Report - Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund
August 22, 2006
Hurricane Katrina brought the attention of the media and the American public to the tragedy of extreme poverty in the United States. As we look back on the aftermath of the storm and the devastation it wrought, we still see a stark picture of the lack of economic opportunity, inadequate supply of affordable housing, and unequal access to quality heath care. These are three of the hallmarks of extreme and concentrated poverty, and while they were exposed by the hurricane, they are, in fact, endemic to people living in impoverished communities throughout the United States.
The effects of living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty - including the inability to get home and business loans, bad schools, poor access to health care, homelessness and substandard housing - affect all residents of those neighborhoods, not just those living below the poverty line themselves. There are eight million Americans living in these neighborhoods, including six million in large cities.
