One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All, By: Mark Robert Rank

One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All by Mark Robert Rank. Recommended by Shantha Ready Alonso, NCC Advocacy and Outreach Specialist.

I was lucky enough to study social work at Washington University in St. Louis, where Professor Rank teaches. Consistent with his lectures and articles, this book is sure to enlighten and surprise.

This engaging and well-researched book provides surprising information about who is living in poverty when, and why. Rank engages questions about why the United States has the highest poverty rate among all industrialized countries. Based on his longitudinal research, Rank makes a case for why poverty in the United States is less about individual failure than flawed economic and public policies. He also offers innovative evidence-based strategies for lifting more families out of poverty.

This book is a must-read to inform the work of anyone working to end poverty. If you’ve read it or you want to, comment on the blog to start a discussion, or tweet us @NCCEndPoverty

Fat Tuesday, Lean Times: Restoring Balance for Our Nation.

Friends in Faith,

Today is Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday. It’s the last hurrah before the somber season of Lent. I like to celebrate as much as the next person, but today I am finding it hard to get into the spirit of the feast before the fast. Drastic and growing inequality in our nation makes feasting and fasting not seasons of life, but lifestyles for two segments of an increasingly divided society.

We’ve been working to protect the “least of these” from the worst of greed in public policy debates — but to make the changes we need, we must speak louder and grow stronger.

This Lent, I invite you to commit to growing the National Council of Churches anti-poverty advocacy network by inviting your friends to join. The week after Easter, I’d like to make a gift of the Poverty and Justice Bible to the three of you who encouraged the most new friends to join our network.

Click here to invite friends to join the network.

Every other month, we offer a newsletter highlighting initiatives responding to God’s mission to stop poverty in the United States. Click here to check out the latest newsletter, and email me back with resources, stories, or other news items you’d like to see featured in the next edition.

Grace and Peace,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

Chart Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Historical Income Tables: Families, Table F-3 (for income changes) and Table F-1 (for income ranges in 2009 dollars).

Inside this Edition:

News

• United Church of Christ Leaders Call for Federal Budget with Justice and Integrity

• Fast for Fair Food Underway.

• Faith Leaders Take Fight for Public Transit to DC.
• Faith Advocates for Jobs Honor Dr. King.

Events

• Webinar: Feb. 28 and 29: Join the U.S. Department of Agriculture to learn how your church can help close the summer meal gap for hungry kids.

• Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference in Washington, DC: March 23-25. “Is this the Fast I Seek? Economy, Livelihood, and National Priorities.”
  

Take Action

• Thank key legislators for doing the right thing on preserving Unemployment Insurance

• Ask President Obama to re-commit to cutting poverty in half from 2010-2020

Resources

• Lenten Devotionals: Presbyterian Women offer a devotional on living the beatitudes, and Society of St. Andrew offers a hunger-focused devotional.

• Odyssey Networks offers video series: “The New American Poverty.”

Book Club: One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All

Click here to read our newsletter with all these stories and more.

Join our Network by Signing our Petition to Cut Poverty in Half from 2010 to 2020.