NOW Joins Coalition Planning Major Anti-Poverty Rally

On Sept. 4, activists will urge presidential candidates to pledge to create a White House Conference on American Poverty

August 10, 2004

by NOW Staff

Working to eradicate the vast divide between the country’s rich and poor, the National Organization for Women (NOW) has joined forces with a coalition of 1,000 community action organizations planning a major anti-poverty rally in Washington D.C. on Sept. 4.

Organizers say the rally -- focusing on health care, jobs, housing, education and the digital divide -- will urge the presidential candidates to pledge to create a White House Conference on American Poverty to tackle issues particularly impacting low-income residents of the U.S.

"A White House Conference on American Poverty is an excellent opportunity for our leaders to develop strategies and solutions for ending poverty," said Derrick Span, national president of the Community Action Partnership, the rally’s lead organizer. "We must be able to show the positive effects of human services programs and preserve their funding."

The group is also aiming to cultivate a new generation of leaders committed to community service and volunteerism.

Rally speakers will include NOW President Kim Gandy, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), National Council of La Raza President Raul Yzaguirre, Sarah Greene of National Head Start, and the Rev. Dr. James Forbes Jr. of Riverside Church in New York City, among others.

Women's rights leaders, noting that the gap between the rich and poor is the largest since the 1930s, said that recent White House policies simply haven't addressed the needs of families working to pull themselves up out of poverty.

"If the Bush administration expended half as much effort helping poor women escape poverty as it does helping millionaires, then we'd really be in business," Gandy said. "Bush's economic policies are bad business for the country as a whole and particularly devastating for the 34.6 million people currently living in poverty."

The "No Room for Poverty" National Rally will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2004. For more information, go to www.povertyrally.org.