Regular readers of this blog know the statistics: more than 46 million Americans living below the poverty line on less than $18,000 annually for a family of three. More than 1 in 3 of us—106 million Americans—living on less than $36,000 a year, struggling to afford the basics like food, housing, healthcare, and education.
Meanwhile, food stamps are under attack by both Republicans and Democrats despite the fact that 50 million Americans are struggling with hunger; cash assistance (TANF) reaches only 27 of every 100 families living in poverty; the minimum wage is a poverty wage, and there is a proliferation of low-wage work.
Our nation could reverse these trends if we wanted to—that’s one of the key motivations for The Nation in creating this blog—that it’s simply not true that “we don’t know what to do about poverty.”
Below are just some of the good groups that can help you get informed and get involved in the fight against poverty. If you were to regularly follow even a half dozen of them, you would probably know more about poverty than most Members of Congress.
Check them out, sign up for their e-mails, and get involved:
Alliance for a Just Society
The Arc
Broader, Bolder Approach to Education
Caring Across Generations
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Center for Community Change
Center for Court Innovation
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Center for Hunger-Free Communities/Witnesses to Hunger
Center for Law and Social Policy
Children’s Defense Fund
Children’s HealthWatch
Coalition on Human Needs
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Community Action Partnership
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Social Security Task Force
Demos
Economic Policy Institute
First Focus
Food Research and Action Center
Family Independence Initiative
Half In Ten
Home Defenders League
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
Interfaith Worker Justice
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jobs with Justice
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Legal Momentum
LIFT
National Council on Aging
National Council of La Raza
National Employment Law Project
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Partnership for Women and Families
National Women’s Law Center
NETWORK
New York City Coalition Against Hunger
Occupy Our Homes
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
PolicyLink
Progressive States Network
Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United
RESULTS
The Rural Assistance Center
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Share Our Strength
Spotlight on Poverty
Urban Institute: MetroTrends
Western Center on Law & Poverty
This Week in Poverty posts here on Friday mornings, and again at Moyers & Company and AlterNet. You can e-mail me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter.
