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SWOK 587: Poverty

A guide to the social work resources available at Heritage University

Reference Works

Data & Stats

Poverty - U.S. Census Bureau
"The Census Bureau provides poverty data from several household surveys and programs. Here you can find poverty estimates, learn about these surveys and programs, and get guidance on how to choose the right estimate for your needs."

A Profile of the Working Poor
"The “working poor” are people who spend 27 weeks or more in a year in the labor force either working or looking for work but whose incomes fall below the poverty level. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 9.5 million of people who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force were poor. That year, the working poor comprised 6.3 percent of all individuals in the labor force."

Poverty - Data Products - USDA

EBP

Childhood Poverty: Evidence-Based Solutions

"Evidence-based prevention programs have assisted families with programs like the home visitation program and the Nurse Family Partnership, which is for first-time mothers living in poverty. When programs like this work, they not only help individuals but they also save the system money. Parenting-based prevention of child maltreatment programs have shown a $7.48 return on each dollar invested, and parenting support to prevent teen substance abuse has shown a $5 return on the dollar, based on health economic analysis."

Evidence-Based Interventions to Address Intergenerational Poverty (Utah)
Intergenerational poverty is poverty in which two or more successive generations of a family continue in the cycle of poverty. The State of Utah measures intergenerational poverty (IGP) as utilization of public assistance for at least 12 months as an adult and at least 12 months as a child. Experiencing poverty as a child often predicts adulthood poverty, due to the behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and neurophysiological issues that childhood poverty can cause, and their collective impact on future wellbeing.

Rethinking poverty: An evidence-based approach 
"

Science and data drive health care practice. At least, they usually do: Heart disease, cancers, depression—all have evidence-based standards of care. But one devastating condition affecting millions has no such standards: Poverty. 

Marcella Wilson, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Transition to Success™, set out to change this, and she did. Multiple external reviews show how her model led improvements in income, mental health status, food security and several other social determinants at little or no additional cost. 

Her journey has special resonance for case managers—especially those with the CCM® credential, who are ethically bound to serve as patient advocates. What Wilson learned offers insights as case managers work with clients suffering from poverty."

Evidence to Policy | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Evidence from randomized evaluations is changing how we understand and address problems related to poverty. Policymakers, practitioners, and funders worldwide are increasingly applying this learning to social policies and programs.

A “better way” to end poverty: Look at the evidence
"
At Urban, we believe that data and evidence are essential to shaping a more inclusive, equitable, and just society."

 

Government Resources

Poverty - Healthy People 2030
"This summary of the literature on Poverty as a social determinant of health is a narrowly defined examination that is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all dimensions of the issue. Please note: The terminology used in each summary is consistent with the respective references."

Poverty Guidelines | ASPE - HHS.gov
The 2024 poverty guidelines are in effect as of January 17, 2024. Federal Register Notice, January 17, 2024.

Poverty - Data Products - USDA

Frequently Asked Questions Related to the Poverty Guidelines and the poverty thresholds?s

Poverty thresholds are used for calculating all official poverty population statistics — for instance, figures on the number of Americans in poverty each year. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau.

 

Databases

Child Welfare Information Gateway
Search and filter resources from Child Welfare Information Gateway, the Children’s Bureau (CB), CB-funded projects, and other leading organizations in child welfare.  

Use the filters to search by the following: 

  • Resource type: We offer print publications, websites, podcasts, and more. 
  • Audience type: We provide materials for child welfare professionals, youth, families, and caregivers.
  • State: Search for materials on specific States, Territories, and Tribes. 
  • Author/source: Find content we created or resources from other trusted organizations.

Research Reports

Poverty and Health - The Family Medicine Perspective
"Poverty is a complex and insidious determinant of health caused by systemic factors that can persist for generations in a family. Beginning before birth and continuing throughout an individual’s life, poverty can significantly impact health and health outcomes. The vision of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is to transform health care to achieve optimal health for everyone. Primary care physicians and public health professionals continue to collaborate on a shared vision of improving population health. "

USDA ERS - Rural Poverty & Well-Being
ERS research in this topic area focuses on the economic, social, spatial, temporal, and demographic factors that affect the poverty status of rural residents. (Food and nutrition assistance topics are covered in depth elsewhere on the ERS website.)

