Is Gov. Wes Moore delivering on his ‘audacious’ promise to end child poverty?

In his first State of the State address in 2023, Gov. Wes Moore declared: “We can, and we will, end child poverty in the state of Maryland.”

The Democrat had led a New York-based anti-poverty nonprofit, the Robin Hood Foundation, for four years before stepping down in 2021 to run for governor. He said his frustration in getting elected officials to add even a single line about poverty to their speeches is part of what pushed him into politics.

But ending child poverty is a monumental task — even Moore describes the goal as “audacious” — and he runs the risk of overpromising and underdelivering, as he did with missed milestones for the Red Line and rebuilding the Key Bridge.

“We’re dealing with something that is hundreds of years old. It is something that has accelerated over these past decades,” Moore said in an interview this year. “I knew that saying we are going to end it is something that was going to take time.”

Moore celebrated his administration’s poverty-fighting efforts at an event Wednesday in Frederick — even as he acknowledged new challenges to accomplishing his goal.

Last year, President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which adds hurdles for Americans seeking food and medical assistance. Provisions that are expected to kick many people off public assistance programs went into effect Thursday.

“The fact that we have governors and communities around the country now that are dealing with the impacts of such brutality that Washington, D.C., imposed upon us is heartbreaking,” Moore said in Frederick.

Moore also faces a state-level challenge. There isn’t enough money to fund the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, an expensive plan to improve public schools. Some aspects of the blueprint are aimed at lifting children out of poverty.

Central to the governor’s anti-poverty push is a program called ENOUGH, which stands for Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments and Households. Created by state law in 2024, it directs state funds into communities with high rates of child poverty. A companion effort known as the ENOUGH Alliance gathers private philanthropy dollars and distributes the money to the communities.

About 11% of Maryland children lived in poverty in 2024, but in some communities it was four times higher, according to the U.S. Census and the nonprofit Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Center.

The ENOUGH program has sent nearly $70 million in state money to 30 neighborhoods across Maryland, the administration says.

Moore visited Frederick’s Golden Mile neighborhood, one of the designated ENOUGH communities, on Wednesday, posing for photos outside a “veggie van” that delivers fresh produce. He reminded people to get their flu shots and shook hands with a leader of a youth mentoring program.

Though the governor’s team can point to anecdotal success stories, experts say it will take years before data shows whether the program is working.

That could make it hard for Moore, considered a 2028 presidential contender, to declare victory over child poverty anytime soon.

“It’s a really huge challenge, and I think it’s going to be challenging to improve the incomes of families in ENOUGH communities enough to show measurable change in the next two years,” said Megan Gallagher, who researches the issue for the Urban Institute think tank.

The fastest way to see results is through tax credits and other initiatives that put money into families’ pockets, Gallagher said. Moore expanded two such tax credits in 2023.

Investing in geographic areas — as the ENOUGH Act does — takes more time for programs to show results, Gallagher said.

Moore and his team believe they’re putting structures and funding in place that will lead to long-term improvements in impoverished communities. The governor said he wants to avoid the “sugar-rush high” of dripping money into poor neighborhoods without community-led support.

It’s similar to the work done in New York by the Harlem Children’s Zone, whose founder, Geoffrey Canada, has been a mentor to Moore and spoken at Maryland ENOUGH Act events. The Moore administration’s program partners with local groups to administer the anti-poverty funds it sends into neighborhoods.

The resulting programs vary based on the needs of a neighborhood.

Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester and Harlem Park communities, which have seen a child poverty rate as high as 42%, received $700,000 over two years for programs focused on supporting kids and improving education.

Elev8 Baltimore, a nonprofit that provides after-school programming, administers the money. CEO Alexandria Warrick Adams said Moore’s approach is a refreshing change from past initiatives by outsiders that centered on “white guilt.”

In East Riverdale and Adelphi, where child poverty is 39%, the Latin American Youth Center and its partners offer a Saturday academy for students to work on academics and have a safe place to socialize.

In Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood, the nonprofit We Rise expanded its programs teaching financial literacy to young people and giving them hands-on training in renovating and selling homes.

“If it weren’t for the ENOUGH grant, we would still be doing what we’re doing, which is fine,” We Rise founder Todd Scott said. “But we want to change lives across the board.”

In Hagerstown’s San Mar community, the ENOUGH partnership found a $100,000 grant to help a new childcare center finish renovations to code. The added childcare slots will allow parents to find and keep jobs.

“It’s just an example of how some of this is about just being the glue that brings other things together to actually deliver what people need,” said Carmel Martin, the state’s special secretary for children.

Much of the ENOUGH work, however, has been table-setting: building up organizations, surveying residents about their needs and developing action plans. The work to implement the programs is in its early stages.

To accelerate the implementation, the yearly budget for ENOUGH doubled as of July 1, to more than $30 million. Given the state’s tight budget picture, nonpartisan analysts suggested lawmakers could do away with the increase. Lawmakers kept the money in the budget.

Communities also can tap into private philanthropy through a collaborative known as the ENOUGH Alliance. The alliance is a group of deep-pocketed donors committing to a combined $100 million. (Many of the ENOUGH Alliance funders also have donated to The Banner.)

In Frederick this week, grantees and state officials said they hope the ENOUGH program will help Moore deliver on his promise to end child poverty.

Moore expressed confidence in how he has structured his child-poverty fight.

“By putting the community as the quarterbacks, and by being able to support the initiatives that they know are important, that’s the reason we know that this initiative is working,” Moore said, “and why we are going to continue doing it in the state of Maryland.”