How are Families Really Doing? Part 2: Poverty

This is the second in a series of interviews with policy experts who participated in an event we hosted on November 22nd, “Poverty, Inequality, Mobility, Oh My,” where we explored different ways of assessing how families are doing post-Great Recession and how applying these different approaches to the design of public policies might improve the conditions and opportunities of low-income families.

In this interview, Melissa Boteach, Manager for the Half in Ten Campaign, an effort to reduce the nation’s poverty rate in half over ten years, discusses how families are faring according to a set of key indicators (including assets) across three categories: creating good jobs, strengthening families, and promoting economic security. According to Melissa, these indicators can help focus attention and resources on the families most in need and create an accountability mechanism through which we also measure the efforts made by policymakers to improve those outcomes. 

Melissa also highlights the personal experiences of two people featured in Half in Ten’s storymap project who discuss how poverty has impacted them and the importance of critical public assistance programs in helping them live more secure lives.

You can follow allong with Melissa’s presentation here.

Stay tuned for future interviews with Indi Dutta-Gupta with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on income inequality and Erin Currier with the Pew Economic Mobility Project on economic mobility.