Have we lost the “War on Poverty?” In the fifty years since President Lyndon B. Johnson first announced a series of initiatives designed to help lift America’s most vulnerable, the results have been mixed. A report released by Columbia University in January shows that while poverty rates have declined overall since 1967, poverty is still endemic throughout a number of demographics across the United States.
LBJ first announced his War on Poverty from the porch of an impoverished household in rural Kentucky. Though many rural areas remain marginalized, the focus often turns to big cities where poverty is highly visible, yet segregated into largely minority communities. Often lost in the debate are middle class families impacted by the Great Recession and working class families affected by a loss of manufacturing jobs, who have also fallen into poverty.
How did we get this point? And can we give America’s poor the tools to help lift themselves out of poverty and onto a sustainable path for the future? Reinventing the War on Poverty, a conference hosted by The Atlantic, brought together a host of key policymakers, economists, media professionals, and activists to explore the current economic and social breakdown of the country’s population.
NewsOne’s Roland Martin says perspective is key in framing on what poverty is really like when debating the policies that attempt address it.
A Problem of Perspective from The Atlantic on FORA.tv
Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress, talks about her experience growing up in poverty and how it got her to where she is today.
Can Poverty Policies Actually Help? from The Atlantic on FORA.tv
Finally, a documentary video from The McDowell Project that focuses in on the struggles faced by a poverty-stricken school in McDowell County, West Virginia.
The McDowell Project from The Atlantic on FORA.tv
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