Our mission
is to replace the current approach to poverty in the U.S. with one that works.
Ending our most enduring crisis strengthens all of us.
It is no longer enough to treat symptoms.
Poverty results in people living in constant scarcity and danger, never seeing what might be possible in their lives.
Ending poverty, conversely, will result in millions of our neighbors realizing their potential and bringing their talents and insights to our world.
Why challenge our current approach to poverty?
Baltimore, MD
As a country, we have the resources and the knowledge to eradicate poverty. For too long we’ve relied on benevolent but ineffective government programs and charitable groups to do what is best spread among each of us.
Yet existing programs routinely fail to take a hard look at the data and accurately measure the outcomes of anti-poverty work.
They fail to ask people with lived experience what they need for lasting economic stability.
We can ensure that obstacles are removed and opportunities are created in our own communities, and we can do so without spending more than a trillion dollars annually for programs that rarely lead to people rising out of poverty.
But we must do it together.
“An aspen grove appears as separate trees of different sizes standing near one another. Yet if you were to go beneath the ground — to dig deeper than the surface — you would see that there is only one root system.
Each tree is connected to the other, an interconnectedness serving as the perfect metaphor for how we exist as human beings.
The key to ending poverty is no more complicated than this: to live with an understanding of our deep connection to one another.”
— Mark Bergel, Ph.D., co-founder of The Shared Humanity Project
Vision
Poverty affects all of us, even if we don’t feel it on a conscious level.
We are not the isolated individuals we have assumed ourselves to be, and no matter how we may separate from others – perhaps identifying with those who share our religious, ethnic, racial, or social constructs — we are not that small.
When we focus on our differences and restrict our compassion, crises occur. When we focus on our connection to one another, solutions occur.