to advance goals of justice and equality. someone like our award recipient. you could not have graced this award with a better or more inspirational name . you could not have found a more deserving or more inspirational figure to lead it today and now, my friend it is my great honor, it's my privilege to introduce to you my predecessor, my colleague and my friend the 82nd attorney general of the united states, the honorable eric holder. [applause] >> good morning.

we live in troubled times. beset by violence directed at those who aresworn to protect us . necessary community law enforcement communities that are afraid, awash in high powered weapons of war and subject to rhetoric that is too often overheated and factually inaccurate. our nation finds itself i believe at a crossroads. too many people are retreating to ideological orders and failing to meaningfully engage with one another.

on some of the pressing issues of the day. painful truths and hard questions are avoided and demagogues have been given unnecessary attention and also political opportunity. now, let me rephrase just a few unassailable truths. police officers are the sentinels of our civilization , of our democracy. they must be protected at all costs. when there was a spike in officer -related shootings a few years ago i convened a summit meeting at the justice department and programs were put in place that dramatically reduce those depths in subsequent years. it is not enough for us to praise law enforcement after cops are killed. we must value them with all the necessary tools and tactics while they are still alive. and when a police officer ...

[applause] and when a police officer iskilled in the line of duty , the harshest punishments, ultimate punishment must be made it out. an attack on a police officer, an attack on society itself and can simply not be condoned. as a nation, we must ask ourselves why those who comply with the thin blue line are forced to confront weapons designed to kill and maim in combat situations. we have recently seen too frequently officer gets connected to evilperpetrators in possession of assault rifles . it is time, it is far past time for those of you in law-enforcement to join with other responsible americans and take on a mindless gun lobby that values an

individual ability to possess military grade weapons more than the lives of the american people in general and our law enforcement personnel in particular. speak up. [applause] we must also come to realize that keeping our officers safe is not inconsistent with insuring to those in law-enforcement the people that they are sworn to servewith dignity , respect and there is. there is no tension between those. we're not being honest with ourselves if we ignore a path where to many and too many communities suffer from unfair treatment at the hands of a few in law enforcement. that history has spread distrust and coupled with recent technological advances with document incidents of misconduct long complained of , it's not hard to understand

why they are felt between communities of color or in most communities of effective law enforcement, those who are sworn to protect these same communities. going forward, we must foster not only open, oftentimes painful dialogue between these groups but also develop very concrete measures to bring together one horse with and the neighborhoods in which they work. now, this is not politically correct, this is not a politically correct thing. it's simply good law enforcement and will bake both communities and the officers and men safer. noble, with roots in both communities has i believe a unique perspective and a special responsibility. you must lean with others where not to go. you must speak out where others are comfortably silent. you must take on those forces more concerned with ideological perspective and

not the welfare of the people you serve and serve with. you must be willing to risk short-term unpopularity with the knowledge that over time, history will judge you to be right. [applause] this will not be easy but in its forty-year history, noble has often been unafraid to be the conscience of law enforcement. now more than ever, it is time for you to take on that role once again. the dissenting truth is oftentimes a difficult endeavor but obscuring reality to maintain a seemingly comfortable but ultimately unjust status quo serves no one well. as always, noble, you must lead. i'm greatly honored to receive an award that will bear my name, i'm grateful to my successor for presenting

it to me. in hope that in the years coming it will be bestowed on men and women who are not afraid to speak to power and who in great condition of this organization helped to craft solutions to problems they are forced to confront and those issues that have bedeviled us as a nation for centuries. never forget, that positive change, though possible is not promised. it is the resultof hard work , sacrifice and endurance in the face of failure. i am confident that noble as it always has will help lead our country toward a future that is infused with the change that we have longed for so long as a nation. that you all once again. [applause]

>> ... we're a little off programbut we're going to do what we do, we adjust . let me take you back to the national anthem that was sung by chief of police gregory thomas, excuse me gregory harris. [applause] chief of police of

the north carolina school of arts, winston-salem north carolina. what did you think of his rendition of lift every voice? [applause] i suppose you want to know who all these folks are sitting up here right? let introduce this morning to you starting to my far right gerald nelson, region one national vice president. cj davis, national sergeant at arms. and if you would hold your applause till i get through the whole list here, it will go a lot quicker i promise. reverend doctor barbara williams harris, national chaplain area clearance the

cox the third, national second vice president. i am henry terrance, your current first national vice president and in today's your national president. roderick johnson, assistant to the president cabinet secretary and chair of my brother's keeper task force. gregory a thomas, ournational president . duane crawford, executive director, noble national office area frederick t bell, 2016 cochair and our national treasurer area brian mcrae, 2016 conference cochair, federal assistant to the national president. matthew r mehta rosa, chief of police us capital police department.marita j bryant, region two national vice president.

patrick lamotte, region three national vice president. gregory c baker, region for national vice president . frederick thomas, region five national vice president areas cheryl moody, region six national vice president. and and at the shield, national financial secretary. let's give these. around of applause. >> are second tier, thomas lee nelson, national recording secretary, also washington dc chapter president. carlos e fonseca, national parliamentarian, jacqueline f carter,national associate members representative . marita gone, special assistant to the national

president and northern virginia chapter president. seymour jones, assistant to the national president. special assistant to the national president, valerie jackson, shall assistant to thenational president for international affairs . major general ac roper, united states army. jeffrey s shank, director of the united states national central bureau in a poll. guy j cattrall, chief postal inspector, united states postal inspector. thomas e bratton, thomas e brandon, executive director hero of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. david harlow, deputy director us marshal service. sophia d jones, assistant administrator transportation authority administration

office of inspections. phil miller, executive assistant director immigrations , customs enforcement. mark ridley, deputy director criminal investigations service. e time, inspector general department of education. gail stallworth stone, acting inspector general social security administration office of inspector general. h agnes daniels, commissioner of police suriname police force. milligrams, deputy commissioner of police, jacob d'amico, constabulary force, jamaica chapter president. ewald bought, assistant commissioner of police, nigerian police force. [applause] roderick a olson,

director of federal fire marshals. anthony m,, executive director hispanic americans police command officers association. paul shalhoub is the third vice president in the national association of chief of police. marcia and manning, secretary manager association of caribbean missioners of police. w craig hartley junior, executive director commission on accreditation for law enforcement agencies. gil krukowski, commissioner us customs and border protection.

patricia f galan, assistant commissioner metropolitan police on them. marcus hill, assistant director us department of homeland security. tracy s perry, rector us department of agriculture for service. jeffrey d crack, executive director air force office of special investigations. jean mccaskey, commander service police, the eight day montrcal canada and treasurer of the montrcal chapter. craig w floyd, president and ceo, national law enforcement officers on area ladies and gentlemen, that's your dais. [applause] again, good

morning. going to the podium, the current national president gregory thomas. [applause] >> these are the best of times and the worst of times. these are the best of times and the worst of times. these are the best of times and in many cities across the country are experiencing rapid growth with crime and unemployment trending downward. these are the worst of times that some areas across the country are experiencing stagnation in growth while violent crime numbers in some areas are steadily increasing with the goal of relationships with between the community and lawn force notwithstanding.

