11 - Conclusion

Summary

The final chapter lays out strategies for reducing poverty and discusses three areas of work.The first is to pursue a broader frame for the work in order to command national attention more effectively, by including people with incomes twice the poverty lines and emphasizing both the interests of people of all races and the unique interests of people of color and of women, and by fighting the ever-widening chasm of inequality as well.The second is to consolidate our work about issues of income, jobs, and cash assistance, which the chapter calls the three-legged stool.It argues that past strategies have tended to consider these areas in isolation, not thinking of them coordinately and, therefore, failing to produce the most effective results possible.Wages, quality, and income supplements for workers; job creation as needed; and cash assistance must work in tandem to get the best outcomes.Finally, to move forward in very low-income areas (both urban and rural), actors must have a perspective of place that addresses all the multiple causes that produce the high poverty.