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In Our Backyard Interview: Understanding Poverty and Inequality in D.C.
This interview with the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) kicks off a series of interviews with D.C. service providers, advocates, and low-income people for TalkPoverty’s In Our Backyard project....
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The Unfair Price: Poverty in the LGBT Community
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Census Bureau released updated poverty numbers for 2013. You probably already know the depressing story – poverty rates remained relatively unchanged across the country; the...
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Boosting Economic Mobility through the EITC
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of our nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs, helping more than 6.5 million Americans—including 3.3 million children—avoid poverty in 2012. The EITC...
View ArticleDomestic Violence Awareness Month: Current Policy Choices Aid Abusers
Since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act twenty years ago, opinions among the public and politicians have shifted remarkably from viewing domestic violence as a private family matter to...
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In Our Backyard Interview: Safety from Domestic Violence is an Economic Issue
Last month, we observed Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). More than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will experience rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their...
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Raising the Minimum Wage and Affordable Child Care Go Hand in Hand
A few years ago, a young man named Israel and his wife enrolled their daughter in one of our Early Head Start programs. Israel, the son of Mexican immigrants, worked long hours as a barber. His wife...
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The Faces of Senior Poverty Are Likely Women of Color
Imagine the face of senior poverty. Who do you see? If you see a woman, especially a woman of color, you’d be spot on. That’s because the same challenges that affect women in their younger years,...
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Leave No Civilian Behind
This article is cross-posted at BillMoyers.com. Roughly 1.4 million veterans live in poverty in the United States, and, in total, more than 45 million people live at or below the poverty line. These...
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BillMoyers.com & TalkPoverty: 12 Days, 12 Actions You Can Take to Fight Poverty
TalkPoverty.org is proud to collaborate with BillMoyers.com as it focuses exclusively on poverty coverage over the next two weeks. Every day, visit BillMoyers.com to discover a new action you can take...
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Social Security Disability Insurance: Too Important for Politicking
When Congress reconvened earlier this month, House Republicans wasted no time in attacking the Social Security program. They passed a rules package that includes language to prevent the House of...
View ArticleCivil legal assistance saves money and helps people escape poverty
Sargent Shriver, President Johnson’s personal choice to lead the War on Poverty, was once asked which anti-poverty program he considered the most important. “My favorite is Head Start because it was my...
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President’s Budget: Increasing Mobility and Opportunity for All
In his State of the Union address, President Obama put a laser-like focus on “middle-class economics”, calling for policies that ensure every American has a fair shot at economic security. While the...
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Lessons from Across the Pond: What the US Should and Shouldn’t Take Away from...
Conservatives have long called for combining and freezing federal funding for key health, nutrition, and income security programs and then handing those funds over to the states. As evidenced by the...
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A 5-Step Plan for Fighting Senior Poverty
When we talk about fighting poverty in the United States, the conversation is often focused on preventative measures such as education or jobs. Thanks to this focus, poverty prevention programs,...
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Retaking the Moral High Ground in the Fight Against Poverty
If a nation has the ways and means to solve a social problem that is devastating millions of its citizens’ lives, but it fails to act, doesn’t that mean resolving the problem depends more on moral...
View ArticleIs the American Dream Shifting?
For much of the past decade, The Pew Charitable Trusts has been studying the health and status of the American Dream, defined as the ability of families to move up the economic ladder over a lifetime...
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Targeted Investment Could Reduce Poverty in NYC By 69 Percent
From 2009-2013, one in five New Yorkers lived below the poverty line. This amounts to 1.7 million poor people living in New York City households. Research by the New York City Center for Economic...
View ArticleLife Amidst Poverty
I have lived in poverty both as a child and as an adult, and I can say with full confidence that it is a life-crushing force. I hated it. “Poverty” is also one of the most misunderstood labels that...
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Stigma, a Weak Safety Net, and the Deaths of Jodi and Randy Speidel
This article originally appeared at The Nation. Jodi and Randy Speidel, a couple in their mid-40s, taped a note to the front door of their one-bedroom rental home warning visitors of carbon monoxide....
View ArticleMedicare at 50: Then and Now
Fifty years ago, on July 30, 1965, Medicare was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. The program has been keeping our oldest citizens – and those with disabilities – out of poverty ever since....
View ArticleToo Sick to Care: Direct-Care Workers in the Coverage Gap
Imagine arranging care for your elderly mother who has the beginnings of dementia. The home care aide, who has established a warm and caring relationship with her, hurts her back while helping your...
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7 Reflections on the ADA at 25
July 26th marked 25 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and TalkPoverty is commemorating this landmark legislation all week. To discuss how far we’ve come—and how far we...
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Our Perceptions About the “Unworthy Poor” Haven’t Changed
I first learned about the history of the “unworthy poor” when I pursued my Master of Social Work degree. I read about the social movements in the early 20th century and how they tended to divide people...
View ArticleNew Research Documents Growth of Extreme Poverty
A new book by two of our nation’s foremost poverty researchers, Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, reveals the desperate circumstances that hundreds of thousands of children and their parents...
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AmeriCorps Facing Foolish Cuts
As Congress returns to the business of figuring out how to fund the government in the next fiscal year, young people engaged in service in communities across the country are concerned about the...
