by James Parks
America is the richest nation in the world, yet nearly 40 million Americans, about the population of California, live below the poverty line and millions more struggle to get by every month. Over the past seven years, the number of poor Americans has increased and inequality has increased.
A major study last year by the Poverty Task Force of the Center for American Progress(CAP) took a look at the extent of poverty and outlined a pragmatic plan to reduce it by half over the next 10 years. The plan included passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Click here to read the study.
Building on the recommendations in the study, under the leadership of former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), four organizations—the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), which includes the AFL-CIO, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now(ACORN), Center for American Progress Action Fund and Coalition on Human Needs—have joined in a major new anti-poverty initiative dubbed Half in Ten: From Poverty to Prosperity.
LCCR President Wade Henderson says:
Given the persistence of poverty in recent decades, many Americans consider the alleviation of poverty an insurmountable challenge; but this is not the case. We believe that this goal is attainable if we focus our attention on key policies.
Half in Ten and LCCR have both created websites where you can learn more about and join the campaign. Click here for the LCCR site and here for the Half in Ten site. The poverty initiative plans to focus on:
- Elevating and sustaining a focus on the situations facing the poor and middle class today.
- Building and strengthening an effective constituency to demand legislative action on poverty and economic mobility.
- Advancing specific legislative and policy proposals, such as passing the Employee Free Choice Act, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, raising state and federal minimum wages and preventing predatory lending practices and preserving homeownership.
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