is the good news: It is within our power to move tens of millions of Americans out of poverty and into the middle class, if we simply make the effort. 

We can reap the massive rewards of a society that truly provides opportunity to every one of its citizens. Anti-poverty policies work. Without Social Security and Medicare, senior poverty rates would be much, much higher. Social Security alone lifts 27 million Americans, mostly seniors, out of poverty. Tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit lift another 9 million Americans out of poverty. Other programs such as housing support, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) lift millions more above or closer to the poverty line.