good morning again noble. my "comes from the classic 1959 novel by charles dickens titled a tale of two cities. allow me to paraphrase " a more where it fully says it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness. it was the season of light, it was a season of darkness. it was a spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. we had everything before us, we had nothing before us. we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way. as we're here in washington dc to celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are indeed in the midst of the best of times and the worst of times. during these moments the country needs to push forward

and ensure that there are less instances like those we have experienced in the past few days , weeks and months. we have to step up collectively, law enforcement and the community we serve to bridgethis ever-expanding goal . as we continue to go through the pain of processing these events that happened recently, we need to look within ourselves and know the opportunity for reform lies within both law enforcement and the communities we serve. on the law enforcement side, police officers must take a personal check and ask themselves is this the right job for me? and how i address any inherent biases? can i fully serve the community with impartiality and are my fellow officers administering justice in a fair manner and also ask yourself what is the role of law enforcement? guardian or warrior?

moreover, as law enforcement communities we must ensure we are selecting and hiring the right people and administering penalty where needed but providing support and training and always providing guidance through their entire career. on the community side we need to be open to the development of productive public safety partnerships and need to tap down rhetoric that fans flames of violence among law enforcement. no matter how we stand in the command of our respective agencies we all know that our work is important, needed and valued by the vast majority of citizens. as an industry we have to acknowledge and recognize the pain, agony and despair that some, i emphasized some, not all of our brothers and sisters have caused to some minority communities.if we do this, we move closer to reconciliation. when we do this, we have candid, productive

conversation about healing. let me stop to add here that as you may have heard i was invited to the white house a week or so ago to sign up with members of law enforcement communities representing the largest ones in the country and we were summoned there by vice president biden and we sat there ready to be in a meeting with vice president biden and the door suddenly open and i do mean suddenly and then walked resident obama. he sat there with us for two hours to have a conversation about healing and went around the room to ask everyone about their solutions. as he came to me i just said then what i said now, what i said then is that we as an industry own this one. this is nobody's issue but us and we have to step forward as leaders and as i mentioned earlier and recognize the pain people are experiencing around the country regarding the way they've been treated by some members of law enforcement. without doing that there will

be no reconciliation. it is critical ... [applause] is critical as you heard the words of attorney general lynch and attorney general holder, we spoke about this before we join the state about the need for us to be who we are, to be steadfast with that statement so we acknowledge the pain that caused in our community particularly by some members of law enforcement, we can never have a conversation about healing because what is really happening is people are getting hurt but not being listed too. so as we come together as a noble family and let me stop there also to say as an ever-expanding noble family you heard the introductions by first vice president to read about who's on the state here but particularly i want to recognize two people and i'm not going to ask you to stay stand, just to say that were here we have a new chapter in montrcal, a new charter late last year but also past friday we've also signed a charter for a

chapter in jamaica now we're standing internationally as well. [applause] so as you come together this week to celebrate the wisdom and billable work of our founders let us do so with the goal of being those who are prepared to stand in the current gap in law enforcement and the communities we serve.as a praying people, know that there were times in the bible when the lord called on and look for someone to stand in the gap. well, let us take on that task in a very suitable manner to be the leaders we know we are and need to be because to do so will be us being true to what is noble then and what is noble now and noble tomorrow, thank you. [applause]

>> ... we are still being flexible here and i know it's my turn now to introduce, i apologize. according to the program we now need to welcome the youth, i'm sorry?my apologies. we now need to introduce the chief of police from capitol police here in washington dc , come to the podium and say a few words, thank you very much. [applause]

>> president thomas, distinguished guests, thank you for the opportunity to welcome to the noble executive board members, distinguished guests and law enforcement community, dissipating in this conference in our nation's capital. it's an honor to be here and i appreciate how important noble role has been in helping to develop today's law enforcement professionals who may someday become executive leaders in law enforcement and will affect positive change and bring communities together. nobles mission to ensure equity in the administration of justice and the provision of public service to all communities and serve as a conscience of law enforcement by being committed to justice by action is exactly what's needed today. law enforcement agencies and departments that have lost touch with communities they serve are doomed to failure. the basic principles of policing directly to this. london sir robert peel the

person is often credited with developing the nine principles of modern policing enumerated these basic principles that apply today's focus on the basic philosophy area . the most important of which i believe are that police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that police are the public and the public are the police. [applause] the police being the only members of the public or paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare assistance. if the police do not secure the willing cooperation of the public they serve in complying with the law, they lost the public respect. does that sound familiar?

both cities and law enforcement in crisis? we as law enforcement professionals need to address these issues straight on through dialogue and cooperation with community leaders. we only serve the public because the public allows and accepts the rule of law. when the police step outside the law or are perceived to act outside the law they erode the public confidence and make policing difficult and nearly impossible. it becomes an us versus them relationship. we are part of the public and want enforcement can never forget that. leaders and members of mobile and other outstanding police organizations can help restore the confidence in policing and help build communities that have experienced divisiveness and upheaval area you, the members here can affect true change, positive institutional change in the nations police departments.

the leadership, education, mentoring future executives, training as well as recruitment of outstanding you to join the ranks of police departments, change can be achieved by including people from diverse communities in the process and that happens through dialogue, through community policing. through achieving a place where once again in which the police are the public and the public are the police. the us capitol police and i personally am proud to support noble in that mission. i've chosen some of my best leaders to attend this conference this year. so thank you for allowing ... [applause] thank you for allowing me a few minutes to briefly touch on these topics and i have enjoyed presenting so far and i appreciate the opportunity to speak. thank you. [applause]

>> i need to offer you an apology comedy. i didn't say your name when i introduced you. i have my glasses with me and my wife is probably saying why didn't you bring your glasses with you? thank you. i apologize for not doing that properly, thank you. i do have them now as i introduce the next speaker. it's my pleasure to introduce you this morning's keynote speaker, mister roderick johnson and assistant to the president and cabinet secretary and chair of the my brother's keeper task force. mister johnson, in that capacity has also held other positions in the public and private sectors, senior advisor to president obama during his campaign in 2012 and four advisor to the obama

presidential campaign in 2008 and was a senior congressional affairs advisor to the kerry campaign in 2004. for the current administration he served as deputy assistant to the president for legislative affairs and started his career in the house of representatives during the time when he drafted landmark legislation including the medical leave act and immigration reform act of 1986. he later served as chief counsel to the house committee on the district of columbia and as democratic chief counsel to the house committee on education and the workforce. he received his baccalaureate from the college of holy cross and his doctorate from the university of michigan where he lectured on public policy and government relations. a native of baltimore maryland, he resides in washington dc with his wife and three children. before i bring into the podium let me say that one of the best things i found serving the scroll as president is the amount of times you get invited to the white house but what is scary

is getting invited to the white house when you didn't tell them you are in washington dc and a track you down. it's scary. and that happened this past fall where we were here for the congressional black caucus. me myself and wayne corcoran were together and we got a call from valerie jarrett, saying she knew we were in town and would we come to the white house to meet and discuss issues related to youth in particular and it was there that i met mister johnson as well as the chair of the my brother's keeper initiative and from then on it's been a discussion and a very deep one about how locals can join with the white house initiative so he will talk more about that. given noble round of applause for mister roderick johnson. [applause] >> good morning, let me start

first by thanking you i am so grateful and so humbled by the recognition by you, so thank you very much. [applause] it is always great to be with our extraordinary attorney general, loretta lynch, and congratulations to my dear friend of many years, eric holder for the incredibly fitting honor that you all just recognized him four.

