A Tipping Point to Begin the End of Poverty 

 During more than 30 years of speaking to communities throughout the United States and Canada, I have been making the statement that we can end poverty and should do so. I have never encountered any resistance to the idea that we should end poverty. It’s the way we can end poverty that causes people to object with statements such as, “We have been fighting the War on Poverty over 50 years, and it’s only gotten worse.” But have we really been fighting all these years? I would say no; we haven’t had a national goal to eliminate poverty. 

First, the war in Vietnam increasingly distracted the Johnson administration’s focus away from the War on Poverty. Some safety net programs were implemented, such as the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and the Social Security Act of 1965 that created Medicare and Medicaid. However, these safety nets created an array of allopathic remedies. Some would argue these remedies make people too busy with paperwork to get their basic needs met and lessen the urgency of finding a job. This is a poverty management system. 

Furthermore, there are no financial incentives from federal agencies to support people as they move out of poverty and increase their stability. The baby boomers provided such a substantial labor pool that local economies did not need to worry about qualifying those in poverty for the workforce. Without pressure from business to demand more qualified workers, poverty management continues in government and with human services organizations addressing basic needs and elements of workforce readiness rather than coordinating all the developmental stages of transitioning from poverty into sustainable jobs. 

Our strong belief is that human beings can eradicate the condition of poverty. The challenge is not whether we have enough resources to do it—because we have enough. It is not whether we know how to make the necessary systemic changes—because we know enough. Rather, the challenge is aligning the conviction that we can and should end it. Because society could be easily overwhelmed by the massive task of ending poverty in the face of realities described above, we need a smaller, yet powerful, initial goal. 

Based on his network science research, Boleslaw Szymanski, professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, states, “When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10%, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority. Once that number grows above 10%, the idea spreads like flame.”  

We have all seen in our time social movements such as the ban of smoking in public spaces and stricter drunk driving laws and prevention campaigns that reached a tipping point and fundamentally changed society. How can we intentionally lead in a manner that causes a tipping point in our society? Achieving a tipping point is the goal The Poverty Solution is using to inspire and equip leaders to build Poverty Alleviation System Pilots to support 10% of households in their communities to climb out of poverty. The theoretical potential of a tipping point is that once that 10% is reached, momentum will take over, and the process of reducing poverty will become easier as more people embrace the effort. 

Meeting resistance from within our own minds, as well as from those in our communities, we will need to align our intention to be transformational leaders. We need to follow our conviction about ending poverty, no matter what we confront along the way. Otherwise, we will likely return to the status quo and collude with a poverty management system that maintains poverty. 

We are each hardwired to want to make a difference in the world. The Poverty Solution provides an easy-to-follow process for examining your own beliefs about ending poverty and leading your community through a transformation toward ending poverty in our lifetime.  

In the next blog we look at why solving poverty is both a red and blue issue where both sides can and need to work together for mutual benefit.