The vast majority of people in poverty in this country are women and children. The National Poverty rate is 17%. In Shelby County the poverty rate is 20.1% and the poverty rate for children is 30.6%. Yet far too often policy makers and even anti-poverty advocates overlook the day-to-day realities that make it especially challenging for women living in poverty to follow a traditional path to economic security.

To confront these barriers, the Womens Foundation of Greater Memphis, along with three other womens foundations the Womens Foundation of California, the Chicago Foundation for Women and the Washington Area Womens Foundation have launched the Womens Economic Security Collaborative, a new initiative that aims to alleviate poverty among women. It is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Ford Foundation.

The overall goal of this collaborative is to test and document strategies for a tool that would require policy and decision makers to consider how any new public policies affect single-female headed households.

Our first task will be to develop a Poverty Impact Statement, which will provide policy makers with a set of guidelines for making sure that new laws do not adversely affect those in poverty especially women and children.

The Poverty Impact Statement would allow those advocating for economic justice and womens human rights to implement a coordinated strategy of policy change and public education. The Poverty Impact Statement, much like an Environmental Impact Statement, would provide a clear and consistent tool for measuring the effects on poverty of proposed policy. Among the possible measures; would the policy result in more people or fewer people falling into poverty? Would it advance or hurt programs aimed at fighting poverty. During the next year, we will pull together our resources to come up with a Poverty Impact Statement that we hope will reframe the national debate on poverty and create a policy environment that helps women and their families achieve economic self-sufficiency and financial well-being. We will invite community leaders to join the effort by implementing the Poverty Impact Statement in their communities. And, we will launch a public education and media awareness campaign to build the political will among policy makers to apply the poverty Impact Statement to their legislative and administrative decisions. Poverty Reduction Impact Survey

Our first task will be to develop a Poverty Impact Statement, which will provide policy makers with a set of guidelines for making sure that new laws do not adversely affect those in poverty especially women and children.

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