Illinois Poverty: Addressing the Causes, Investing in Solutions

Written by Amy Rynell, Director the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty and authour of Causes of Poverty: Findings from Recent Research.

Poverty is widespread and will touch the majority of Americans at some point during their lifetimes. Particularly acute are the impacts on children. Living in poverty affects children’s development, health and school outcomes. As a result children who experience persistent poverty are more likely to be poor as adults.

The time has come to make poverty elimination a national and local priority. Seizing this moment to create change is vital to the millions of Americans and Illinoisans that live in poverty every day:

- We must act to address poverty because it limits chances and restricts opportunity for the people who experience it.

- We must act to address poverty because it is dangerous when children cannot get enough healthy food to eat, adults lack shelter, and seniors skip doses of vital medication.

- We must act to address poverty because it erodes the quality of life for us all. A society, a state, a community is only as strong its weakest member.

Poverty elimination requires specific, measurable plans and policies. States around the U.S. have begun setting poverty reduction goals and countries around the world are drafting and implementing formal poverty reduction strategies and plans. These focused goals and plans have had tremendous success: they have put poverty reduction in a place of priority on government agendas, increased engagement of impacted communities and populations in the political process, have increased the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of approaches, and have led to strategic investments into effective anti-poverty solutions.

Illinois, through the newly created Commission on the Elimination on Poverty, has an historic opportunity to invest in the next generation of anti-poverty policies and programs. Today we released a study entitled Causes of Poverty. This deeper look at causes of poverty provides a solid jumping off point for policy and systems planning. By understanding the specific triggers that increase the likelihood that someone will experience poverty, we can better target our interventions and investments.

There is a spectrum of solutions that should considered, including prevention, human capital development, immigrant integration, economic development, income supports, and asset development, that can directly impact the lives of millions of Illinoisans. With a comprehensive plan, resources, leadership, and follow through, we can put an end extreme poverty in Illinois and move miles down the path to eliminate poverty for all.