A Story of Change Raymond had been involved with the justice system since adolescence. Jessie regularly faced difficult choices between paying rent, buying food, and covering other household expenses. Maureen had experienced homelessness and was working toward greater stability while in recovery from alcohol use. Felix immigrated from Guatemala as a teenager and had spent years working in low-wage jobs with limited opportunities for advancement. When they stood together in their graduation robes, they shared something important: each had worked toward goals they had set for themselves, and each had built new relationships, skills, and opportunities along the way. They had completed a comprehensive program designed to help participants strengthen economic stability and pursue education and employment goals. The program offered job-search and interview preparation, workplace skills, financial education, high school equivalency preparation, English-language learning, and connections to community resources. Jessie and Maureen earned high school equivalency credentials, Raymond strengthened skills that helped him pursue employment, and Felix expanded his English-language skills while exploring additional education and career opportunities. Just as important, participants built relationships with one another. They shared meals, childcare, information, encouragement, and connections. Raymond learned about a job opportunity through Maureen's family network. Jessie found a school program that supported her daughter's interest in art through a recommendation from another participant. Felix's volunteer mentor helped him explore college and training options. There is no single path toward economic security. For some people, access to stable employment may make the greatest difference. Others may benefit from education, training, affordable housing, childcare, health care, transportation, financial resources, or supportive relationships. Often, several of these things are needed at the same time. Strong communities help expand people's choices and create conditions in which individuals and families can build on their strengths and pursue their goals. Understanding Poverty Today This section explores how communities can expand economic opportunity and reduce barriers experienced by people living in poverty. Poverty can affect many areas of life, including housing stability, food security, health, education, transportation, employment, family well-being, and opportunities to participate fully in community life. Language about poverty has changed over time. Terms such as people experiencing poverty, people with lower incomes, and people facing economic barriers generally describe circumstances without defining people by them. In this section, we'll primarily use people experiencing poverty when referring to people whose available resources are not sufficient to meet basic needs or participate fully in the economic and social life of their communities. Poverty also looks different across communities and countries. The resources needed for housing, food, transportation, health care, education, and participation vary greatly depending on where someone lives. For that reason, understanding poverty requires looking not only at income, but also at cost of living, access to services and opportunities, household resources, and the broader economic and social conditions people experience. Who Experiences Poverty and Why? People experience poverty for many interconnected reasons. Some households experience economic hardship after job loss, illness, disability, divorce, displacement, or another major change. Others face longer-term barriers related to wages, housing costs, education, discrimination, health care, transportation, childcare, public policy, or access to wealth and economic opportunity. These factors often interact. Poverty is therefore rarely explained by one decision, characteristic, or circumstance. Understanding the broader conditions affecting people's choices and opportunities is essential when communities develop strategies to increase economic security. Access to education, training, and skills Education and training can expand employment and economic opportunities, but people do not have equal access to them. Cost, transportation, childcare, disability access, language, technology, school quality, work schedules, and previous educational opportunities can all affect participation. Some adults may want additional support with literacy, numeracy, English-language learning, digital skills, professional credentials, or job-specific training. Programs can help by making these opportunities affordable, accessible, relevant to participants' goals, and connected to realistic education and employment pathways. Low-wage or unstable employment Employment does not always provide economic security. People may work full time or hold multiple jobs while still having difficulty covering housing, food, transportation, childcare, health care, and other basic expenses. Low wages, unpredictable schedules, limited benefits, seasonal or temporary work, lack of paid leave, and few opportunities for advancement can make it difficult for workers and families to build savings or withstand an unexpected expense. Strategies for increasing economic security may therefore need to address the quality and stability of employment as well as whether jobs are available. Health, disability, and access to care Health conditions and disabilities can affect employment, income, expenses, transportation, or caregiving responsibilities. At the same time, people with disabilities bring skills, knowledge, and experience to workplaces and communities and may thrive when environments are accessible and appropriate accommodations are available. Barriers such as inadequate health coverage, inaccessible workplaces, discrimination, limited transportation, high medical costs, or