Mission
Spotlighton Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.
Why Spotlight Poverty and Opportunity?
In the United States, the wealthiest country in the world, nearly 40 million people live in poverty, which for a family of four means an annual income of less than $21,200 a year. Millions more are barely holding on as they struggle every day to meet the rising costs of food, gas, utilities and healthcare. American poverty disproportionately affects children, more than 12 million of whom grow up in impoverished homes. Other industrialized nations do much better. In fact, among 21 developed nations, American children fare the worst on health, safety and relative poverty measures.
Reducing poverty is not only a moral imperative, it is vital to our nation’s well-being. Children who grow up poor too often become adults who cannot contribute effectively to our economic productivity, put a burden on the public health system or enter the criminal justice system. Economists now estimate that child poverty costs the nation about $500 billion a year.
The financial meltdown on Wall Street has further exacerbated the challenges facing low-income Americans. As the nation directs precious resources to the survival of these institutions and the solvency of the financial system, we cannot lose focus on those at the bottom of the economic ladder. In our current troubled economy reducing poverty will require an especially creative and vigilant approach to policy.
As a nation, we seem poised to meet that challenge. A recent poll found that by a large margin, voters say poverty and hunger are getting worse and they want to hear more from political candidates about how they will address the problem. In a survey conducted for Spotlight, likely voters for the 2008 presidential campaign were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “The media has spent an adequate amount of time during the presidential campaign covering the issue of how to fight poverty in the U.S.” 56 percent disagreed; 41 percent strongly disagreed. And in a recent poll by the Alliance for Hunger, poverty and hunger were identified as the top moral issues facing our country by both Democratic and Republican voters.
As more low-to middle-income Americans struggle during the current economic downturn, the political will to reduce poverty in this country is clearly growing. Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity will serve a crucial role in monitoring the important steps being taken to turn that will into concrete action.