Resources on Poverty: Home

United States Census Bureau data on poverty

The calculation of the poverty rate is a political process based on government standards.  The U.S. Census Bureau has definitions and data on their site. 

A New Global Agenda for Health Equity (pdf) from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health of the World Health Organization (2008)

Making 'Welfare to Work' Really Work:  Improving Welfare Reform for Poor Women, Families and Children

A paper from the Task Force on Women, Poverty, and Public Assistance of the American Psychological Association

Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality

"One of the country’s three national poverty centers supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is committed to providing research, policy analysis, and training on issues of poverty and inequality."

See New York Times coverage on income inequality

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity:
The Source for News, Ideas and Action

"A non-partisan initiative that brings together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to find genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans." A portal to lots of information.

From the series. Poverty in America:

Includes 6 films, the one below, and these:

The 51st State: America's Working Poor

Down . . . But Not Out! A Look at Situational Poverty

What Poor Child Is This? Poverty and America's Children

Nouveau Poor: Immigrant Poverty

Obvious Poverty: America's Homeless

This film:  Born With a Wooden Spoon:  Welcome to Poverty in the U.S.A.

Moyers & Company: The United States of Inequality

The unprecedented level of economic inequality in America is undeniable. This edition of Moyers & Company reports on dismaying extremes of wealth and poverty on display in California’s Silicon Valley. Facebook, Google, and Apple are minting millionaires while the area’s homeless—who’ve grown 20 percent in the last two years—are living in tent cities at their virtual doorsteps. These are the human faces of economic inequality. Broadcast dates: April 12, 2013, and May 31, 2013. (17 minutes)

Report of the Task Force on Resources for the Inclusion of Social Class in Psychology Curricula

From the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the Society for the Psychology of Women, of the American Psychological Association

Click for the pdf.

Socioeconomic Status/Social Class in Films, Documentaries, TV Shows and Songs. 

A list.  Click for the pdf:

MIT’s Living Wage Calculator

Allows students to compare the cost of living by county as well as to understand that the poverty threshold is lower than the calculations that the living wage is based upon.

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