One the country’s most socially conservative U.S. senators is again joining with one of the nation’s most liberal jurisdictions to promote stronger, more stable families and successful marriages.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams hosted a news conference Thursday to publicize federally funded Marriage Development Accounts, among other family-friendly tools that the senator has included in the District’s annual federal appropriation.
On this issue, Williams said, “we wholeheartedly agree.”
“Too many children in our city are being raised by single parents,” Williams said. “This lack of stability in some of these families is an issue we must address if we are to reverse this cycle of poverty in our city and in our nation.”
Of the District’s 57,774 families with children, more than 13,000 are headed by single parentsearning less than $10,000 a year, according to census data. Marriage development accounts, overseen by the D.C. Department of Human Services, are essentially saving accounts for low-income married couples that are matched $3 to $1 by the federal government.
Brownback said the government has failed in the area of family formation, taxing too much but not encouraging enough. In addition to the $3 million he has included in the District’s fiscal 2007 federal appropriation for marriage development accounts, Brownback added another $1 million for job training, mentoring and adult education programs for married couples.
Sandra and Winston Graham, residents of Benning Terrace in Ward 7, have four children together but were married only last November after a 20-year relationship. They were inspired to tie the knot after learning about the marriage development accounts from a fellow member of their church.
“It was different than anything we’d ever known, and we wanted a piece of that,” Sandra Graham said.