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Hey, CNN: Three #TalkPoverty Questions for the Reagan Library Debate
Editor’s Note: This piece continues a campaign at TalkPoverty.org where advocates and people struggling to make ends meet will ask 2016 presidential candidates about how they would significantly reduce...
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New Census Data Demand Action on Inequality and Poverty
The U.S. Census Bureau released data this week showing little to no improvement in poverty and family incomes in 2014, despite a falling unemployment rate. This frustrating state of affairs is directly...
View ArticleLooming Sequestration Cuts Would Harm Head Start Families and Communities
Editor’s note: In 2013, 20,000 children lost access to Head Start during the federal shutdown. This disruption in services followed drastic cuts to Head Start’s budget as a result of sequestration,...
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Congress after Pope Francis: Take Action for the Common Good
As I sat in the gallery watching Pope Francis deliver his historic address to Congress, I believed this could be a transformative moment for our nation’s legislators, one that provides a clear call to...
View ArticlePaid Leave is a Family Value and Faith Practice
Last week, when Pope Francis entered the Capitol building to give a historic address before a joint session of Congress, the pontiff carried with him a moving plea for the establishment of a “culture...
View ArticleThe Art of Balancing the Ledger While in Poverty
When you live at or under the federal poverty level, you’d better be good at crunching numbers. Every cent coming in or going out needs to be accounted for. My day planners have always been filled with...
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Tell CNN to #TalkPoverty During the Democratic Debate
This post continues our campaign at TalkPoverty.org to ask 2016 presidential candidates about how they would significantly reduce poverty and inequality in this country. CNN is hosting the first...
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How Congress is Spending Billions to Make Inequality Worse
So we’re going to be completely honest with you: taxes are boring. Deductions. Exclusions. Deferrals. Refundability. God help us. But stick with us for a minute, because tax programs are crucial for...
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We Don’t Need to Wait on Congress to Fight Homelessness
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “On a single night in January 2014, 578,424 people were experiencing homelessness—meaning they were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter...
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How to Expand Our Nation’s Most Effective Anti-Poverty Program
Social Security is our nation’s most effective anti-poverty program. The system’s modest but vital benefits lifted 21.4 million Americans out of poverty in 2014, including 1.1 million children. It...
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Paul Ryan’s (Accidental) Case for Raising the Minimum Wage
Today, Paul Ryan gave his first major policy speech as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He spoke for nearly half an hour about “the millions of people stuck in neutral… 45 million people living...
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Why Achieving the American Dream Depends on Your Zip Code
Today, the state of the American Dream—the ability of anyone to work hard and get ahead—largely depends on one’s zip code. That is more than a little troubling, given that 97 percent of Americans...
View ArticleSurviving the Holidays While Poor
While the holiday season is meant to be a joyful time, for many of us it is a time of great financial challenge and worry. Throughout December, as Christmas and New Year’s Eve drew closer, I felt...
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The Ten Worst States for Poverty
Years into the economic recovery, poverty and economic insecurity remain far too high. In fact, as the most recent Census Bureau data reveals, the share of Americans with incomes below the poverty...
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The Ten Worst States for Food Insecurity
Years into the economic recovery, far too many families are struggling against hunger. In fact, as the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture data reveals, 14 percent—or 17.4 million...
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Paul Ryan’s Forum on Expanding Opportunity Won’t Expand Opportunity
This past weekend, in my congressional district, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott hosted a presidential candidate forum titled “Expanding Opportunity.” This title...
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Thousands of Americans Could Face Hunger Due to Loss of Food Assistance
While economists have declared the recession over, we know that millions of Americans throughout the nation are still struggling to find full-time work. For them, simply getting by can be a daily...
View ArticleHow We Can Save $17 Billion in Public Assistance—Annually
Note to conservatives: Want to know the best way to find savings in government assistance programs? Here’s a hint—it’s not by cutting nutrition assistance to working people who are struggling. It’s by...
View ArticleWhy Seniors—Not CEOs—Deserve a Raise
Any conversation about tackling poverty in the United States should include protecting and expanding Social Security. The reason is pretty straightforward: Social Security is the most powerful tool...
View ArticleWho Are the ‘Legitimate’ Poor?
Recently, I disobeyed a cardinal rule of the Internet and decided to read comments on an article I once published in the Missoula Independent. I had begun writing about raising my daughters on very...
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What Happens When Low-Income Mothers Call the Police
Amid the national discourse on policing, it is easy to lose sight of the day-to-day functions that police are expected to perform—the noise reduction, the carrying of groceries, the stopgap plumbing,...
View ArticleHow Access to Public Assistance Impacts Political Participation
Poverty was all Lucy* had ever known. Early in her adult life, a mixture of desperation and patriotism led her to join the military. When she left her three children and headed to the frontlines of the...
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The Tax Plan Isn’t Just About Taxes—It’s About Shredding the Safety Net
In a recent interview, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) described the congressional Republican approach to government as “survival of the fittest.” “If you’re well off, great, if you’re not—too bad,” he...
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What Ben Carson Doesn’t Get About Poverty
“The prescription for the cure rests with the accurate diagnosis of the disease.” Apply Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson’s latest plan and...
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You Shouldn’t Need a Law Degree to Get Food Assistance
I’m a lawyer, but I was barely able to navigate the food assistance bureaucracy in Massachusetts. Even in one of the most liberal states in this country, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program...
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