just think about it, reflect on these two extraordinary and honorable lawyers that this president chose to be his attorneys general. people of great leadership encourage, commitment, compassion, just like the president and first lady of these united states. [applause] it is a true privilege to be here today and bring sincere gratitude on behalf of of the 44th president of these united states, barack obama. it goes without saying that these have been challenging weeks and painful weeks for our american family and certainly for law-enforcement. times that have shaken us to our core, weeks when some individuals filled with hatred have done terrible things to try

to tear this country apart, but we've also seen weeks where we have come together to mourn and to commit to take action. i know the noble family was gathered for the civil rights brunch elimination. the shocking news from baton rouge about the loss of your brothers, the loss of three brave officers who put their life on the line to serve and protect their community. brave souls who ran toward danger rather than from it. pray for their families and for those who were injured yesterday. as the president said in his address to the nation yesterday afternoon, regardless of motive, the death of these three brave officers underscores the danger that police across the country confront every single day. we as a nation have to be clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. attacks on police are an attack on all of us. the rule of law that makes society possible, but as i stand

here today in front of all of you i am also reminded of the president's words from this years medal's medal of valor ceremony. he said, the men and women who run toward danger remind us with your courage and your humility with the highest form of citizenship looks like. when you see students and commuters and shoppers at risk, you don't see the civilians are strangers, you see them as part of your own family your own community. the scripture teaches us to love your neighbor as yourself and you put others safety before your own. you're proud example of public service, he remind us that loving our country means loving one another. you all show that love every day in your service and sacrifice. then you go above and beyond by serving tens of thousands of youth through education programs every year.

we appreciate your new commitment to the my brother's keeper initiative which is designed to connect boys of color to education and program resources aimed at improving their relationship with law-enforcement through your community program. thank you so much for that commitment to my brother's keeper. [applause] that commitment joins alongside your support for the president's task force on 24th century policing. you've been alongside us in our community during the toughest moments like in the aftermath of ferguson. you all embody what it means to be servant leaders and for that we are forever grateful. in addition to serving as the secretary of the president's cabinet, it's my privilege to serve as the chair of my brother's keeper's task force.

the domestic policy agenda has been about expanding opportunity and this came about in the wake of the tragic killing of très von martin. following that tragedy, the president spoke candidly to the nation when he said, trey von martin could have been his son. thirty-five years ago trey von martin could have been him. he went on to say there are a lot of kids out there who need help and who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. finally he said, there has to be more that we can do to give them the sense that this country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them. as you all know the challenges and disparities that boys of young color face are

significant. one and two black boy has no father at home. one in four latinos. by age 3, children children from low income households have heard roughly 30 million fewer words than their hiring computers. by age three. african-american students represent 60% of the public school population, they make they make up 42% of those who were suspended more than once and 3034% expelled. many of them are preschoolers, three and four -year-olds expended suspended or expelled from preschool. isn't that startling? we can do better. high school graduation rate is 82% but many districts see 50% graduation rates% graduation rates or worse two boys of color finally while only 6% of the overall population, blackmails

account for half of the world's murder victims. homicide is the leading cause of death for black males ages 18 - 24. we can do better. in february 2014 the president launched the my brother's keeper initiative from the east room of the white house. it was designed to address the opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color so we can ensure people in this nation can reach their full potential. it is not about a single solution. it's about supporting our children at every stage in their development from cradle to college and career and indeed providing second chances. in response to his call for action, two years ago nearly 250

have accepted the community challenge for my brother's keeper. nearly 250 communities. more than $600 million in private sector and fill grants have been committed in alignment with mbk but we can do better. grant programs have been implemented to ensure that every child has a clear pathway to success from cradle to college and career and second chances. mbk have brought together leaders were eat executing bold plans of action including reducing violence and providing second chances. often that work includes partnership between youth and law enforcement. for example, in boston they have expanded their violence program

in coordination with the boston police department to provide increased on the ground outreach to youth at risk of violent crime. in detroit, they have partnered with the chief of police to launch the team up program, an initiative that matches police officers to serve as mentors with baseball and supple teams. nearly 2000 youth participating in the summer youth program are. with law-enforcement officials. there are 8000 youth in in that program. 2000 of those youth are paired with law-enforcement officials. philadelphia divergent program has led to a 54% reduction in school-based arrest. rather than sending these children into juvenile justice system, the diversion program offers youth and their parents and their caregivers range of social surges in counseling. we need to scale up that work.

that's why we are grateful for the announcement that they will work with us to see this work take place in more communities across the country and bring together young men and young women of color with law-enforcement. again we are so hope your commitment we can expand this work. [applause] brother's keeper is not about just dealing with issues through forms for discussions about making sure we take action, that we come together and we are honest about the challenges we face but that we are committed to work with each other to do the hard work, to restore and rebuild trust. doing the hard work of making sure all of our children, no matter who they are or the where they come from have an equal opportunity and nothing is standing in the way of them

achieving their dreams. it's about young people realizing that they should become law-enforcement officers because it is such an incredibly honorable profession. before i step off the stage the president asked that i share his readings with all of you as well the white house, washington july 15, 2016. i am pleased to join in marking the 40th anniversary of the national organization of black law-enforcement executives. our law-enforcement officials their lives on the line every day for a cause crater than themselves. for many this work is more than a job, is a calling. a chance to give back to the community in which they live and an opportunity to uphold the rule of love and law that sustains our democracy. hours are long and the work is dangerous and the stress is high

and yet all across our country officials carry out their duties fairly and professionally. our nation is safer for it. we are all part of one american family and it is our responsibility to do everything we can to lift up to support all of our people including those who serve and protect our communities. for 40 years noble has been a leader in these efforts. founded in the midst of increasing crime and communities of color, you have work to unify black voices and law enforcement and to mentor and educate thousands of youth through leadership development programs. the task force have looked to the leaders of noble to address challenges and i am grateful for your commitment to communities

that have excepted brothers keeper community challenge to strengthen relationships between youth and enforcement. in today's world our collective efforts are more critical than ever. as a nation, we have made enormous progress in race relations over the past decade. i have that in my own life. ill, remains. in the face of heartache and tragedies, leaders like you remind us that there is no contradiction between supporting police officers and recognizing the racial disparity that exists in our criminal justice system. the america i know is not as divided as some try to insist. i am confident that by coming together to listen, learn and build trust with each other informed like this can further address address some of the challenges have plagued our nation for centuries. as you convene tackle some of america's most pressing issues,

and as you work to keep our communities safe please know that a grateful president thinks you and your family signed president barack obama. [applause] the final thing i would like to say is thank you for half of my family for all you do protect us. we are deeply deeply grateful. god bless all of you and thank you. [applause] >> you in those words.

it is also important to the organization that we continue the discussion we started last fall and as you will see shortly we are issuing a press release that will detail the partnership between the white house, my brothers keeper and noble. come up better than noble to be their having those discussions. we will try to cordon eight our events my brothers keeper and vice versa. another opportunity for us to work with resources in the white house, etc. to spread the message about law-enforcement's role in how important it is. also we need help with recruitment and get more ambassadors to be there to speak on behalf of us when it comes down to issues. thank you again for your time and for the presidents work in

this area. >> i'm going to bring to you now the youth leadership conference representative and that we will come back to close with some acknowledgments. would you please come forward, thank you. [applause] >> thank you. good morning noble members and guest. i am 16 years old and i attend st. mary's high school. [applause] standing here with me is my

classmate age 18 who along with me is serving as a noble use and faster for 15th annual leadership conference. [applause] i want to take this opportunity to thank noble for hosting the youth leadership conference here in washington d.c. along with the other participants, i am committed to being focused and look forward to being empowered, educated and encouraged. [applause] our intention for this youth leadership conference is to be

focused and be free from distraction because we don't want to miss anything that you have for us. i know we are young but we are mindful of what is happening in our world today. we look forward to engaging in robust discussions and engaging with you and we want to be an intentional part of the solution. on behalf of the youth leaders of the noble youth leadership conference, thank you nobles for investing in the future of youth. have have a great conference. [applause]

[applause] >> i was up all night preparing my speech, young man. young man, i'm practicing it in the mirror at one in the morning what are you doing man, you're showing me up. how cool was that? [applause] he said robust i was like really thank you. >> noble family and guests please give a round of applause.

