1.2 - Reviewing Utah's Work on IGP
Utah has been hard at work creating tools and resources to combat intergenerational poverty. Utah now has a law requiring the state to focus its efforts to combat intergenerational poverty. To learn more, click on the "IGP Statute" tab at top.
To provide State-level leadership and to coordinate collaboration and sharing of information between State agencies, the Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission was created, aligning the major State offices and agencies that work most closely with the children and youth experiencing IGP. To find out more, click on "Commission" at top.
The priority for Utah is to focus on the children caught in the cycle of poverty and determine the key indicators for child well-being as determined by the data. To find out more about what the data tells us, how it helps hone Utah's efforts to mitigate intergenerational poverty, and the State's focus areas for child well-being, click on the "Reports and Data" tab at top.
In 2012, the Utah Legislature adopted the Intergenerational Poverty Mitigation Act (Act), recognizing that children in the cycle of poverty and welfare dependency experience barriers to stability and opportunity.
When families remain in the cycle of poverty there are high societal and economic costs to Utah. The Act requires the Department of Workforce Services to provide an annual report on the status of individuals experiencing intergenerational poverty. It meets this requirement through coordination of data sharing across the five state agencies that comprise the Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission (Commission). These agencies include the following: Department of Health (DOH), Department of Human Services (DHS), Department of Workforce Services (DWS), Juvenile Courts and the Utah State Board of Education (USBE).
The Act requires the identification of children along with the barriers and challenges they experience with intergenerational poverty.
Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission
To reduce the number of Utah families in the cycle of poverty, thereby improving their quality of life and helping them become economically stable.
The Commission is made up of the following members:
- Chair: Lieutenant Governor. State of Utah
- Vice Chair: Executive Director, Department of Workforce Services
- Executive Director, Department of Health
- Executive Director, Department of Human Services
- State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Utah State Board of Education
- juvenile Court Administrator
- Intergenerational Poverty Advisory Committee Chair
Advisory Committee
The Intergenerational Poverty Advisory Committee is comprised of the following:
- Committee Chair
- Advocacy Group that Focuses on Childhood Poverty
- Advocacy Group that Focuses on Education
- Academic Expert in Childhood Poverty or Education
- Faith-based Organization that Addresses Childhood Poverty or Education
- Local Government Representative that Addresses Childhood Poverty or Education
- Child Mental Health
- Child Health
- Additional Member Option
- Additional Member Option
- Additional Member
Critical data has been gathered over the last four years, made possible only with the appropriate state agencies building memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to protect the privacy of individuals. These MOUs allow the data to tell the correct story, guide the work, and help elected officials make better decisions in addressing poverty, both at the state and local level.
The State's Goals
Four Focus Areas
Goal Related to Commission Purpose
Primary Goals
10-Year Goal Eliminate duplication of services across state agencies and ensure case managers serving the same families collaborate on the best services necessary to serve the needs of the children.
5 Year-Goal Agencies serving same families coordinate case management of these families ensuring alignment of case management plans and reducing burden on families.
Additional 5-Year Goals
- Social service providers, state agencies, local governments and faith-based organizations will learn what each is doing to end poverty and develop best practices from all entities fighting to end poverty to ensure coordination and alignment across systems and levels of government.
- Determine the data needed to develop measurable indicators to monitor the progress on the established goals.
- Educate Utah's public of the impact intergenerational poverty has not only on the children experiencing it but on Utah's economy and quality of life.
Education
Primary Goals
10-Year Goal Children at risk of remaining in poverty as they become adults graduate from high school at the rate equal to the statewide rate.
5 Year-Goal Align systems assisting with educational outcomes to ensure efforts are focused in schools disproportionately impacted by intergenerational poverty. These systems include all levels of government, local schools, communities, business and non-profits.
Additional 5-Year Goals
- Ensure communities disproportionately impacted by intergenerational poverty provide access to high-quality afterschool programs on a sliding fee scale.
- Ensure children's education is supported by adults in their lives including teachers, parents, caseworkers, judges, coaches and agencies serving their needs.
Family Economic Stability
Primary Goals
10-Year Goal Children at risk of remaining in poverty are living in families tbat are self-sufficient.
5 Year-Goal Children at risk of remaining in poverty are living in stable families, able to meet basic needs (i.e. food, housing, health, safety and transportation).
Health
Primary Goals
10-Year Goal Children experiencing intergenerational poverty are receiving physical, mental and dental care at the same rates as the statewide rates in each of those areas, regardless of where their family resides in Utah.
5 Year-Goal Children experiencing intergenerational poverty have access to quality physical health, mental health and dental care, regardless of where their family resides in Utah.
Additional 5-Year Goals
- Ensure schools serving a high percentage of children at risk of remaining in poverty develop a program to meet the mental health needs of students. For example, implementing the Department of Human Services' Mental Health Early Intervention and Prevention in Schools Program.
Early Childhood Development
Primary Goals
10-Year Goal Children at risk of remaining in poverty as they become adults are emotionally, cognitively and developmentally prepared for kindergarten.
5 Year-Goal Align all systems involved in early childhood development to ensure Utah has the capacity to prepare children at risk of remaining in poverty for kindergarten.
Additional 5-Year Goals
- Where appropriate, involve all positive parental relations in the lives of children to ensure children have the support needed to achieve the best outcomes. Although there may be situations in which the involvement of a parent would jeopardize the safety of the child, where that is not the case, parents should be encouraged to create a positive relationship with their child and foster efforts to generate cooperation among both parents to achieve the best outcomes for the child.