Special to the Patriot-Bridget
Senator Sal DiDomenico filed a transformational anti-poverty bill, called the ENOUGH Act (S.3022/H.5187), after visiting the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York where he learned about their nationally recognized program that is breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty, building community, and creating meaningful opportunities for thousands of children and families. DiDomenico brought a full-court press to push his bill alongside Geoffrey Canada, President and Founder of Harlem Children’s Zone, Former Secretary of Education, Paul Reville, and the House sponsors of the bill. The Senator hosted a press conference, galvanized hours of testimony during the bill’s first hearing, collected cosponsorships from 75% of the Senate, and held productive meetings with Governor Healey, Lt. Governor Driscoll, and Senate President Spilka.
Modeled on Maryland’s ENOUGH Act, this legislation will create an innovative strategy to fight poverty by investing resources in high need neighborhoods and collaborating with community residents to help drive decisions that will ensure investments increase economic mobility.
The bill was heard before the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses and received testimony from Harlem Children’s Zone Founder & President, Geoffrey Canada; House sponsors of the bill, Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Antonio Cabral; former MA Secretary of Education, Paul Reville; Kwame Owusu-Kesse, CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone; union leaders, educators, nonprofit executives, anti-poverty advocates, and philanthropic organizations. On Thursday before the hearing, Senator DiDomenico hosted a press conference at the State House highlighting the bill alongside many of the same leaders and several state senators.
“The Harlem Children’s Zone is a striking example of community, government, and philanthropy working in unison to radically improve thousands of people’s lives for the better and it was inspiring to visit and learn about this seminal project with my Chelsea colleagues,” said Senator Sal DiDomenico. “I am proud and excited to bring this innovative framework here to help combat poverty in my district and all over the Commonwealth. The reason an initiative like this works is because they include holistic and community-driven programs that address the root causes of poverty and offer wrap-around high-quality services across every aspect of life from education to health care to childcare to community building and so much more. I am grateful for leaders like Geoffrey Canada and Kwame Owusu-Kesse who are spreading these ideas across the country and creating opportunities for countless scholars.”
“Every child deserves a community built entirely around their success. A good school is a good start, but an ecosystem of support from cradle to career is how you transform lives — and entire states. The ENOUGH Act builds that ecosystem, and Massachusetts has the opportunity to show the nation what’s possible when a state gets this right.” – Geoffrey Canada, Founder and President of Harlem Children’s Zone.
“As a former public-school educator, I have seen firsthand how the barriers of poverty can stifle the potential of our students long before they step into a classroom,” said State Representative Lipper-Garabedian (D-Melrose). “I am honored to partner with Representative Cabral and Senator DiDomenico in filing the ENOUGH Act and we are deeply privileged to have the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) working alongside us to bring this vision to Massachusetts. HCZ has proven that cradle-to-career initiatives can effectively break the cycle of generational poverty. By bringing these strategies to Massachusetts, we can provide families with the wrap-around assistance necessary to ensure that every child has a clear, supportive path to success.”
“As the founder and House Chair of the Gateway Cities Legislative Caucus, I’ve seen too many families struggle with the devastating impact of concentrated poverty,” said State Representative Antonio Cabral. “But geography is not fate and a zip code should not determine a child’s future. The ENOUGH Act is an innovative solution to transform the lives of children and families through a coordinated strategy that tackles poverty head-on. I look forward to working with Senator DiDomenico, the Healey Administration, and the generous funders at Harlem Children’s Zone to make a meaningful impact for Massachusetts families.”
Former MA Secretary of Education, Paul Reville, applauded Senator DiDomenico’s leadership on this bill saying “The ENOUGH Act is the most ambitious anti-poverty initiative in the nation. It creates a public-private partnership supporting local action to create flourishing communities, families and children. I’m so proud that MA is reasserting its education leadership by aggressively addressing issues of poverty and the inequality of access to learning opportunities.”
This bill creates a fund managed by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to support community-driven, place-based strategies aimed at reducing poverty and improving outcomes for families in underserved neighborhoods. The fund will finance competitive grants for partnerships among nonprofits, schools, local government and other entities to develop and implement comprehensive plans that align housing, education, social services, health and workforce initiatives. An advisory committee of state agencies, experts and providers will oversee the fund.
DiDomenico, a longtime champion of investing in education and anti-poverty programs, visited the Harlem Children’s Zone last year and learned about their wildly successful outcomes for children, parents, and neighborhoods throughout Harlem. Attending alongside his Chief of Staff, Christie Getto Young, Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez, Chelsea Superintendent Almi Abeyta, and several other representatives from Chelsea-based organizations.