Prelude to the 50 th Anniversary of the War on Poverty Webinar

Prelude to the 50th Anniversary ofthe War on Poverty Webinar

John HalpinSenior Fellow

Center for American Progress

www.gcyf.org

http://www.gistfunders.org

Erik Stegman Manager

Half in Ten at the Center for American

Progress

Jann JacksonSenior Associate for Policy

Reform and AdvocacyThe Annie E. Casey

Foundation

2

Prelude to the 50th Anniversary on the War on Poverty

Children in Poverty 2005-2011

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

59%

31% 32%

60%

65%

27%

40%

45%

Percent of Children Living Below 200% FPL, by Race/Ethnicity

American Indian

Asian and Pacific Is-lander

Black or African Amer-ican

Hispanic or Latino

Non-Hispanic White

Total

61%

* Poverty here means 200% of FPL which was equivalent to $44,700 for a family of four in 2011.

Concentration of Child Poverty in the US

5

Casey’s Policy Priorities

• Universal, high-quality pre-kindergarten and early childhood educationo Consider Obama 2014 budget proposal

• Overhaul and expand tax credits (EITC and CTC) that help low-income workers

• Subsidized employment o Use model implemented under the TANF emergency

contingency fund in 2009 and 2010

Planning for the Anniversary of the War on Poverty

Leveraging Opportunities to Reset the National Conversation

Erik R. Stegman, Manager, Half in Ten Campaign

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Presentation to the GCYF Communications CollaborativeMarch 29, 2013

Agenda

1. Background on Half in Ten2. Why planning now is critical3. Our plan for leveraging the anniversary to

change the national conversation4. Public opinion research5. Opportunities for investment in the War on

Poverty anniversary6. Questions and discussion

Background on Half in Ten

• National campaign to cut poverty in half in ten years

• Tracking our progress from 2010-2020 through our annual report

A Challenge and an Opportunity

• January 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty

• Heavy media attention expected on the issue of poverty

• The challenge: those who will say we waged a war on poverty and poverty won

• The opportunity: leveraging the anniversary to develop a new, proactive narrative and vision about reducing poverty

Our Goals to Reset the National Discussion About Poverty

1. Challenging narratives on poverty that undermine our ability to make progress and setting forth proactive messages that provide support for our policy goals.

2. Develop leaders in the fight against poverty through civic engagement strategy

3. Build public support for policy ideas and promote accountability for making progress in cutting poverty in half.

Public Attitudes and Understandings About Poverty

• Seeking to conduct a large scale public opinion research project to measure and better understand Americans’ opinions/understanding of poverty

– Factual data about poverty, cultural attitudes, and potential big policy ideas

• John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American progress

Challenging Narratives and Building Public Will

• This poll will help inform our messaging on poverty: defensive and offensive

• Based on the poll, Half in Ten and its partners hope to launch a major public education campaign to build public will to reduce poverty

Developing and Highlighting Leaders in the Fight Against Poverty

• Will work with existing and new field partners to hold anniversary events across the country that provide platforms for emerging leaders in public service, the private sector, media, and community organizations to make commitments to fight poverty, lift up what works, and set forth bold solutions for where we need to make greater progress.

Building Public Support for Policies

• Half in Ten will use the War on Poverty anniversary as a key theme for our annual report that tracks progress in cutting poverty in half in 10 years along several indicators.

• Highlight messages and policy recommendations from our public opinion research

Opportunities for Investment in the War on Poverty Anniversary

• Unique opportunity to reset the national conversation

• Communications and messaging is key in leveraging media attention, changing public opinion and challenging misleading narratives

• Developing leaders who make poverty an issue is critical

Opportunities for Investment in the War on Poverty Anniversary

• 50th anniversary of the March on Washington: highlighting the economic justice movement

• Challenging the media to cover poverty

Thank you

Erik Stegman, Manager, Half in Ten CampaignCenter for American [email protected]: @ErikStegman

John Halpin, Senior Fellow, Center for American [email protected]

Thank You!To download handouts from this event click on the handouts icon

in the top right corner of the screen or visit www.gcyf.org.