Arkansas Advocates for Children and Family is in full electoral advocacy mode this spring. The message of cutting poverty in half by 2020 is receiving resounding affirmation throughout the state, individuals are signing the Half in Ten pledge, and there is a plan on the horizon to tell the story to a widespread audience.

AACF’s federal policy and outreach teams had the opportunity while in Washington D.C. this past month to meet with congressional staffers from the offices of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), and Rep. John Boozman (R-AR). Their staff spoke with the Arkansas congressional delegation about the Half in Ten goals and discussed concrete policy solutions that could cut poverty in half by 2020. Their federal team is planning ways to educate community leaders in Arkansas and enlist them in building out the campaign statewide.

AACF’s outreach team has also been traveling around the state hosting Policy Cafés. We are asking local experts and AACF staff members to facilitate small group discussions around different issue areas. Jokingly referred to as “speed dating for advocates,” participants discuss topics for 30 minutes, then once a bell rings they move to a new “date,” or issue area. Cutting poverty in half has been a popular date so far and individuals are asked to sign a pledge form and then share one with a friend. We have held two Policy Cafés and plan to host at least five more.

Next month, The Arkansas Advocates for Children and Family Steering Committee will meet to review goals and set forth an aggressive plan to educate lawmakers and candidates on the fundamental principles of the Half in Ten campaign. AACF will also release its Child Poverty Report early this spring and submit an op-ed in several local newspapers on the topic. And staff are excited to be invited by the Arkansas Legislative Poverty Task Force to come and discuss the Half in Ten campaign and how we can work together on antipoverty efforts.

9to5 Colorado has been sharing information about Half in Ten to our lists of members and supporters and is in the process of planning our first Coalition meeting. On February 17th, 9to5 shared information about Half in Ten at the Colorado Women’s Legislative Breakfast which brought 240 women and allies to hear about issues affecting women. Legislators spoke about policies they are pushing to better the economic self sufficiency of women including health care, child care assistance, early childhood education, family friendly workplace policies and the impacts of the current budget crisis Colorado is facing.

9to5 recently led a lobby day bringing 12 community leaders to the Capitol to speak to their legislators about policies that impact people living in poverty. We will be conducting more lobby days to provide an opportunity for constituents ask their legislators to sign on to the Half in Ten campaign.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is excited to be part of the Half in Ten family. With the New Year well on its way, new opportunities to cut poverty in half by 2020 have taken flight in Arkansas. AACF will launch a plan to educate policy makers, service providers and the public on the importance of knowing the facts about poverty and how we can work together to reduce poverty. This three- prong plan will include:

• Hosting regional meetings that will educate participants on the facts of poverty and the policies that help and hinder our most vulnerable populations.
• Holding advocacy academies to equip local advocates with the knowledge on the methods of effective advocacy.
• Empowering locally trained advocates to host round table discussions with candidates and elected officials to share what they have learned and how they can work together to abolish poverty in our state and country.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is also creating a candidate’s guide that will be used in this training. This guide will outline our different issue areas and encourage local advocates to become active in the electoral process by questioning potential candidates on the issues that affect so many working families in Arkansas.
Finally, we are working with local partners to bring the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) to Arkansas. This tool was created by the Missouri Association for Community Action to educate policymakers and community leaders about the day to day realities of life with a shortage of money and an abundance of stress. Several local partners and staff members of AACF have been trained to facilitate the poverty simulation. We hope to offer this unique opportunity by mid-March. For more information and description of the poverty simulation

The future is filled with opportunities, as are looking forward to working together with dedicated advocates, concerned lawmakers and the faith community to cut poverty in half by 2020 in Arkansas and the United States overall.

Email Pat Bodenhamer at [email protected] to get involved

The Minnesota Half in Ten Coalition – composed of Affirmative Options Coalition, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, and a Minnesota Without Poverty - is already planning several events to build out the movement to cut poverty in half in ten years.