Policy

Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
IRP is a nonpartisan research institution dedicated to producing and disseminating rigorous evidence to inform policies and programs to combat poverty, inequality, and their effects in the United States. We do this through the orchestration of a national researchtraining, and dissemination agenda (see our resources and events pages) grounded in extensive collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

 

2020 Annual Poverty Research and Policy Forum
The 2020 Annual Poverty Research and Policy Forum was held virtually on September 9, 2020 and September 16, 2020. The forum brought together a diverse group of individuals to discuss innovative strategies for measuring and reporting common economic mobility outcomes across federal programs and using integrated data for evidence building purposes.

Researching

What Decades of Social Work Taught Me About Poverty
"f my decades of work as a social worker taught me one great lesson, it’s this. Poverty is an entrenched system of political choices by self-serving lawmakers, not a personal failing of ordinary people. Poverty is not, and never has been, a crime."
 

West Coast Poverty Center - UW Research
"The West Coast Poverty Center works to bridge the gaps between antipoverty research, practice, and policy by connecting scholars, policymakers and practitioners; facilitating important social policy research; magnifying the reach of new knowledge; and fostering the next generation of antipoverty scholars."

Poverty Research Centers | ASPE - HHS.gov
"ASPE has provided longstanding support of poverty centers.  These centers focus on issues of regional or state interest to enhance further the understanding of the nature, causes, correlates, and effects of poverty, as well as programs and policies to ameliorate it. The centers plan and conduct a broad program of policy research and mentoring of emerging scholars to describe and analyze national, regional, and state environment (e.g., economics, demographics) and policies affecting the poor, particularly those families with children who are poor or at-risk of being poor. "

Online Resources

Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
"IRP is a nonpartisan research institution dedicated to producing and disseminating rigorous evidence to inform policies and programs to combat poverty, inequality, and their effects in the United States. We do this through the orchestration of a national researchtraining, and dissemination agenda (see our resources and events pages) grounded in extensive collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners."
 

Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy
"The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the Columbia University School of Social Work produces cutting-edge research to advance our understanding of poverty and the role of social policy in reducing poverty and promoting opportunity, economic security, and individual and family wellbeing in New York City and the United States."

OER OA

Introduction to Social Work: A Look Across the Profession Chapter 5
"Although poverty is one of the most familiar and enduring conditions known to humanity, it is a highly complicated concept to understand fully. To date there is no one standard definition of poverty, but numerous definitions and descriptions exist. "

Organizations

Center for Poverty & Inequality Research UC Davis
"...to facilitate non-partisan academic research on poverty in the U.S., disseminate this research, and train the next generation of poverty scholars. Our research agenda includes four themed areas of focus: labor markets and poverty, children and intergenerational transmission of poverty, the non-traditional safety net, and immigration."
 

National Center for Children in Poverty 
"We aim to improve the lives of low-income children and their families by delivering our research to advocates and policymakers seeking to craft effective policies that promote healthy child development, and strong, nurturing families that are economically secure."

CGIAR - Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
"From spurring the Green Revolution to spearheading food systems science, CGIAR has innovated for global impact. Now, it is transforming to solve today’s – and tomorrow’s – interconnected food, land, water and climate crises"

Apps

Global Citizen App: Fighting Poverty from Your Pocket
"With the continued success of the Global Citizen Festival, the newest addition to the Global Citizen platform is the app fighting poverty from the comfort of users’ pockets. Designed in collaboration with L+R, a global design and technology studio, the innovative app prompts users to take daily actionable steps to impact the fight for global poverty reduction."

8 Mobile Apps That Can Help Low Income Families
"This article, originally published in June of 2017 as “6 Mobile Apps That Can Help Low-Income Families,” was one of our most commented on and referred to.  An ever-growing segment of today’s population, low-income families are typically underserved by the mobile app market and perhaps technology in general, but here are a few that we feel noteworthy. We’ve updated the article with two new additions that cater to the underbanked and to the underemployed populations."