[applause] >> this has been an unbelievable morning. i will go through some of our notes so bear with me. i will start off with some keynotes. this fall meetings are scheduled washington two, u.s. postal service washington three and u.s. marshals service washington five. mentioned earlier, let me say this, present president thomas is very instrumental in reaching out to the white house print this will be a key initiative that i want to point him along to your community program. i want to thank our president for that leadership and this continues to be a big big deal. thank you.

[applause] [inaudible] it will end at 2:45 p.m., however, you can can pick up your items at the security desk. host city, don't leave leave here to go to host city. however, all you will need is your badge. if you have your badge you can get into the host city. founders, let's take a moment to recognize any of our founders that are here this morning. our are any of our founders here this morning? please stand to be recognized. [applause]

chief johnny johnson. we will now ask you to stand so we can return our colors. please stand.

[applause] all of our international members , let's have a round of applause. this is the largest number of international members at our conference. pool ask reverend barbara to come. >> again father we thank you for

what we have heard today. we thank you for the word, we thank you for the enlightenment, thank you for the future and the words of our youth. thank you for the blessing of the last 40 years, thank you for the blessing today and thank you for the blessings to come in the next 40 years. we have been tested, we are being tested, we will be tested. because of our foundation, no matter what storm comes, no matter what tests we face, we will not only pass them but we will be victorious. thank you for the rest of the sessions. in your name we pray, amen. >> amen. >> this concludes our session, thank you.

[inaudible conversation] >> delegates to the republican national convention in cleveland

adopted the rules by a voice vote about an hour ago. they said the rules committee ignored an outcry from a mass of angry delegates rebuffing shouts by those looking to mount a last ditch effort to sink donald trump. the move prompted interruption from the crowd, people yelling will call vote and points of order. there is some of that commotion from the floor in cleveland. [inaudible] i'm [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> usa, usa, usa, usa this is for unity. this is not how you unify the

republican party.provided seven states, the delegates, delegates, a majority of thes delegates from 11 states have submitted written petitions asking for a will call vote. the rules allow us to get a will call vote that's all were wanting. something that is already provided for under our existing rules. it's not too much.untr >> i cannot fathom what they are thinking. why did this make sense? these are the very same people around the country who are going to need to be the engine. >> for more on the convention go

to cspan.org. tonight on the committee caters. >> all were really doing to this transition is allowing the customers of these functions, the the number of registries, the name registries and registrars to now contract directly to get the services they need. >> administrator for the national telugu medications and information administration discusses plans for the u.s. to give oversight of internet governance to an international stakeholder group in late september or the plan is generated opposition from some republican senators. he is interviewed by the senior editor for telecommunications report. >> the folks that want to protect internet freedom, and i think all of us do whether you're a democrat or republican, whether there in administration or congress, we all have that as our goal. we might seriously hurt internet freedom if we renege on our commitment to complete this transition. watch the communicators tonight

at eight eastern on c-span2. >> next, discussion on how to combat poverty without the intervention of the government with lawmakers and antipoverty advocates. this is two hours. good afternoon everyone and welcome to the american enterprise institute. i am pleased to welcome you to this important discussion of our nations antipoverty programs. for some time now the leadership has felt that greater attention needs to be paid to helping those at the bottom of the economic scale move up and out

of poverty. there is a deep frustration that despite the fact we try to improve the material well-being of americans, we are not helping them achieve a station in life where there are no longer in need of ongoing government support. this frustration is felt in a lot of places. at the white house, academia, other think tanks, in neighborhoods and communities around the nation and in congress. to offer some ideas on how we can move forward, the republican study committee of the house of representatives early this summer produce this report. strengthening our safety night net to empower people which will be the topic of today's seminar. we are very pleased to have three members of the house here today to talk about their report and to hear reactions from two notable experts on these programs. first, and perhaps most importantly, we are going to

start outside of washington and hear from experts in the field to help low income americans. they work far removed from the halls of congress. their work has informed some of the ideas contained in the steering committee's report report. i have a special affinity for these outside of washington efforts. that is where i worked prior to coming to washington. i spent 19 years working in agencies and i have some idea of the dedication, heart and wisdom of people who work in these programs and i always love to be among them. i'm pleased to introduce to you our first panel which features three leaders of community-based organization. first up will be odell cleveland who is the chief administrative officer for the baptist church

in greensboro, north carolina pit he was the pres., ceo and cofounder of the welfare reform project in greensboro which began in 1997 as a ministry and became the nation's first faith-based agency. the north carolina aarp and the north carolina medical society foundation. we are glad to have you. don't start yet because i'm going to introduce roberta. roberta keller is the director of the agency headquartered in new york. as dir. she helps to foster economic development opportunities for individuals to help them gain economic end of independence. they've been awarded several distinctions including the department of housing and urban development homeownership award, best practices by the state department she received the new

york state senate women of distinction award in 2005. dean hammond, our hammond, our third participant has worked in low income and homeless how to raising for than 30 years including founding a company with management software. he joined the board for affordable housing in 2004 and served as the chairman and was contracted as president before stepping down in 2012. he is now a consultant to the board. he is retired army major and was awarded the purple heart in the vietnam war. after these three presentations, we will have them come up and

report and then we'll have them, make comments on the report and during parts of this and at different times we hope you have a good dialogue with the audience as well with questions. i have one other person to introduce and she's here somewhere. she is a timekeeper for ai and she will be giving signs so we can keep everybody on schedule. i'm sorry to say that but that's part of what happens when you are trying to run a well run seminar. i want to say one last thing about seminars, some of you may know this is one of the earliest institute of good thinking and sharing in the united states. when president johnson was president he would get frustrated with things and say were going to have one of these

darn seminars. that didn't get the laugh i was hoping for but that's okay. the point is this is something like that. we want to have a free and open discussion. >> i just want to say, thank you all for coming. it's interesting when everybody looks at the time. everybody looks at the preacher and that's what they keep the time for. i'm glad this discussion is on the table in a forum that goes on both sides of the aisle. twenty years ago when i got into this business, i was in in divinity school and i was doing my masters thesis and the thesis was the black church response to the 1996 welfare reform act. in that piece that piece of paper we talked about what we

didn't do a good job of is documenting how much saved us from if he was on the system. when you start looking at the reports, how much savings did it come to the bottom line. when you start looking at the human impact, how all of a sudden people start feeling good about themselves because they were working, also and they were being successful, all the sudden you have the faith community that so many people believe in on the front lines and helping them get a hand up, not a handout and being a cheerleader and helping and going into the community, helping business owners say listen, you don't have to go halfway around the world on a mission ship. i have a mission have a mission for you right around the corner. exercise your faith.

