As the debate over welfare spending continues in Washington, D.C., a number of Missouri citizens and organizations go quietly about the business of dealing with poverty every day. Regardless of what happens in Washington, their efforts will continue to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of impoverished Missourians. This Poverty At Issue provides information about some of the organizations and efforts addressing the problem of poverty in Missouri. It also describes the method used to measure poverty, including criticisms and shortcomings of that method.
Attention is given to trends in income distribution as well.
Carole Prather's article on page 3 follows up on her article, Nothing Fair About Regressive Taxes, in the Winter 1996 Poverty at Issue. I hope you find the information helpful. Each local dialogue will involve people with low incomes and other community leaders in an open discussion about the realities of poverty. The information presented locally will be combined with other local reports and synthesized into state and regional summaries. Dialogues are being hosted by several local CAAs in Missouri.