By Jovana Jenkins
Columnist

On Friday March 30th, Mayor Bloomberg announced his plan to start the first ever cash- incentive program in the United States.

The program, which will be geared towards families in the poorest neighborhoods from Harlem to Brooklyn and the Bronx, will pay parents whose child (ren) has perfect attendance $25 every two months and $200-$300 for children who score well or have improved in their academics.

The program will be funded by private donations and will offer job training to the parents who will also be rewarded for working full time. The families who are eligible for the program must maintain the guidelines and will be offered as much as $5,000 per year once they fulfill the goals. Mayor Bloomberg says his reason for starting the program is that “The stress of poverty often causes people to make decisions that are detrimental to their future.”

But does this possible program send the right message? Isn’t it the responsibility of a parent to ensure that their child is in perfect attendance and achieving outstanding academic performance? Why is a program being developed to offer rewards simply for a parent to become more involved with their child?

It seems that this will be just another crutch for some to rely on for survival. For so many years there have been families abusing the system and taking advantage of it, continuing to have child after child and claiming that they are not able to provide for them. Now, another handout is being offered.

This new cash-incentive program helps those who are not willing to help themselves, and who have perfected milking the system.

I wonder if it has even occurred to Bloomberg that the entire plan could backfire, sending the message that people can get paid for being responsible. Now there will be hundreds of parents who usually neglect their duty suddenly starting to care!

There should be another way to utilize the funding that will be used for the program, like creating more jobs that pay well and have good benefits so people will not have to resort to make decisions that they will regret in just to make ends meet.

Aren’t job- training programs mandatory for those who are not working at least twenty hours a week or attending classes? What is the purpose of reinventing them? What has the government come to when pay is being offered for you to   perform your parental obligations?
Indeed there are those who can use all of the assistance they can get, but this is giving away free money. Bloomberg is a very clever man, however I wouldn’t say this is one of his greatest ideas yet.