Keep Poverty on the Agenda

by Leigh Graham · 2009-08-30 12:00:00 UTC
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With the death of Sen. Kennedy and the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina both happening this week, the topic of poverty was fresh in the public's mind.  In eulogizing Kennedy, most of us could take pride in remembering his service to "working people" everywhere, his commitment to poverty reduction over the life of his career.  With Katrina, it is also about a job unfinished, but with a much less nostalgic, sweet glow - the enduring problems of blight, housing insecurity, racial inequality and poverty are glaring, graphic, and depressing.

Whether you're motivated to action by the inspiring good works of folks like Senator Kennedy, or fueled by a sense of outrage over injustice, this past week offered plenty of reminders that poverty is a persistent, entrenched, political problem for which solutions exist.  Investments in early childhood education pay lifetime dividends.  Economic boycotts and union movements highlight workers' rights and benefits.  Providing childcare, fair pay, and extensive family leave policies give mothers better opportunities to compete economically and earn enough to care for their families.  And universal health care bankrupts neither households nor the entire medical system.

Change.org is just one platform where you can commit (and re-commit) to fighting poverty in the U.S.  To start, let's begin by keeping poverty on the public agenda - as a problem we can and must solve.  Let's not let it slip away as our weekend tributes wrap up.  As Uncle Teddy and 15k volunteers in New Orleans remind us, the cause endures and the work goes on.

Take action today.

("Not Everyone in SF is Rich..." by Son of Groucho)

Leigh Graham
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