get involved and lets help create jobs. let's help with all these things and that's how we became so successful. you have to understand, one of the things we did was the fact that people who didn't want help or left. you cannot make somebody want to change. i think in part of the discussion i read, if you're going to make someone or encourage someone to get married or someone who's been married for 31 years where love my wife, that's for the young guys in the group, you have to want to be married. no form of legislation is going to make someone get married, but i was so disappointed and i read that the administration took the work requirements out. the work requirements must be put back in and they must stand because that's a big driver that helps make all of this work. if you are asking the social workers in the department of

social service system to be job development, that's not going to work. that's not their forte. when they partner with us, usually they give you the hardest to serve because no one, people understand the game, they usually give the faith community the hardest to serve, how are you going to get this person employed odell and that's where we do our miracles. no hocus-pocus, just going in building relationships with business owners and getting them to buy in and making it a success. when you get them to buy and you go back to the individual and you get him or her to buy in. believe it or not, the baptist preacher is going to push the time on because i look forward to the discussion. i'm so excited that we have this conversation because in spite of people's biases, prejudices and

stereotypes about poor people, especially poor black people who looked like me, a lot of your stereotypes are not accurate. my purpose here today, along with others, is to show success and show that people want a hand up and not a handout. part of the system, it's systemic. i will and with this, some people people have seen the safety net which is a metaphor for social programs and they turned it into a hammock. some people see poverty as a pillow and yes maybe it has some lumps in it but you can get used to a lumbee pillow, but you stay in the safety net or the hammock long enough and what was there to protect you will trap you and entangle you with life issues. when you get ready to move, you can't move. it's a problem. it's systemic. a lot of the problem is us. we look for the enemy and the

enemy is us. we put things in place so odell didn't have to work. you don't have to do anything odell so for some of us, i'm not going to do anything. now we blame us for what we created. thank you. >> amen. >> thank you my name is roberta keller. i'm the director of the community action agency. were an anti-poverty agency in our mission is to assist those living in poverty, prevent people who are vulnerable from falling into poverty and getting into poverty, create economic opportunities to get out of poverty and to discover in our local community exactly what it is that is causing or assisting people to slide down economically into vulnerable economic situations. in our agency, we work holistically with people that we

serve meeting that we know when you come, when you fall into poverty and you have a problem, it affects all parts of your life. we are not there just to deal with your children or just to deal with your housing or just to deal with your help. we deal with all of it. you come you will be risk assessed across 25 domains. based on that risk we will find out all there is that you're eligible for. we will measure you against continuous care. that continuum of care tracks you from crisis to economic security. our goal of course is for everybody to be self-sufficient and reach the middle of that continuum. our hope for everybody is that they move toward economic security. in 2008 it was a validation of our process that those among us found themselves secure but we weren't as secure as we thought

we were. we are teaching sound financial principles. we are training people to be responsible and take responsibility in their lives. we use our services and we are an umbrella agency that covers all range of services. we are a community action agency and a development corporation and a financial institution, a licensed care agency, a referral agency and many, many titles and agencies. that allows us to do a whole plethora of services for people. we can assist people to push people toward economic security. what our continuum does is it shows people where they are. for most people living in poverty, they have been in generational poverty, they don't realize where they are. you don't realize where they can be.

we don't take somebody who's homeless and talk about home ownership. we take people where they are look at the next wrong along the continuum. that's something they can relate to. they can understand the collateral cost of where they are today. they make short and long-term plans and we have a system along that continuum. we've been doing this for about 20 years. we are an evidence-based agency. it works. >> phil gray, the current president of the foundation for affordable housing and i would like to thank eei and a congressman for having us here to discuss this important topic. we are all a part of this topic. we have to find solutions for this program. the foundation for affordable housing has been in the housing business for 22 years. i'm in a focus it right down onto that and talk about a model

that we feel offers support and roberta brought up several of those agencies that we use. in any case, we built in 1994 a 100 unit sr facility to hold homeless. we came to find out that many of them fall under a couple categories, especially those on disability or welfare payments where they have an average of $815 a month to live and that's not going to change. we've been housing them, thousands of them through the years at st. james place in those apartments. they pay around $360 a month and that's more than 30% of their income. we are are going away from that model considerably. they have a safe, clean affordable place to live and they can continue to live there safely. for some of them it is the last place they will ever live. in 2005 we constructed a

veterans wing. it was funded by a va grant, some tax credits and home funds and we used that with the support intensive transitional housing program supported by the veterans administration rent per dm program. where men and women in the program and they can be in the program a maximum of 24 months months. i realize some of them labeled transitional housing as a barrier to housing. that's not the case at all. we want to give them the right tools and incentive to develop into a productive and move on. this is unsubsidized housing. the sport of model we use is the one i'm going to talk about today. i will be referencing some statistics associated with this

program over the past 43 months. when we speak like a model like this where were trying to turn a life a around before goes completely bad we are looking for some check lists used in the process. permanent work, training and education, stable finances. what we find? structure. that's a big factor. these folks lack structure. when we look at special should schools may have structure in special programs. the military, same thing. prisons, same thing. there's plenty of structure and sometimes they go back to that. family, structure again. we have to create an environment where they can create their own structure. we are going to treat you like a good citizen until you are one.

it's not a one-size-fits-all. we have to look at the person and were looking for specific client client. here she may be homeless or drug court or may have an addiction with no instruction. here's the fork in the road. we can enroll this individual in the course offered by incarceration with your she can learn new skills and have access and meet influential people and still not pay their child support and go back to life and environment where they left and returned to prison within three years. 84% of inmates, 24 or younger 24 or younger will be back in jail within five years. there will be no family reconciliation there. we can enroll this individual in the course of study for addiction life recovery. he or she can learn new skills

with targeted job training. they can meet influential people and be drug and alcohol tested often. learn to dress appropriately, have a resume and a key component, participate in a mandatory savings program where you can get a job they want to be saving. that mandatory savings program is monitored for the hud way. 30% of their adjusted income, instead of going to rent first it will go to savings. our veteran saved an average of $2200 per veteran. ninety-four clients over the last 43 months have saved $206,000. these are homeless, penniless people who come to us. 124 participated and saved $259,000. one quarter of a million dollars. continuing, to be up-to-date on child support, starting in the

second quarter of the program. do not go back to life environment they left. they move into permanent housing, move move into permanent housing 86.4%. that's our percentage right now. move into permanent non- subsidize housing, 74%. and then family reconciliation that works out sometime. remember these games was homeless and penniless. let's let's talk about the money. let's do a comparison. federal prison, the average in 2014 30,000 $619. state prison in new york 60000, city of new york jail $167,000 per year. we should just put them in a waldorf. it's so much money. life recovery, $22,900 per year. i ask you, per year. i ask you, which one is better question 30,000 or 23000 or

167,000? >> here's an example. a woman is working part-time three job save $2850 and because of that she got a match from another program for 2000 paid cash for her car and furniture purchase that i will not be returning to prison and working toward reuniting with her daughter. so this is not a giveaway. this is a programmer you have to work to what you're doing in the program. 8% probably won't make it. 92% can really change their lives, 86% can be in stable life condition and 72% can be in a permanent place with a permanent a permanent job. this is the reality we are rebuilding. >> can i say one thing? i think you will see all practitioners that have been successful, as you have an as

you have have discovered it takes comprehensive and we have the same approach with our customers but the issue is the money, the funding funding for antipoverty program do not follow this approach and it takes an organization to step back from a contract and say that we have a model and we will find the money and use the money to follow our model, not we won't be an agency that implements a contract. government contract, the anti- poverty programs that exist in this country are not designed at all in any of the ways you've heard the three of us talk about and they are not in any way measuring success or breeding success. there's not one government contract that i operate that requires an outcome and i

operate $70 million worth of government contracts and none of them require one outcome. i have taken those contracts and put them on the side burner and use them as tools and bend them in order to make us work and help people change lives. we need to apply them when their appropriate, for example, and i'll just use two very brief examples, if i can. section eight housing, subsidized housing is extremely useful tool if you don't tell somebody that they can have it for the rest of their life. which they can, but you don't tell them. you use it at the right time in the right way and you structure it the way it was designed to be originally but has become a crutch that allows people to just live in poverty forever, as you said and the other is

