The Center for American Progress (CAP) today announces a new project: “Hope, Opportunity, and Mobility for Everyone (HOME): The National Initiative to End Poverty.”
The Center’s initiative will benefit from the expertise of a newly formed task force co-chaired by Peter Edelman of Georgetown University and Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink. The task force will host several meetings across the country in 2006 and provide guidance in compiling the report and recommendations that will be released as a part of the initiative.
“We are very pleased to begin an effort that we hope will once again place a national spotlight on the issue of poverty,” said CAP President and CEO John D. Podesta. “This new project will put forward bold progressive ideas and policy recommendations aimed at eradicating poverty and ensuring that everyone has access to opportunity and the freedom to realize their hopes and dreams.”
The HOME initiative will identify new solutions to address the fact that too many Americans are living on the edge in today’s economy. Low-wage families are having a harder time moving up, and some are even falling behind. With this new project and the Center’s ongoing work on mobility and economic opportunity, CAP will address the fact that a full quarter of working families are trapped in low-income jobs with limited opportunity to advance and achieve the American dream.
In addition, the HOME initiative will commission papers on pathways to economic success, social mobility, and other poverty-related issues. CAP plans to release a report with findings and recommendations later this year.
Members of the task force include:
Angela Glover Blackwell, task force Co-Chair, Founder and CEO, PolicyLink; Rebecca Blank, Dean, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Henry Carter Adams Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan; Peter B. Edelman, task force Co-Chair, Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO; Reverend Dr. Floyd H. Flake, President, Wilberforce University; Wizpan Garriott, Law Student and Board President of the He Sapa Leadership Academy; Maude Hurd, ACORN National President; Charles E. M. Kolb, President, Committee for Economic Development; Meizhu Lui, Executive Director, United for a Fair Economy; Alice M. Rivlin, Senior Fellow and Director, Greater Washington Research Program, Metropolitan Policy, Brookings Institution; Barbara J. Robles, Associate Professor, Arizona State University; Robert Solow, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dorothy Stoneman, Founder and President, YouthBuild USA; Wellington E. Webb, Former Mayor of Denver.