Maryland Gov. Wes Moore lays out plan to fight child poverty

Wes Moore presented legislation he’s championing to address child poverty to state lawmakers on Wednesday, laying out a locally focused plan to attack the root causes of concentrated poverty statewide. The Democratic governor said the ENOUGH Act, which stands for engaging neighborhoods, organizations, unions, governments and households, represents a statewide effort to channel private, philanthropic and state resources to communities with the highest rates of generational child poverty. “Together we are going to target the places most in need of help, and we’re going to uplift those communities in partnership, because we believe that to fully address the challenge of poverty you need to actually engage the people on the ground, and that goes from urban cities to rural towns and to everywhere in between,” Moore told the Maryland House Appropriations Committee. Carmel Martin, special secretary of the Governor’s Office for Children, said the initiative will enable communities to partner with government, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, philanthropic groups, labor unions, small businesses and corporations, with state guidance.