management assistance which we go to great lengths to help people develop sound financial practices and to establish good credit and many seniors who have fallen into hard time since 2008 and they are in fixed incomes are going for energy assistance for the first time in their life and they are applying in order to get, in new york state, the full energy assistance which isn't going to carry you through the winter anyway, you have to default on your bill. in order to default, you are going to ruin your credit. when they default, the energy company comes and shuts them off in charges everybody is shut off the and they don't lose many, they go to the public mission and say we lost money last year so were going to raise our rate. the taxpayer is paying for the subsidy for the person who is on energy assistance was now

defaulting to get the full benefit and that's costing the taxpayer more money because they are rates are going to go up because the utility company are paying more money. all you have to do is pay the utility company to give eligible customers a subsidize energy rate and cut out ten layers of bureaucracy and stop putting people into default. it's just small examples of every anti-poverty program that exist. every single one of them is flawed and needs to be reworked and needs to work together but they are all operating in government silos and it takes an organization operates many housing programs or many kinds of antipoverty programs to be able to step back and take that approach. >> okay, that was a great inning and i think we will. i will make a few comments on what i heard as we get the

congressman to come up. it seems to me that we heard about work requirements, we heard about coordination among programs, serving the whole person as opposed to just one aspect of the person, we heard about the federal role, it seems to me that it's clear there is a federal role in helping low-income americans and people on the timelines recognize that, providing resources and money and assistance and finally we heard about local control, the ability of localities and the leaders to structure their programs the way they want and then i also think i heard from three of you, and we will come back to these issues, the willingness to accept evidence and outcome measurements to hold her accountable for how well you do. so for the second part of her presentation today we have three distinguished tribesmen from the house of representatives and going in order from congressman

reed to congressman walker, we'll start with the senator from kentucky. he's a member of the committee on financial services and he is committed to creating a better environment for job creation and economic growth. his immediate priority include promoting economic activity and sanity to washington. tom reed after -- he is a member of the house committee. in this role he is engaged in the house of representatives antipoverty efforts as well as efforts and tax reform, energy and poverty. before his time he was a small business owner working in line real estate peer in his career in public service began in 2008.

>> to share their stories and their successes in combating poverty in particular. i'd like to thank dean hammond and phil gray with st. james place in lexington, kentucky, who have demonstrated through their model a real successful and innovative model of

combating poverty and helping people recover from addiction. i come from a congressional district, like so many other members of congress, that features urban poverty, but in the far eastern part of my congressional district, we have a number of counties that are designated severely economically distressed as part of the appalachian regional commission. and there's a hot of rural poverty not just in my congressional district, but throughout appalachia, and throughout the country. after 50 years of the war on poverty and trillions of taxpayer dollars spent, i think it's fair to say that washington has failed many americans who are most in need. worse, bureaucratic inertia has crept into government officials who refuse to give up on failing policies that they almost treat as dogma. for example, housing and urban development secretary julian castro who will appear again before our house financial services committee again this week has pushed a housing first model that ignores all other

factors of beneficiaries' well being of future self-sufficiency. last summer when secretary castro testified before our committee, i asked him how he measured success at hud, and he responded, quote: putting a roof over someone's head. and he touted that the number of people in public housing was increasing. but is that really an appropriate measure of success? most private and nonprofit assistance initiatives such as alcohol and drug abuse recovery programs focus on the number of people that they have actually helped achieve sobriety or recovery, not how many are currently in the program. so i think we need to focus on outcomes as opposed to the size of government or the number of government programs. there will always be a need for safety net programs. and for those who have fallen on hard times. to assist those who cannot work such as seniors and the disabled. but the measure of our success should not be how many people struggling in poverty, the

measure of success should not be how many people struggling in poverty are propped up by taxpayer dollars. instead, it should be how many people have we helped achieve, escape poverty. how many people have we helped achieve upward mobility in achieving the american dream. despite $22 trillion spent on anti-poverty programs, poverty rates have been essentially level. today there's about 46.7 million people including more than one in five children who are struggling in poverty. and worse, measurements of social mobility appear to be headed in the wrong direction as business formation and entrepreneurship are at a generation aloe. generational low. if you're born poor, you're as likely to remain in poverty today as you were when the great society or when the war on poverty was announced in 1965. and that's, obviously, the reverse of the american dream that we all share.

so more of the same cannot be the solution. that's why my colleagues and i, working through the republican study committee's empowerment initiative, have produced a comprehensive review of federal anti-poverty programs to inform legislative proposals to create a new model. and this work has informed speaker ryan's better way to fight poverty. my focus in these efforts has been on housing reform, an issue within the jurisdiction of the financial services committee. hud can no longer treat those in need as liabilities. warehoused for generations in publicly-assisted housing. our fellow americans want to recognize their full potential, contributing to their communities, to our body politic and to our national economy. and, of course, arthur brooks with the american enterprise institute so eloquently put it in his, in his book "the conservative heart" when he talked about poor people not being liabilities to be managed by some distant, remote government bureaucracy in washington, d.c., but poor

people are dormant assets, untapped potential. and we view, as brooks does, that work is not a punishment. it shouldn't be viewed as a punishment. work is a blessing i. gives -- it gives people the opportunity to achieve their potential and give back to their fellow hub. so the -- human being. so the most effective anti-poverty program is a good paying job. we are advocating job training requirements for able-bodied individuals in public housing to reduce poverty and ease the cost to taxpayers. the more efficient we can be in helping people off public assistance, the more people we can reach with limited federal resources. and this model has worked before. we're building on the successes of the 1996 welfare reform model which led to employment rates increasing by 15% and dramatically reduced child poverty. in recent years these reforms have been chipped away, and the results speak for themselves

with low labor participation rates, the lowest labor participation since the malaise of the late 1970s. our plan also improves flexibility for states and encourages the establishment of pilot programs to test innovative assistance models like those demonstrated by our panel. the work of dean hammond and the st. james' -- st. james please'ses model -- place's model works. meaningfully improving lives. warehousing poor people is not a solution. identifying underlying causes of homelessness and dealing with those issues is a better approach. we also should consolidate access to assistance so that beneficiaries can receive unemployment, food assistance and housing benefits all in one place while getting their questions answered quickly to avoid being caught in red tape. and our plan would also encourage competition so that

scarce resources for section eight vouchers or vouchers for housing would not be simply allocated to one public housing authority, but instead those housing authorities out there that are doing a good job helping people graduate into non-subsidized housing situations, they would be rewarded for services that are actually working. and they would take on a greater responsibility. and i believe that we also should open it up to the institutions of private society, die yo cease, churches, synagogues and nonprofit be organizations that have better results when it comes to graduating people from public assistance into self-sufficient situations. and finally, our plan would demand results and accountability. no more useless metrics or ambiguous mission statements. programs administered by state and local governments are not moving from -- people from

welfare to work, then they shouldn't deserve taxpayer support. one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. washington's approach toward fighting poverty is insane and has been a failure. we and must do better to insure that no american is limited by the conditions of his or her birth or by unexpected hardship. so if we work together on these legislative solutions, i truly do believe that we can restore the american dream. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for sharing the front line stories on this important issue and taking on poverty. and i will tell you i'm often asked, you know, why. why have you made this a priority in your tenure in congress. and the fundamental answer to that question is just as many of you, i care. i care.