difficulty obtaining needed supports can contribute to economic hardship. Accessible health care, disability supports, accommodations, income supports, and inclusive employment practices can expand opportunity and stability. Substance use and recovery Substance use disorders and economic hardship can interact in complex ways. Financial stress, trauma, unstable housing, limited access to care, and other difficult circumstances may affect substance use and recovery. Substance use disorders can also affect health, employment, relationships, housing, and financial stability. Effective responses avoid blaming or stigmatizing people. They may include evidence-informed treatment, harm-reduction services, peer support, recovery services, stable housing, health care, employment support, and long-term community connection. Mental health, trauma, and well-being Mental health conditions and experiences of trauma can affect many areas of life, including work, education, relationships, housing, and physical health. Economic insecurity can also contribute to chronic stress and make it harder to obtain consistent care. People who have experienced violence, displacement, discrimination, military service, community trauma, or other difficult circumstances may benefit from accessible, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive support. Mental health care works best as one part of a broader system of support rather than as an explanation for poverty itself. Economic shocks and instability People across income levels can experience financial hardship after a major setback such as job loss, a medical emergency, family separation, natural disaster, caregiving responsibility, or sudden increase in housing costs. Households with limited savings or access to affordable credit may have fewer resources for absorbing these shocks. Emergency assistance, income supports, affordable health care, stable housing, paid leave, unemployment protections, and opportunities to build savings and assets can help families remain stable during periods of change. Structural barriers and unequal access to opportunity Economic opportunities are also shaped by broader systems and institutions. Discrimination, neighborhood disinvestment, unequal educational opportunities, limited transportation, housing barriers, inaccessible services, and unequal access to credit, professional networks, and other resources can influence people's opportunities over time. Communities can address these barriers by examining policies and practices, investing in areas where resources have been limited, listening to people most affected, and creating more equitable access to education, employment, housing, health care, transportation, and economic opportunity. Intergenerational economic barriers Economic hardship can extend across generations when families have had fewer opportunities to build savings, property, education, professional networks, or other assets that can be passed from one generation to the next. Long-term disinvestment, discrimination, housing conditions, school resources, health disparities, and limited access to credit or employment opportunities can also accumulate over time. These circumstances do not determine a person's future. Expanding access to quality education, stable employment, affordable housing, health care, childcare, financial resources, community networks, and opportunities to build assets can increase economic mobility for individuals and families. Poverty Among Children and Families Children can be especially affected by economic hardship because their health, education, housing, nutrition, and development depend partly on the resources and environments available to their families. In 2025, 13.4% of children in the United States lived below the official poverty threshold. Poverty rates and experiences are not distributed evenly across communities. Differences reflect a range of historical and current economic and social conditions, including access to employment, housing, education, health care, wealth, and other resources. Children in families experiencing poverty may be more likely to encounter food insecurity, housing instability, limited access to health care, fewer educational resources, or chronic financial stress. These circumstances can affect health and learning, but they do not define children's abilities or potential. Supports such as stable housing, nutritious food, affordable childcare, high-quality schools, health care, transportation, family income supports, safe recreation, and strong relationships with family and community members can help children and families thrive. Expanding Economic Security and Opportunity Reducing poverty requires attention to both the immediate needs of individuals and families and the broader conditions that shape economic opportunity. No single strategy will work for every community or household. Effective approaches may include: Education and training: Expanding access to strong K–12 education, high school equivalency programs, apprenticeships, vocational and technical training, adult education, and college opportunities. Stable employment and economic opportunity: Expanding access to jobs with adequate pay, predictable schedules, benefits when possible, safe working conditions, and opportunities for advancement. Affordable housing, childcare, and transportation: Reducing major household costs and logistical barriers that can make it difficult to work, pursue education, or build financial stability. Health care and behavioral health access: Providing affordable and accessible physical health, mental health, disability, substance use treatment, and recovery services. Income and asset-building supports: Helping households respond to immediate needs while also creating opportunities to build savings, access affordable financial services, develop credit, own assets, and increase long-term financial