From: Cylvia Hayes

Sent: Mon Apr 15 10:34:28 2013

To: 'ROWINSKI Mary E * GOV'; 'art.ayre@state.or.us'

Subject: RE: Thoughts on Poverty

Importance: Normal

Attachments: Prosperity Initiative Description -- 4-1-13.doc;

 

Greetings Art,

Thank you for taking time to send your thoughts.  I agree that there are a lot of factors that contribute to poverty including many systemic barriers that make it very difficult for people to climb out of generational poverty.  I agree about the need to redesign some of our economic development programs to help overcome some of those barriers.  Attached is a description of the Prosperity Initiative.

Thanks,

Cylvia

Cylvia Hayes

First Lady of Oregon

cylhayes@gmail.com

(503) 373-7489

From: ROWINSKI Mary E * GOV [mailto:mary.e.rowinski@state.or.us]

Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 9:28 AM

To: 'Cylvia Hayes'

Subject: FW: Thoughts on Poverty

From: AYRE Art * CFO [mailto:art.ayre@state.or.us]

Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 9:06 AM

To: mary.e.rowinski@state.or.us

Subject: Thoughts on Poverty

Dear Ms. Hayes,

It was my pleasure to meet you and talk with you at the reception last Tuesday evening for those involved in developing the Governor’s 10-year budget. I particularly enjoyed the tour of the Governor’s Mansion.

You spoke to the group about your interest in addressing poverty. This caused me to recall two TED Talks on the subject. If you have not watched them already, you may find them interesting and informative. They both focus on international conditions, but I think they may provide insights relevant to Oregon as well. I think each talk is about 20 minutes long. Here are the links to the two talks.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bono_the_good_news_on_poverty_yes_there_s_good_news.html

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

I feel sure there are many contributing factors to poverty, such as:

· Misfortune of some sort, such as having a learning disability, physical disability, debilitating accident, or location in an area with a poor combination of productive resources

· Dysfunctional behavioral patterns that have been learned early in life, probably caused mostly by role models

· Susceptibility to advertising by businesses selling products that satisfy a craving but that are not beneficial to the user; this may result partly from the prior two bullet points

While working at the Economic Development Department (1989-1999), I wondered if part of economic development policy should be to encourage or help people relocate from areas that have lost some of their economic advantage, such as timber towns that have lost some of their access to timber due to changes in federal land management policies or environmental rules.

I’ve also wondered if there was a way to help people overcome their dysfunctional behavioral patterns and susceptibility to advertising. The self-help literature addresses this issue in many different ways. I’m currently reading “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg and am finding it quite interesting. It identifies a strategy to improve one’s habits, which may augment Benjamin Franklin’s well-known technique.

Thank you again for the enjoyable tour of the Governor’s Mansion.

Art

Art Ayre, Policy and Budget Analyst

Chief Financial Office

Department of Administrative Services

Phone: 503-378-3108

art.ayre@das.state.or.us

http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/BAM/