How to Help the Poor in America

The Bible commands Christians to help the poor.  Yet handouts have proven ineffective as a long-term solution.  (If you have a poor family member, then you have probably experienced this first-hand.)  What is the real solution to poverty?  "Background variables" and the "success sequence."  Let me explain.  

Background variables refer to family-structure, educational attainment, and workforce participation.  When a person has the right family-structure, sufficient education, and a good work ethic, poverty is extremely rare.  

Consider family-structure.  Many scholars have established that family structure is the single greatest predictor of poverty.  According to Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector, living in a two-parent household reduces the probability that a child will live in poverty by 82 percent.

When it comes to work, nearly three-quarters of all poor families with children do not include an adult working full-time throughout the year.  If all currently poor families with children had one adult working full-time, the child poverty rate in the United States would be cut by 72 percent.  

As for education, children born into the lowest economic quintile who earn a college degree have an 84 percent chance of moving up the income ladder; by contrast, children born into the lowest economic quintile who do not earn a college degree have a 45 percent chance of remaining in the lowest quintile as adults.  

Aside from the above-mentioned "background variables" there is the so-called "success sequence."  Studies show that people who graduate from high school, get married before having children, and work full-time at any occupation -- have a 98% chance of living above the poverty line as adults.

So, how can you help the poor?  The real solution will involve lifting them out of poverty, not merely making them more comfortable in it.  And that means the poor must be taught to embrace the "background variables" and the "success sequence."  

Source:  Christopher F. Rufo, "Critical Race Theory Would Not Solve Racial Inequality: It Would Deepen It," The Heritage Foundation, March 23, 2021, https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/report/critical-race-theory-would-not-solve-racial-inequality-it-would-deepen-it (accessed December 12, 2025).