We prefer people who are passionate—even if we don’t always agree on everything. This is what we can agree on when it comes to poverty:
- We know that children from poverty can learn.
- We know we can make a difference in the lives of individuals from poverty.
To learn, these kids need and deserve a great education, relationships of mutual respect and resources. Those elements lie at the core of our business in the K–12 educational market.
What else is important in reducing poverty in our communities? Community sustainability must be addressed in terms of all four causes of poverty:
- Individual behavior
- Human and social capital
- Exploitation
- Political/economic structures
Changes are needed in all four areas in order to sustain the community for all citizens.
Scholars see it one way, commentators see it another way, and politicians can be at polar ends of the continuum: individual behavior at one end and political/economic structures at the other end.
Are we going to splinter our efforts by focusing on just one of the four research bases regarding the causes of poverty to the exclusion of the others—or are we going to embrace the need for a comprehensive approach to reducing poverty? This approach requires all of us at the table, with the expertise of all of us, to address the issues surrounding poverty.
-Ruth Weirich, VP- Marketing
