Clearly, workers with a history of lower earnings receive a proportionately higher benefit than do workers with higher earnings. Therefore, the cap on earnings subject to the social security tax may indeed be justified. Its founders felt that those with low incomes needed a united voice to influence decision-making about the poor. The group has more than 1,000 members statewide. Participants are divided into typical poverty families.
Volunteers create a low-income community within which participants live and interact.
The community includes a welfare office, food pantry, grocery store, employment office, police station, school, pawn shop and other services and resources. Needed improvements to existing anti-poverty policies are identified, and the importance of advocacy is stressed. Oxford will also serve as a presenter at the conference. Between 1993 and 1994, the poverty rate dropped in the United States. About 1.2 million fewer Americans were below the poverty line in 1994 than in 1993.