• Last weekend, A Minnesota Without Poverty Executive Director, Nancy Maeker, served as the keynote speaker at three Bread for the World workshops on “Bridging the Gap—Making Work Pay: Addressing the Struggle of Low-Income Workers to Make Ends Meet.” Nancy educated dozens of activists on the Earned Income Tax Credit, strategies to end poverty in Minnesota, and the Half in Ten Campaign’s goals and priorities.
• On February 27th, A Minnesota Without Poverty will hold a statewide Gathering on Five Sites entitled, “If Not We, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When?” This web-linked program will focus on the first recommendation of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty recommendation: Restore work as a means out of poverty. All five sites will share the experience of a keynote speaker, music, conversation, report on the progress toward ending poverty, and a community-wide call to action throughout Minnesota.
• On March 25th, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC) will hold a day at the state capitol where over a thousand activists will gather to celebrate JRLC’s Day on the Hill (March 25). Half in Ten issues and goals will be incorporated into this day’s agenda.

Email Nancy Maeker at [email protected] to get involved.

The Half in Ten campaign recognizes that we won’t cut poverty in half by 2020 without grassroots activists across the country calling for change. With that in mind, we are working with coalitions in several states to make the half in ten goal a reality.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has teamed up with the Half in Ten campaign to lead efforts in reducing poverty in our state. The Arkansas legislature has taken a step forward in addressing this issue by establishing the Poverty Task Force to look at public programs and policies that have the potential to reduce poverty. By building a statewide network and coalition through the Half in Ten campaign, we hope to work with elected officials to reduce the number of Arkansas children and families that live in poverty. We have partnered with other advocacy agencies to provide education opportunities to leaders in our state by helping them understand the plight of low-income families through the poverty simulation. During the simulation, participants experience the situations that families living in poverty go through every day.

We will work very closely with the Poverty Task Force and other low-income advocates to focus on legislation to improve the lives of Arkansans living in poverty. One such piece of legislation will be enacting a state Earned Income Tax Credit. We will also equip the faith community to be advocates for the poor on a state and national level. Our outreach director for the project is staff member Pat Bodenhamer, an ordained Methodist minister, who will continue to work with faith leaders across the state. We will also use our existing Moving Families Forward network made up of individuals and organizations around the state to work with their local elected officials.

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The Half in Ten campaign recognizes that we won’t cut poverty in half by 2020 without grassroots activists across the country calling for change. With that in mind, we are working with coalitions in several states to make the half in ten goal a reality.

The Colorado chapter of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, is partnering with the Half in Ten campaign to raise awareness of poverty in Colorado and the policy solutions that can help us ensure economic security and opportunity for all. We plan to educate thousands of directly affected Coloradans about the Half in Ten campaign, and reach out to activists, coalition partners and elected officials to build support for the Half in Ten goal. Through public events, workshops, leadership development, and grassroots organizing, we hope that women and their families all across the state will jump on the train headed towards a just and economically sound Colorado. Read more »

The Half in Ten campaign recognizes that we won’t cut poverty in half by 2020 without grassroots activists across the country calling for change. With that in mind, we are working with coalitions in several states to make the half in ten goal a reality.
Three Minnesota organizations are embracing the Half In Ten campaign: the Affirmative Options Coalition, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, and A MinnesotaWithout Poverty. The three organizations have already collaborated on moving an agenda forward to end poverty in Minnesota. The opportunity to work with Half In Ten was an opportunity to carry the message that Minnesota cannot make substantive progress on ending poverty without a renewed and serious federal commitment to tackle poverty. The three Minnesota partners will collaborate on engaging constituencies in the low-income, faith, nonprofit, and business sectors in a shared agenda on tackling poverty.

2010 will be a year to make visible the growing public support for ending poverty. In particular, the effort in Minnesota will focus on winning legislation that creates a tool for the state legislature to measure the impact of potential legislation on poverty, to launch a legislative-citizen workgroup to develop proposed policies to improve Minnesotans’ ability to accumulate and secure assets, and to revive a wage subsidy program that could help put thousands of low-income Minnesotans into jobs during this recession.

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