This morning’s Seattle Times has an opinion piece by Lynne Varner on the need to preserve educational opportunity, especially during difficult economic times. In part, Varner says —
According to a University of Washington study, 40,000 more children will slide into poverty next year if food-stamp programs, child-care subsidies and public-education budgets aren’t protected.
This places us in a seminal moment. The recession will either be the reason we blame for losing ground in our battle to protect children or the moment we rise to the occasion.
Young people helped by TAF and Mount Baker’s residents are part of the “squeeze generation,” a term emanating from Washington, D.C., where scholars and economists just finished up the Color of Wealth Summit, examining income disparities among race. The squeeze generation are the first in their families to attend college. They battle the racial disparities that kept their parents from achieving financial security, while at the same time laying the groundwork for their own children’s security.