On the morning of July 8, former Senator John Edwards introduced the Half in Ten campaign to over a thousand young progressive activists, in his keynote address to the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, D.C. Encouraging the students to get involved in the effort to cut poverty in half in ten years, Edwards asked each of the attendees to sign up on www.halfinten.org, and to encourage ten friends to do the same. Attendees responded warmly to his challenge that “the voices of a generation must join together for a great call for change…that next battle to right our country’s great injustices must be led by you,”.

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The Associations for Community Reform Now (ACORN), an organizational outlet for low- and middle-income families for over three decades, held its biannual national conference in Detroit on June 22 and 23. Predatory loans and the foreclosure crisis were a major focus of the event, and thousands of attendees were also introduced to the Half in Ten campaign. Co-sponsored by ACORN, along with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the Coalition on Human Needs, the new effort aims to reduce poverty by half over the next ten years.

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As highlighted in “From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half,” the prevalence of child poverty has a vast effect on the economy, costing $500 billion each year in lost productivity, earnings, and increased expenses.
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On April 25, 2007, the Center for American Progress’ Task Force on Poverty, co-chaired by Peter Edelman and Angela Glover Blackwell, released its recommendations to cut poverty in half in the next ten years. “From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half” outlines the fourfold goal of promoting decent work, providing opportunity for all, ensuring economic security, and helping people build wealth.
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