Title: Three Steps We Can Take to Solve Poverty, From Someone Who Knows Firsthand | BillMoyers.com
Headings: Three Steps We Can Take to Solve Poverty, From Someone Who Knows Firsthand
Three Steps We Can Take to Solve Poverty, From Someone Who Knows Firsthand
Three recommendations for solving poverty
1. Provide living wages and family-oriented labor policies
2. Invest in a safety net that supports and promotes economic mobility
Improve the overall safety net in five ways
3. Invest in community solutions, run by people who know poverty firsthand

Content: We need to fix the system so that we can get out of poverty. My friend Barbie experienced this firsthand when she got a job helping people apply for SNAP benefits. She was so happy to finally have stable — and fulfilling — employment. But her small increase in wages made her lose benefits so quickly that her family felt the effects of hunger more severely than before. This falling off the cliff caused her great depression and stress and more suffering for her kids. Invest in educational opportunities through the safety net. The “Work First” policy doesn’t work. “ Work First” to us means pushing us into low-wage jobs that get us nowhere, with no hope for a future, no hope for escape from poverty. There are not enough opportunities to improve our educations so we can make better wages. My friend Quanda from Boston was on cash welfare.