The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Half in Ten: From Poverty to Prosperity

A Campaign to Cut Poverty in the United States in Half in Ten Years

Given the increasing number of Americans living in poverty during recent decades, the idea of reducing poverty seems like an insurmountable challenge.

But several organizations have come together with a strategy to move the country toward the achievable goal of cutting poverty in half in ten years by motivating the public and encouraging change at every level of government.

Half in Ten is an initiative of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), and Senator John Edwards.

Half in Ten will focus on the following strategies:

• Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit
• Raising state and federal minimum wages
• Increasing the number of low-income families receiving child care assistance
• Increasing eligibility for unemployment insurance
• Preventing predatory lending practices and preserving home ownership

Over the next several months, we’ll be meeting with community leaders, activists and ordinary Americans in cities across the country. If your organization is working on our issues, we want to talk with you. Visit Halfinten.org to learn more.

Additional Resources

• Half in Ten: The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years
• Stalled Progress on Poverty - Fact sheet from the Center for American Progress - 8/26/08
• From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half - Report from the Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty - 4/25/07