Half in Ten at Minnesota Children and Youth Rally

The Minnesota partners—A Minnesota Without Poverty, Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, and Affirmative Options—planned and staffed a booth on children and poverty for a Children and Youth Rally at the Minnesota State Capitol on October 10. More than a thousand people attended the youth-organized rally, which featured speeches by Minnesota’s senators, two major party candidates for governor, Children’s Defense Fund President Marion Wright Edelman, and public radio show host Garrison Keillor.

Booth visitors tested interactive games we plan to post on our websites that teach people about low wages in Minnesota’s labor market, the effect of policies that can move Minnesota children and their families out of poverty, and a timeline to show the relationship between policies and racial economic disparities. Watching people of different ages try out the interactives gave us helpful information for refining the games before launching them online. What’s more, because the rally drew young people from out of state, it was also a good venue to sign people up for Half in Ten.

To prepare members for the upcoming elections, A Minnesota Without Poverty has reached out to Minnesota’s three major party candidates for governor to ask about their plans for addressing poverty and especially the racial disparities in poverty in Minnesota. A Minnesota Without Poverty plans to forward their answers to their coalition members.