The old blues singer had it right: “When a lady gets the blues, she hangs her head and cries. When a man gets the blues, he grabs the train and rides.” The relationship between poverty and family breakdown has always been undeniable.

For decades, conservatives have rightly sounded the alarm about family breakdown — declining marriage rates, rising single parenthood, children without stable households. Strong families are the foundation of strong communities. But here’s what we need to be honest about: You cannot build strong families on poverty wages.

The past year has made this undeniable. Grocery prices remain high. Rent keeps climbing. Childcare costs are crushing families. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator shows even the cheapest county in America now requires $33.82 per hour for a modest

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