i'm a republican member of congress, and i will tell you often i am told that my mission in life in congress is to penalize people, judge people and not show any type of compassion for people. and i can tell you as my colleagues will attest on my left and right here, we do care. we just offer a different way. we offer a different way. and i will share the story of my life with you. i will share the story of being the youngest of 12, 8 older sisters, 3 younger brothers, whose father passed away when i was 2. so i was raised by a single mom who was given that curveball in life and was given a choice; you can either to develop a chip on your shoulder, get knocked down and never get back up, or what you could do is you could take that curveball, and you could make lemonade. and you can get back up. and you can smile, and you can count your blessings and treat each other with respect and work hard, and that's the lesson she taught to me. and when i was a law guardian

when i first got out of school, an attorney appointed by the court to represent various kids throughout the court system. and i went and met one of my clients, he was an 8-year-old man in western new york which is a beautiful part, as robert pointed out, of the country. and it's essentially appalachia. essentially, he was dirt poor. and i sat with him in his living room. and i asked him, i said, what do you want to be when you get older, just to develop a friendship, a relationship, being his attorney in that court proceeding. and the response was eye-opening. the response was, essentially, what do you mean? this is what we do. you know, i thought maybe he would say astronaut, police officer, you know, cure cancer, something like that. but, essentially, then it dawned upon me. how could i expect that young man who was 8 years old to, when he's 21, 22, to know anything different than the life he was exposed to? that's the cycle of poverty that i read about and that i have

seen firsthand. and so when i come to this issue, i come at it from a personal perspective that we must do better. we need to do better. the status quo with the federal government that is taking on the war in poverty for decades just doesn't work. and i am influenced by a lot of leaders across the country and former leaders of the country, and i see jimmy kemp here. his father also comes from western new york. jack kemp is somebody i looked up to and look up to each and every day. and what he taught us to be is a happy warrior, to take on these issues and look at people in the eye and recognize the potential that is there. and the systems that we have developed in the federal government at the state level and the local level just don't do that. the silos that have been talked about by roberta and others, that andy mentioned, the left hand of government not knowing what the right hand is doing, recognizing under our proposal the better way, the rsd proposal, that we need to look at the holistic approach.

that's roberta keller. i've gotten to know roberta over the years representing her, and she's doing amazing work. i've toured her facility numerous times. she takes the holistic approach. because when you deal with poverty, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. and then when you have policies that not only cause you to be penalized when you work, but we also have a life-changing impact. you lose your daycare, you lose your heating assistance, you lose your transportation assistance. our policies need to be coordinated. our policies have to look at the entire approach. and that's what we are proposing in the rsd proposal as well as the better way. rewarding work, standing with people as they go through life and recognizing that, yeah, we can be there during that time to offer some type of assistance, be it cash assistance for the crisis situation. and that only takes care of an individual for a moment. we need to make sure that we are standing with them to get the

skill set, the education that is going to empower them for a lifetime. that's truly caring for people. it's the old adage, you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. you teach a person to fish, you not only take care of them, but you take care of their families and the next generations to come. and those are the policies i think you see here today; recognizing we've got to break the silos of bureaucracy, stand with work. and the other reason why we're standing with work -- and this is another thing i often get chastised, all you want to do is penalize people and force them to work. what was taught to me by my mother was work is good. i can tell you, i have talked with people that have received that first check after going through life's struggles, and it's rewarded their soul. it's touched them here. it's allowed them to have self-worth. it's allowed them to take pride of ownership in what they were able to achieve. that is what i think our policymakers and our policy

operators lose sight of each and every day, is that by empowering people to earn their own way, they actually not only earn that paycheck, they earn that confidence, that pride and that ability to go on not only for themselves, but for their children and the next generation. so i'm excited to be part of this effort. i hope you join us in this effort. and this is not about republican or democrat. this is about us as human beings looking at each other saying there's a better way, because the status quo has failed, and we need to move forward in a positive, proactive way. >> thank you, andy, thank you, tom. also thank you to robert at aei for creating this venue. also love hearing the stories from mr. hammond and ms. keller on the success. not overnight, but years of hard work. specifically, my friend odell cleveland jr. when i began this process about three years ago not having any kind of political background or experience, what i felt compelled to do was to find

people in the community, regardless of their political affiliation, a people who really were making a difference, a measured difference and impact on our community. and i found a gentleman, odell, that was respected by both democrats, independents and republicans alike. he had been spending time over the years crafting relationships. in fact, one of the gentlemen that worked with him for many years is now a legislative correspondent easley yea son in our office and does a great job. be i want to speak today specifically on my aspect of the policy side which is education. and i want to break it down in two ways, if i could, please. one is the system, and the other aspect of it is the public. specifically, when it comes to the system, i want to talk about a specific piece of legislation that i believe is conducive to building a base level and a foundation that can help curb potential poverty in the various family structures. i believe the united states was founded on, as you probably do,

all men are created equal. and while it's not government's job to fulfill our dreams, our goals, as lawmakers we have an opportunity to empower people as opposed to enabling them when it comes to accomplishing the american dream. every man, woman, boy and child should have that same opportunity to escape the poverty and achieve the fullest potential as god has created that person to accomplish. and one of the things we've seen recently over the last couple of years in my long tenure of 17 months in congress -- [laughter] is the d.c. opportunity scholarship program and some of the great choice that has provided families of $8,000ing a year. i believe -- $8,000 a year. i believe choice plays a huge impact not just in the scholarship opportunity, but if we could zoom out about 30,000 feet, a piece of legislation called the a+ act which specifically allows states, local arenas to opt out of all

the federal mandates but continue to keep the federal funding to invest it and put it into the local arenas that have seen some success. to me, that's a common sense approach. it's federalism at its finest when it comes to empowering the people who are there on the ground there at the battle line making that kind of difference. we need to take a hard look at government's approach for the last five decades. it'd be one thing if we had measured success. and i believe that we can see through different testing and different results that something hasn't worked in our education system since the creation of the department of education and other aspects. we have created tons of programs and many more different vehicles or creative avenues, but something isn't working when it comes to the overall testing. the a+ act allows these schools to be able to take those funds and make an investment where it has the greatest impact. a great education should not be a privilege available only to

the wealthy. yet sadly, millions of children are trapped in failing schools are really no education options. there's not a whole lot of flexibility. i'm sure everybody in the room is familiar with common core and one of the pushbacks on that was that one-size-fits-all strategy. we want to get away from that. we want to be allowing those teachers, in fact, i would dare say if i were to ask you a teacher that made the most impact in your life, it was probably someone who got outside the box, someone who allowed to take their personality and have the flexibility and creativity that would impact, that would make a difference as far as your future life. the mind of a child is a precious thing. every child is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. parents know their children the best. not faceless bureaucrats sitting behind a desk in washington. let me take just a minute if i could, please, in talking about families. one of the things i believe that the a+ act does, it gives us a

chance to continue to restore that family. a lot of these are symptomatic issues a as we've seen the -- as we've seen the family dissipate since the 1960s when you're able to do anything that brings the family back in, that puts some ownership back on the family, that empowers them, i believe it gives you the best chance for future success. government can expand opportunity when it gets out of the way and paves the road to plan ration between -- collaboration between students and teachers. that, to me, is part of what i would call the system part of it. and a few more things if we have time in terms of the nitty-gritty, but i don't want to forfeit some of my time unless i talk about also the public side of this. and to me, this is maybe the most important aspect. when we talk about programs, we talk about policies, sometimes we fail or we neglect to mention the conduit of which those programs are delivered. and i think, to me, any program succeeds or fails based on how

it is delivered. you say, what do you mean by that? let me talk about relationships for a moment. by background is working in places of inner cities of baltimore, new york, in cleveland long before there were any political aspirations. i remember specifically sun beam elementary school in cleveland, ohio. we took a team of about 60, 65, began to work and try to do our best to refurbish the school. this was first through sixth grade. i remember seeing the metal detectors, just the rundown -- the playground had one piece of equipment left, and it was a plastic little tykes picnic bench that had faded over years. the lack of hope impacted me to eventually come back and talk about transitioning from nearly two decades of ministry to be able to talk about what is it that we're missing in government, what is it that we have bypassed, that we've skipped over that are fundamental aspects? and i believe it is crucial from the education side that we begin to make those investments.

