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ORANGEPOLITICS PROGRESSIVE PERSPECTIVES ON ORANGE COUNTI, NC. The Candidates Respond: Why Are People Poor? Submitted by OP Editors on February 8, 2016 - 11:00am Nine candidates are running for the Orange County Board of Commissioners in the upcoming Democratic primary election on March 15. • At Large (1 seat): Andy Cagle, Matt Hughes, Mark Marcoplos • District 1 (2 seats): Jamezetta Bedford, Mark Dorosin, Gary Kahn, Penny Rich • District 2 (1 seat): Bonnie Hauser, Renee Price OrangePolitics asked the candidates to answer five questions, and all provided responses. Today and on each of the next four Mondays, we will post the responses to one question. We begin today by posting the candidates' responses to the first question: Why are people poor? What tools or programs is the county using and /or should the county use to address poverty? The candidates cited a number of reasons for why people are poor, many naming lack of access to education and affordable housing. Some candidates acknowledged that institutional racism continues to play a role in poverty, though discussion of this issue was limited. A few candidates simply said the reasons were complex but did not provide specifics. The candidates discussed a number of tools to address poverty. The Family Success Alliance — spearheaded in 2014 by Commissioner Mark Dorosin and UNC pediatrician Michael Steiner —was named by several candidates as a key tool. We would like to see the Family Success Alliance target more systemic causes of poverty, such as racial inequity in many of our local systems, such as policing, education, the judicial system, and employment, and none of the candidates discussed this. A few candidates cited living wage policies as a tool, noting that the county's recent living wage policy moved all employees (full -time, part-time, and seasonal) to $12.76 per hour. This is an important step, and we would love to see the county move closer to what the Town of Carrboro is doing with a living wage floor closer to the cost of living in the county, which no candidate mentioned. A couple of candidates provided specific examples of other tools currently in use, such as the Social Justice Fund and the HOME Consortium (mentioned by Penny Rich) and new tools such as a "poverty ombudsman" (mentioned by Mark Marcoplos). The candidates' responses are provided below. 1= =__ = =1