Federal Funding OK'd To Help Low Income CT Families Pay Taxes

Congressman John Larson announced Thursday that two Connecticut organizations will receive federal funding to help low income families with their taxes. $180,000 will go to “Co-Opportunity, Inc” and the  “Connecticut Association for Human Services”. The announcement comes as C.A.H.S. celebrates 100 years of working to reduce poverty in the state.  The group hosted a panel discussion on Thursday called “Reclaiming the American Dream”. WNPR’s Diane Orson has more.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and others talked about economic inequality and opportunity in America. Jacob Hacker is a Yale University professor and social policy expert. He said in the past decade, researchers have been studying economic mobility, the chance that kids from low-income families will be able to move up the ladder into the middle class or higher..

"And what they found is that compared with other countries, even so-called class bound societies of Europe, the United States has many more Americans who are stuck at the bottom or secure at the top.  It's not as if your place on the economic pecking order is destiny, but there is much less mobility than we would like to believe."

Education has always been a key to upward mobility, says Hacker, but America’s graduation rates have dropped among advanced industrial democracies. He says despite the stark realities, Americans continue to be optimistic and believe in the American dream and the power for people to be architects of their own lives.  

For WNPR, I’m Diane Orson.