i look at it from a faith perspective, that god created every single individual with unique skills. and i believe when the federal government begins to wedge itself in there, i think sometimes we do a disservice to the public because we limit those opportunities to achieve or fulfill those wonderful things. sometimes i have had the opportunity to teach postgraduate work at divinity schools, and it's interesting when you're teaching these younger pastors, because they can't wait to get out there and change everything from the music style to the curtains, the carpet, you name it. i've got the plan of it's my thesis, i'm ready to go with it. what has happened though is sometimes we have failed to understand that it's about putting the relationship first. when you're able to build trust, you're then able to make a difference. i see my time has expired, so i'll conclude my remarks there and hopefully have a chance to share a little more. thank you very much. [applause]

>> harry? -- [inaudible] >> so when we started to decide that we wanted to invite the congressmen over to present this report, they said that they didn't want it to just be about them, they wanted representatives and people from their communities who had taught them so much about these issues. and they also wanted some pushback, some give and take, they wanted a discussion. so we went looking for a discussion on these issues, and i could not find two greater or people, and i have great confidence in their integrity and wisdom, than professor harry holzer and angela rachidi. i'm going to introduce the two of them.

harry, you're first and, angela, you're second. and then i hope we can have some response, some back and forth and some good discussion. i know i've got a couple follow-ups. let me do the introductions first. harry holzer is professor of public policy at georgetown and a fellow at the american institute for research in washington. he is a former chief economist for the united states department of labor and a former professor of economics at michigan state university. he is also a nonresident senior fellow at the brookings institution and the research affiliate of the institute for research on poverty at the university of wisconsin-madison among other affiliations. hehe has authored and edited bos on disadvantaged workers and their employers and labor market policy. he holds a ph.d. in economics from harvard. angela rachidi is a research fellow in poverty studies at aei where she studies the effects of public policy on low income family. a former deputy commissioner for policy research and evaluation for the department of social

services in new york city, dr. rachidi oversaw a team of analysts working on studies that were used to help local officials make informed policy decisions on how work, family and public policy can reduce policy poverty and improve the situation of a family. she has a ph.d. in social welfare policy, she's written several research papers for aei including on childcare, the marriage penalties and labor force participation. we're very grateful to have both of you here. harry, you're first. >> okay. thank you, robert, and thank you for having me today. so when my first robert doar called me a few weeks ago and asked me to do this, i said, robert, i'm going to have to say a lot of critical things. he said, it's okay, just be polite. [laughter] now, that's a little problematic because as some of you may know, polite isn't my strong suit -- [laughter] even under the best of circumstances, but i will try. i think, to me, this was a very blunt report, and it merits a very blunt response.

anything less than that will be dishonest. i'm going to try to get the right balance. if i fail, i apologize in advance. let me tell you a little bit also about who i am and the way i look at the world with. i am an economist. i did serve in the clinton administration, so i am tagged as a democrat in this town, but i part company from them. i think work incentives are really, really important. i think tanf did improve an increase in work with incentive, and some of that was very good. it also created other problems that i'll mention in a minute. i think stable, two-parent families are the best ways to raise children in america. not every country. in america that means marriage. i wish we had policy buttons we could push, but i think conservatives have largely been right about that. i was one of the aei/brookings poverty report. robert was another one of the authors. i stand by every word in that report, so i am used to working, reaching across the aisle and working with my conservative

friends from whom i learn a lot. even reports like the paul ryan report, it was not my favorite document in the world, but i found some positive things to talk about and think about. having said all that, my reaction to report, i've got to tell you, was pretty negative. with all due respect to the congressmen, i found the report to be extremely partisan, extremely ideological. it's nasty in tone to people like me who are democrats. it is full of gratuitous slaps at president obama and president johnson, many of which serve no purpose except to alienate people like me. it's polarizing, it's polemical, in many ways it doesn't do -- it doesn't have this nice tone that i think congressmen today tried to strike. there's many statements that i believe are false if you look at the research evidence, and i'm talking about the rigorous research evidence using rigorous methods. and i'll mention a few of them.

some of them are grand, general statements, some of them are very specific. and by the way, i think american poverty programs have a lot of problems, and the silos mentioned before are real issues, no doubt about it. it could be much better. a few comments. and all three of you said the current system is a failure. johnson's big government welfare state has been a failure. i'm sorry, i regard that statement as demonstrably false when you look at the rigorous ed on these programs -- evidence on these programs, on head start, on job corps, that is not what you can conclude from carefully looking at that evidence. you can be critical. you can say the evidence is very mixed. you can say the programs are too costly. you can say they don't get at the underlying issues, but to say it's a complete figure ignores the positive that you find in a lot of this research and evaluation, literature. and, in fact, if you measure poverty correctly, with the census-driven supplemental rate,

it actually has declined over time, and it's pretty easy to link it to some of the problems that are criticized in this report. another comment, obama has gutted the tanf work rules. i regard that as a false be sometimes. ron haskins has told me it's false, and ron haskins has looked and written on a lot of these rules, and he regards those -- and i trust ron. ron pretty much wrote the welfare be reform policies in tanf, and i trust his judgment. and he disagrees completely. there's also all kinds of half-truths in the report. for example, we hear about the 799 -- let's call it 800 billion, okay? it's fine. half of that is on health care. medicaid and a few other schip type programs which to me says, tell us a lot more about how outrageous health care is in america rather than we're overspending. all of the other stuff is the other 400 billion.

it's 2% of gdp in america. 2% of gdp is not a huge, massive government -- in fact, when you compare us to all other industrialized countries, we're on the low end of what we spend as a fraction of gdp. and, in fact, when you compare us to those countries, those countries all have more generous safety nets, lower poverty rates and higher rates of upward mobility than we do. so this notion that our program is so generous and trapping people, i think, has a little empirical -- and i'll tell you one other thing that was upsetting to me. 42 footnotes. a few of them are to the census bureau. the vast majority of the articles are either papers coming out of right-wing think tanks, right-wing media outlets or right-wing political conservative appointees. not one footnote to a rigorous, peer-reviewed article of which there's a large quantity. not one. which, to me, tells me the information that was driving the view. let me talk a little bit about a

few of the programs. and i'm going to argue it's not these programs don't have negatives, but the reality's much more complex than this notion that we've simply all failed. first of all, welfare reforms. i think welfare reform did a lot of good in the late '90s when the economy was strong. since then the number of disconnected mothers disconnected from work as well as welfare has gone up quite dramatically. and, again, ron haskins writes about this more than anyone else. millions of those moms not on welfare and not working. i'll get back to that. tanf no longer raises anybody out of deep poverty. it used to. it did nothing in the recession to combat the rise in poverty that occurred when jobs weredisappearing in the recession. on the other hand, food stamps -- heavily demonized in the report -- food stamps does raise millions of people and families out of deep poverty. it's successful in doing that. it does -- it did combat the recession.