security. Social connection: Strengthening networks through which people share information, provide mutual support, connect one another with employment and services, and respond to challenges together. Community leadership and shared decision-making: Ensuring that people with lived experience of poverty have meaningful roles in designing, leading, and evaluating programs, services, and community change efforts. The Bigger Picture Expanding economic opportunity involves more than providing short-term assistance. It also means examining the conditions that influence whether people can obtain stable housing, education, health care, transportation, employment, financial resources, and meaningful opportunities to participate in community life. Communities can combine direct support with efforts to reduce structural and institutional barriers. The strongest approaches recognize people's existing strengths and knowledge, respond to immediate needs without stigma, and involve people experiencing poverty in deciding what changes would be most useful. Progress is possible when people have meaningful choices, supportive relationships, accessible resources, and opportunities to build economic stability over time. Rather than defining people by poverty, effective community efforts focus on expanding the conditions in which individuals, families, and communities can participate, contribute, and thrive. Contributor Phil Rabinowitz Resources Online Resources ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (originally Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now). ACORN has worked on poverty eradication in various communities for several decades. The Ashoka Foundation, an international organization that funds micro-lenders and others engaged in poverty eradication in the developing world The Asian Development Bank, addressing poverty in Asia and the Pacific. The Boston Foundation. Among this Foundation's many publications are a Community Building Curriculum, designed in large part to train community leaders how to organize their neighborhoods to help reduce poverty and maximize community opportunity. The Center for Community Change, an organization that has fostered coalitions that, in turn, have been instrumental in establishing the Food Stamp program, the Community Reinvestment Act, and the preservation of affordable housing. Some organizations that CCC has spawned that provide opportunities for the poor include: The Coalition on Human Needs The Coalition of Essential Schools home page and the organization's common principles of excellence in education The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, which works with funders to educate and advocate about the kinds of initiatives that will actually help people overcome poverty. The Rural Coalition. The Workforce Alliance, which advocates for workforce development. The Curb-Cut Effect by Angela Glover Blackwell. Laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all of society. The Gates Foundation, wealthiest in the U.S., focuses largely on global health issues, but this can indirectly have a strong poverty-reduction impact in that healthier people are significantly more likely to engage in economic activity. The Grameen Bank, the brainchild of Muhammad Yunus, originator of micro-credit. Makes small loans (as little as $10 to $25) to poor individuals and groups in Bangladesh. The website of the Harlem Children's Zone, a comprehensive community initiative intended to reduce poverty and also promote overall community development in of some of Harlem's poorest neighborhoods. The Opportunity International Network. Australia-based micro-credit lender, with training and mentoring for borrowers. The website of the Poverty and Race Action Council, whose self-described purpose is "to link social science research to advocacy work in order to successfully address problems at the intersection of race and poverty." SolvePoverty. Australian for-profit, originally affiliated with Opportunity International, that trains poor Southeast Asian youth for jobs in the computer industry. Print Resources Center for Community Change [no date given]. Getting Ahead: New approaches to generating jobs and opportunities for residents of low-income communities. Washington, DC: Author. A short how-to manual, with many examples, drawn from the work of this leading anti-poverty advocacy organization. David K. (2004). The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York, NY: Knopf. A detailed journalistic account of the working poor, and of how their situation might be bettered. Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. New York, NY: Henry Holt. The author's insightful first-person experiences in working three different low-wage jobs. Jonathan Kozol (1995). Amazing grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. New York, NY: Crown Publishers. This case study of the Mott Haven area of the South Bronx (and a best seller) is one of Kozol's many works describing the effects of poverty on children. Ken A. (1982). The Underclass. New York, NY: Vintage Books. Though by now an older book, Auletta's work is rich in illustrative detail and distinctive in describing the promises and pitfalls of job training programs as a method for emerging from poverty. Lisbeth B. (1997). Common Purpose: Stengthening Families and Neighborhoods to Rebuild America. New York, NY: Doubleday. A comprehensive study by a leading scholar on the subject. Meyer, A., Blake,L., Caine, H., & Williams P. (2000). On the Ground with Comprehensive Community Initiatives. Columbia, MD: The Enterprise Foundation. Many examples of such programs from across the country, and how they work in practice. William J. (1996). When Work Disappears. The world of the new urban poor. New York, NY: Knopf. Wilson's by-now classic exposition of the effects of the disappearance of industrial jobs from our central cities.
