Category: Poverty

Poverty plagues the country, and although Dane County median household income averages $65,000 and maintains low unemployment rates, striking inequalities continue to persist.

With the capitol building in viewable distance from Bascom Hall, the street between them is only a small microcosm of the poverty that affects thousands of the county’s residents. Continue reading DreamUp Wisconsin will desegregate fiscal disparities to brighten future for Dane County residents

UW-Madison’s focus on poverty research has been emphasized after joining the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium for Poverty, a nonprofit which promotes classroom studies programs for undergraduates.     Continue reading UW joins consortium for poverty, increasing resources for student research

“Public assistance should be a trampoline, not a hammock,” Gov. Scott Walker told a crowd of government officials, reporters and otherwise notable individuals during his State of the State address earlier this year.

This is a philosophy that Wisconsin has taken to heart in the construction of its public policy, and one that reflects a near national consensus on welfare.

But according to some experts, it has resembled neither to those who need it Continue reading Hoops, hurdles and hostility: getting public assistance in Wisconsin

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty in response to a national poverty rate of almost a quarter of the population living in poverty. Through the Office of Economic Opportunity, Johnson hoped to create and administer forward-thinking solutions to the crisis.

The OEO was abolished in 1981, but it left behind some programs that are still working to answer questions and solve problems related to poverty in 2018.

At UW-Madison, the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) continues to tackle these issues and inform public policy on poverty, long after Johnson’s war on poverty has come to an end. Continue reading The IRP’s war on poverty continues