In an earlier post on the new poverty data, I had promised to say more about what we can do as a state to address poverty. While I’m not going to highlight a specific policy today, I am going to tell you more about how Voices for Children started working on this issue and one way that you can become more involved in addressing it.
As some of you may know, Voices for Children in Nebraska was founded by Kathy Bigsby Moore, a foster parent frustrated by what she saw to be systemic issues Nebraska’s foster care system. The child welfare system remained a primary focus of Voices for Children for many years. Over time, Voices broadened its agenda to focus on other issues impacting kids in part due to the growing recognition of poverty as the root cause for so many of the issues that children face.
In 2007, Voices sought to take a more sytematic approach to addressing the issue of poverty, and Opportunity@Work was born. Opportunity@Work is s statewide coalition dedicated to promoting financial stability for Nebraska’s working families. The coalition works to promote policies that help families sustain income, build savings and ownership, and protect and grow assets.
The latest Census data indicates that the need to address these issues is growing and we hope that more people feel that way as well. If you are wondering what you or your organization can do to be more involved, consider learning more about Opportunity@Work, signing up for our email list, or emailing me to talk about it.
It is going to take a lot of us to really turn the tide on poverty around, and we hope that some of you out there will be inspired to join us.
Post a comment