Bloomberg Incentive Chases King's Dream

"I have a dream" will forever be linked with the man whose life we celebrated this month. But let's not forget that Martin Luther King Jr. also said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has risen to King's challenge by investing in those less fortunate. He has raised more than $40 million — much of it his own money — for Opportunity NYC. Under the two-year pilot program, high school students who graduate can collect a $400 bonus. Parents can get $25 each time they show up for teacher conferences and $150 a month for keeping a full-time job. The goal is to mold better, more involved, parents.

Bloomberg's program is patterned after international models that have been successful in more than 20 countries. In Brazil, for example, 11 million of the country's poorest families have benefited from similar incentive programs — in large part supported by the World Bank — over the past decade. Parents get cash incentives for enrolling and keeping their kids in schools as well as routinely taking them for health care appointments.

Not everyone is a fan. At the non-profit Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, critics argue that the incentives reward poor people for doing things they should already be doing. Paying students for good grades or for passing state exams drew particular ire.

But why not wait and see whether the Bloomberg Dream works? We must be willing to try unorthodox ways to attack generational poverty. About 5,000 families will be affected; half will be in a control group to study the program's effectiveness.

A better education isn't the only goal here. An average family of three whose $22,000 annual income falls above the federal poverty rate is sometimes forced to decide between groceries or a doctor's visit. This program also aims to address such daily dilemmas.

Five studies of such initiatives, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that these programs increased use of preventive health services. But researchers for Bloomberg's program acknowledge more data is needed to better understand behavior associated with incentives.

How idyllic our world would be if there weren't a need to encourage poor people to do things the rest of us have access to and are better able to afford. But until that day, hopelessness is a much more expensive alternative. Bloomberg has a dream, and he shouldn't be faulted for rising above individualistic concerns and taking an unconventional path to pursue it.