Poverty in America

The current understanding of poverty in America has been on my mind lately. Over the holiday break, I spent time with a couple of Congressional Members. One Republican, one Democrat. Both are senior Members of the House. They were around during the break, so we took advantage of the extra time we had. We had relaxed meetings while we talked poverty, politics, and a little baseball. I laid out what I thought was a persuasive case as to why Congress should be investing more in our programs right now. I argued that we should not be thinking about elimination of our programs at a time when the poverty business is booming. I realize there is a disconnect between what people are facing in their daily lives and how elected officials understand those struggles. Families are falling out of the middle class and are turning to our agencies in record numbers for a lifeline. Yet there continues to exist a general impression of poverty that is very different from what people experience – and many elected officials seem to not care. Many elected officials seem to not really care about poverty. Why is poverty not part of the Administrations agenda? Why are we not concerned about what is happening to one out of every two Americans?

I am convinced now that we need to be integral in advancing the conversation about poverty in America. We need to be seen as relevant to whatever attacks, solutions, responses are discussed. We need to part of the discussions. These are huge issues facing our country and our communities. We need to advance America’s awareness of poverty and fuel their desire to civic response. How does Community Action play a role in that?