Higher paying jobs-that’s what the keynote speaker at Rochester Business Journal’s Power Breakfast series says would most improve the nation's poverty crisis.
At the morning event entitled Rochester’s Crisis of Poverty, Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center professor, gave 9 causes for the poverty currently seen across the nation.
Among those causes, Edelman explained the country saw a decline in public education that corresponded with a need for a more educated workforce.
"Whatever the quality of the schools was before, the fact that too many schools and school systems are below what they should be, it's disastrous."
Edelman says the days of supporting a family without a high school education have long past.
"Now you can't get a job that pays enough to live on if you don't have, not only a high school diploma, but actually postsecondary education as well. It's now crucial."
The crowd of more than 500 Rochester professionals gave the former member of the Clinton Administration a standing ovation.