Top Features
From Poverty to Prosperity
The Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty outlines 12 key steps for cutting poverty in half in the next 10 years.
Issue Brief: The Child Tax Credit
Making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable would lift some of the barriers that prevent low-income families from getting the help they need.
Elderly Poverty: The Challenge Before Us
The elderly are disproportionately suffering in the economic downturn. It's time to help.
The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty
Women are more likely to be poor than men, but Alexandra Cawthorne outlines solutions that would help.Other Poverty & Mobility Features
June 23, 2009
Economy Strains Legal Services for the Poor
Joy Moses interviews the executive director of Connecticut Legal Services about how the economic crisis is affecting legal services and the need for greater government investment.
June 11, 2009
Child Homelessness in the Economic Crisis
Joy Moses interviews Michigan educator Kathy Kropf about the difficulties facing homeless children in the recession.
May 14, 2009
Celebrating AmeriCorps Week 2009
AmeriCorps continues to drive social innovation and give social entrepreneurs their start, writes Shirley Sagawa.
May 14, 2009
Servicios Legales Esenciales
En medio de una aguda recesión, un buen abogado puede ser el mejor intercesor entre los pobres y la carestía, informa Joy Moses.
May 7, 2009
Essential Legal Services
Amid a deepening recession, a good lawyer may be all that stands between the poor and penury, observes Joy Moses.
April 22, 2009
New York City’s Crusade Against Poverty
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a panel of experts joined CAP to discuss New York City’s fight against poverty and the lessons it can teach the nation.
April 16, 2009
More Can Be Done to Expand the Child Tax Credit
President Obama’s plan for the Child Tax Credit is a move in the right direction but CAP’s proposal for full refundability would work best for low-income families, says Joy Moses in an updated issue brief.
April 15, 2009
Weathering the Storm: Black Men in the Recession
As the recession has deepened, black men are facing alarming rates of job loss. The employment situation of black men is a crisis that demands a targeted and effective policy intervention.
March 4, 2009
Helping Those Most in Need
President Obama's budget blueprint for 2010 ensures the fight against poverty in our country becomes a top priority, observes Joy Moses.
February 19, 2009
Fighting Poverty in the Recovery Act
Alexandra Cawthorne details how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides needed help to the most vulnerable Americans.
February 11, 2009
Recession, Poverty, and the Recovery Act
The recovery package would help millions of families who are at risk of falling out of the middle class, write James Kvaal and Ben Furnas.
February 11, 2009
Poor Measurement for Poverty
Policymakers should modernize the poverty measure. The current guideline does not take into account key provisions in the stimulus package such as the creation of a Making Work Pay Tax Credit and the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.
February 9, 2009
Making Hunger History
CAP event discusses how bolstering food safety net programs for hungry families can save lives and help heal the economy.
February 3, 2009
Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Families in the Economic Recovery
The House’s recovery plan contains provisions that will help keep Americans out of poverty; the Senate should follow suit, writes Alexandra Cawthorne.
February 3, 2009
Basic Needs Assistance for the Poor Advances Economic Recovery and Employment Goals
An issue brief from Joy Moses shows how addressing the basic needs of the poor boosts the economy and helps meet national employment goals.
January 29, 2009
Beyond the Beltway: Protecting Vital Services
This interactive map shows how the House and Senate Recovery and Reinvestment Acts would help ensure that vital public services continue uninterrupted.
January 27, 2009
Beyond the Beltway: Helping Those Most in Need
This interactive map shows how the Recovery and Reinvestment Act would help the unemployed, homeless, and those living in poverty.
January 26, 2009
How to Help 12 Million Low-Income Children
House recovery legislation goes further than the Senate on revising the Child Tax Credit and would bring help to 12 million low-income children, writes Mark Greenberg.
January 22, 2009
The Child Tax Credit and the Economic Recovery Bill
Congress' economic recovery legislation would revise the Child Tax Credit, finally making eligible those families who need it most.
January 12, 2009
Public Opinion Snapshot: The Public Supports a Major Effort to Fight Poverty
Over three-quarters of Americans support the goal of cutting poverty in half within 10 years, finds Ruy Teixeira.
December 17, 2008
Generating Heat Around the Goal of Making Home Energy Affordable to Low Income Americans
Joy Moses explains current challenges to making home energy affordable for low-income Americans and proposes solutions in this report.
December 17, 2008
Green Affordable Housing
Report from David Abromowitz outlines ways that the Obama administration can incentivize and enable the green transformation of affordable housing.
December 8, 2008
Improving the Measurement of Poverty
Mark Greenberg and Rebecca Blank recommend the adoption of a new poverty measure, along the lines recommended by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), in order to provide a more accurate measure of economic need in the United States.
