‍

One fall morning while staying near a peaceful lake, I greeted the day down on the water with a large mug of coffee in my right hand and an easy-going dog under my left. As the sun poked over the treetops, a boat came bobbing by with three young men aboard. After exchanging “good morning!,” I asked if they’d caught much.

“Nothing yet,” offered the one in the middle as he adjusted his baseball cap. “But we’re aiming to get some money for college.”

I began to laugh at his joke, imagining them reeling old boots stuffed with money out of the water. As their expressions didn’t change, I paused… “Wait, are you serious?”

“Yes ma’am,” answered the eldest of the three, making me feel both humbled and old. “There’s a twelve-hundred-dollar scholarship for catching the biggest bass.”

We kept talking as their craft puttered on about whether other boats had come by, how low the lake is due to drought, and what they wanted to study until suddenly a line went taut. We celebrated as they reeled in what looked to me like something you could keep in a large aquarium. I don’t know what other boats caught, but that fish didn’t look like one that could cover tuition, books, fees, housing, or other college expenses.

“I wish you the best of luck,” I called as they floated beyond my perch, but all the while I felt both anger and sadness bubbling up inside. As someone who once worked in higher education policy, I know that whether those boys can go on to become a park ranger, a teacher, an engineer or anything else that requires a degree shouldn’t depend on whether a fish bites a line. Yet, with the price of college being what it is these days, access to money could very well determine which doors will or won’t open to them for the rest of their lives.

And, as they say ‘round these parts: “That ain’t right.”

I grew up on a steady diet of Sesame Street and in a protestant church where, if there were ever sermons that some of God's children are more worthy than others, I must have missed those Sundays. (There weren't and I didn't.) In the years since, as I've tried to reconcile ideals with reality, there's a phrase that's given me hope in many contexts: “We all have gifts, but none of us have all of the gifts.”

And so it was that a child in the South grew up knowing down to the nuclei in the cells in the marrow of her bones that every human being should have the opportunity to lead a peaceful life and contribute their gifts to the world. The notion that money should interfere with one's peace and the sharing of one’s gift seems absurd. Yet, that’s very much our reality.

Those young boys on that old boat are living proof that we’re letting money — or lack thereof — stand in the way of a proven pathway to a steady job and decent wages for people around the country… not to mention the myriad non-economic benefits of an education, both for themselves and everyone around them. I'm not saying everyone has to go to college immediately after high school - or at all. But research shows that in addition to better supporting their families, education beyond high school could help those boys enjoy more confidence, connection, and civic engagement. And when gaps between cost and what people can afford isn't closed by federal or state investments or support from colleges or universities themselves, we leave people angling for a way in.

No, money can’t buy happiness — but it sure helps provide the opportunity and stability from which one can build a happy life.

“Gate money” is another example of our collective failure to invest in our collective future. Designed to help people who have been incarcerated transition to the outside world, gate money should help a person take the first steps onto the solid ground of the rest of their life. While some might be surprised to know gate money exists, others may be surprised the amount is so low.

‍In California, for example, as of late 2022, “gate money” was $200, an amount hadn’t changed since 1973. So, to quote State Sen. Sydney Kamlager, “You’re asking someone in 2022 to use 1973 dollars to live in a 2022 age with 2022 expenses.” And that’s after they lose years of earning potential. One who is lucky enough to have friends or family who can float them money and other resources can survive, but acrosss the United States, many sink under the pressure and end up back behind bars every year.

Let’s put aside for now the circumstances and choices that can lead a person to be incarcerated (and thus lose those years of earning and saving) and focus on three things:

1) under our system, serving time means a person has paid their debt to society and deserves a fresh start (and if that’s not true, then we should revisit the system, not penalize people as they exit it);

2) it’s a win for everyone if people can succeed on the outside and not recidivate (commit more crimes); and

3) on average, it costs taxpayers around $40,000 to imprison someone for one year in a federal facility (that figure can be much higher in many states and, whether federal or state, there’s no guarantee that money is going toward programs promoting successful reentry — in fact, it’s usually not).

Which means the public has a choice: expect people without two dimes to rub together to magically land in a stable and legal situation, or provide — and fund — a path to stability and space to find and contribute their individual gifts.

If my focus here on "gifts" strikes you as superfluous to our ability to thrive as a whole, consider this insight from Brené Brown: “squandering our gifts brings stress to our lives. As it turns out, it’s not merely benign or ‘too bad’ if we don’t use the gifts that we’ve been given; we pay for it with our emotional and physical well-being. When we don’t use our talents to cultivate meaningful work, we struggle. We feel disconnected and weighed down by feelings of emptiness, frustration, resentment, shame, disappointment, fear, and even grief.”

I wouldn’t wish such feelings on any individual. Nor would I be so naïve in this day and age to think that feelings of drowning in frustration and fear by many individuals don’t pull all of us down into dangerous waters.

That said, if these two examples sound like large investment of taxpayer dollars, that’s because they are. And the ROI (return on investment) is massive. At present, “the United States loses more money by not achieving equal educational outcomes than it would spend by investing in educational equality.” If we closed the gaps that currently exist along economic and race/ethnicity lines, we’d all enjoy societal gains of $956 billion every year.

$956 billion.

Which is all to say that whether people seek to escape the confines of prison or of poverty, we need to be more intentional about supporting opportunity.

That means investing in people who are often invisible, at best, or demonized, at worst, in public debate.

That means looking at what's good for all of us over long term, not confusing cost-cutting with "efficiency" in the short term.

I spent the weekend thinking about these boys fishing for opportunity and how we can talk until we’re as blue in the face as an asfur angelfish about how it’s better to teach a person to fish than to give them a fish. Or, to combine and update metaphors, if we’re really going to be smart and build the shared future that benefits all of us, we need everyone to not only know how to fish, but also have access to their own fishing pole, a way to contribute their gifts, and a boat to be lifted with any rising tide.

For starters, can we agree that whether or not you get to go to college shouldn’t depend on whether or not some fish are biting?

As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback. Use the contact page to leave us a note.

- Piper Hendricks, CEO

(Main image by Clark Young on Unsplash)