A Fresh Look at Poverty

When the official poverty numbers are released on September 10th, it is possible that more Americans will be counted as poor than at any time since the early 1960s. The Census Bureau will certainly report that poverty is on the rise. But these figures will not tell the whole story. The economic crisis has increasingly made poverty a realistic worry for many of those who thought they were safely outside its grasp. Many more families will be confronting the combination of job loss, rising debt, and economic insecurity.

One of the challenges of the fight against poverty is to identify a set of effective policies suitable for both good times and bad. Now more than ever we need access to resources that help people move up the economic ladder and into the financial mainstream. From a policy standpoint, we may be in better shape than it seems. Even as poverty has been largely off the political agenda in recent years, it has been a time of quiet experimentation and fresh thinking.

The September issue of The American Prospect features a Special Report on Poverty. The Asset Building Program is pleased to host a discussion of this report, featuring Mark Schmitt, Editor of TAP. Please join us on September 8th for a discussion of this Special Report. To learn more, and to RSVP, please click here.