November 18, 2008
The Experience of the UK Child Poverty Target
In 1999 Tony Blair announced a goal of eliminating child poverty in Britain within a generation. Kate Bell examines the country's progress.
November 18, 2008
Fighting the Rising Tide of Hunger in America
Alexandra Cawthorne provides analysis of a new report from the USDA showing that more Americans were hungry in 2007—even before the economic downturn.
November 3, 2008
The Price of Poverty
New research from the UK confirms what CAP showed in 2007—child poverty drags down a nation’s economy.
October 16, 2008
Fighting Poverty with Faith
Faith groups heed a moral call to alleviate poverty in the United States and abroad, write Sally Steenland and Chase Nordengren.
October 9, 2008
Winter Forecast: Weather, Home Heating, and the Impact on Low-Income Families
This winter, the weather will be colder, and home heating will be more expensive. This is bad news for low-income families, writes Joy Moses.
October 7, 2008
Bailout Package Lends Some Relief to Low-Income Families
Child Tax Credit provisions in the bailout bill will extend relief to the families of over 13 million low-income children, writes Joy Moses.
September 26, 2008
Fighting Poverty to Stabilize the Economy
Hearing focuses on why a new stimulus must help Americans work their way out of poverty in order to stabilize the economy, writes Kate Bell.
September 25, 2008
An Update on the State of Minorities
Key indicators show that minorities continue to fare poorly in the current economy, write Amanda Logan and Tim Westrich.
September 24, 2008
Some Good News for Children and Families
The Senate legislation passed yesterday will expand the availability of the child tax credit, extending its benefits for millions of poor children.
September 15, 2008
Winter Weather and Low-Income Heating Assistance
Federal programs can help low-income families cope with the rising cost of winter heating bills.
September 8, 2008
Good Health Starts Early
Kate Bell analyzes new reports showing that child poverty is linked to poor health in adults, even those who rise out of poverty.
August 26, 2008
New Census Data Sobering
The latest census figures show that Congress must focus on fundamental economic reforms, not just immediate economic problems, writes Michael Ettlinger.
August 26, 2008
Stalled Progress on Poverty
The latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau detail the lack of any progress against poverty since 2000, write Mark Greenberg and Lisa Donner.
August 25, 2008
Inequality Matters
Kate Bell provides analysis of new research that shows it’s not just poverty that affects children’s outcomes—it’s inequality, too.
August 5, 2008
UK-Style Welfare Reform
Kate Bell explains why the British government should look to its own poverty success rather than the United States' early failures for welfare reform help.
July 28, 2008
Want to Help 13 Million Children?
The Child Tax Credit currently leaves out many low-income families who need the help most, but a new law would help change that.
July 24, 2008
Minimum Wage Goes Up, But Families Still Squeezed by Rising Prices
The minimum wage goes up today, but it still won’t be enough to cover costs for those who need it most.
July 16, 2008
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program By the Numbers
A by-the-numbers look at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program shows that a new bill proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders would provide much-needed help with energy costs for low-income families.
June 19, 2008
Medicine or Electricity?
Low-income Americans are increasingly having to make tough choices as energy prices rise.
May 15, 2008
April Sees Sharp Rise in Food Prices
The global food crisis has produced staggering increases in the cost of groceries at home, hurting low-income families worst, writes David Kane.
May 1, 2008
Soaring Food Prices Mean Less Education for Poor
Rising food prices have led to deadly riots in fledging democracies such as Haiti and caused World Bank President Robert Zoellick to project that 100 million more people will fall into poverty.
May 1, 2008
Food Price Crisis 101
The world food system must transform to meet new challenges, and the United States can and should lead the way, writes Jake Caldwell.
April 30, 2008
Fixes for the Food Fight
The world is not food secure. An overextended global food system operating in an increasingly resource-constrained world with little or no cushion to cope with catastrophe is now at the brink of break down due to soaring global food prices. In the United States and internationally, our response must be immediate and enduring, requiring swift action this week by Congress, the World Bank, the Group of Eight industrialized nations and the United Nations.
April 25, 2008
Fair Pay is a Better Way
Fair wages are a better way to improve women's economic security than government promotion of marriage, write Jessica Arons and Alexandra Cawthorne.
April 21, 2008
Rebuilding New Orleans
Video shows that almost three years after Hurricane Katrina, residents still live with the devastating effects of the disaster.
April 11, 2008
Neighborhood Realities: Media Focus on Poverty, Race, and Health
TV series and journal article draw attention to the links between childhood poverty, race, and health, write Meredith King and Joy Moses.
April 10, 2008
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