Putting People at the Center: Highlighting Local Efforts to Promote Economic Mobility

By: Eric D. Hargan, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

Summary:

Programs designed to serve poor families should be assessed by the extent to which they help people find employment.

At HHS, we follow the evidence.

After a 50-year war on poverty, the evidence is in: work, personal responsibility, and a healthy economy are fundamental to individual and family well-being and provide the best pathway out of poverty. Programs designed to serve poor families should be assessed by the extent to which they help the heads of households find employment and climb the ladder to their own success. Therefore, supporting employment is a core value and component of HHS’s effort and responsibility to the American people seeking the dream of freedom and economic independence.