In a Seattle Times op-ed this week, Philanthopy Northwest member Bill Clapp and Mauricio Vivero, CEO of the Seattle International Foundation, draw parallels between income inequality in Latin America and what we're now experiencing in the United States and our region.

They write:

Nationally — and particularly in Washington state — the failure to fund our schools is our political system’s greatest failure. Reversing this trend is the key to addressing persistent inequality.

Students living in poverty will not have a fair chance to succeed so long as we continue to underfund our public schools, allow property-tax rich districts to invest exclusively in their own children, let opportunity be determined by ZIP code, income and race, and perpetuate the continuing segmentation of our society.

Read the full text of "Income inequality is making your life worse."