Recently the folks on Aid Watch challenged New York Times Columnist Nick Kristof’s assertion that poor families doom themselves because of their “shortsighted private spending decisions.”  The conversation touched a nerve as I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the pursuit of “one note” poverty: the desire to find that one story of poverty that fits in neatly with what those of us in power believe poverty should look like so we can develop one solution that we find comfortable. We do this almost to the point of being unrealistic in our understanding poverty and our expectations of those who are poor.

One book I think acknowledges the complexity of poverty and how families make financial decisions is Portfolios of the Poor. I read this book a few months ago and wondered what lessons could be applied here in the States (the book focuses on families in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa). Many of the remedies I have seen for low income families in the States focus on opportunities for education and employment, yet don’t address the day to day financial decisions that promote or hinder taking advantage of such opportunities.

This has made me reflect on my own experiences serving low-income families at an inner city Catholic School. Catholic schools have a rich (though sometimes times troubling) history of mission driven education in NYC, focusing on immigrants, children of color, and poor communities. I work with parents regularly in finding financial aid to subsidize the cost of tuition often by almost 80%. Yet some families still struggle to pay. Is it simply the cost or something else?

When I talk with families, it isn’t just the cost of tuition that’s prohibitive—it’s also the myriad of other often uncontrollable factors common among poor families that affect their finances and financial decisions and thus their ability to pay. For example, rarely is it just mom paying tuition; other family members chip in to pay for tuition as well. For parents who work hourly or under the table, money isn’t always consistent; sudden expenses are disastrous for our families; and public assistance does not cover nearly as much as people assume it does.

What has helped enormously is simply being flexible in when we take payments. The once a month approach, common in the majority of institutions that deal with any financial transactions, benefits us, not the families we serve. So being able to pay weekly in small amounts, for example, is much more beneficial than having to pay in monthly lump sums for families who receive small amounts of money from various family members to cover tuition. Being flexible not only puts the families first but also shows that we trust them.

So while we work to eradicate poverty, is there a way to respect the humanity of those we are serving by acknowledging and accommodating their needs as they navigate poverty?

I know this is my experience at a small school in Manhattan so I’d love to hear some other stories and suggestions on making financial decisions and understanding the needs of poor families. What is and is not working? What challenges come up frequently?

Photo credit: uspoverty.change.org