DC & The War on Poverty: Then, Now & the Future

Margaret O’Bryon, Waldemar A. Nielsen Chair in Philanthropy at the Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership, gives welcoming remarks.
Dr. Edward Montgomery, Dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy, and panelists.
George Jones, CEO of Bread for the City and 2015 recipient of the John Thompson, Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award.
Dr. Maurice Jackson, Associate Professor, Department of History, Georgetown University.
From left: Margaret O’Bryon, Waldemar A. Nielsen Chair in Philanthropy; Dr. Alice M. Rivlin, Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy; Dr. Kathy Kretman, Director, Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership; and Kimberly…
Audience attending DC & The War on Poverty: Then, Now & the Future.

On March 20, 2015 300 people representing the community, non-profits, philanthropy, business, and academia participated in the 2015 Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership Forum, DC & The War on Poverty: Then, Now, & the Future. The forum was held on the Georgetown University campus. The program began with remarks by a diverse panel of speakers: Maurice Jackson, Associate Professor in the Department of History at Georgetown; Ed Lazere, Executive Director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute; Alice Rivlin, Professor in Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy; George Jones, President of Bread for the City; Rosa Goyes, Health Promotion Manager at Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care; and Nicky Goren, President and CEO of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.

The panelists’ remarks included recommendations for addressing poverty and income inequality in the 21st Century. Their comments sparked a robust conversation with the audience. A number of important ideas and recommendations emerged from the forum. They included: the need to develop a collective and coordinated response to changing the status quo around addressing poverty and other huge issues facing our city and region; the value of creating shared prosperity; the profound effects of racism and racial equity on persistent poverty and income inequality; the reality that an effective strategy must address the multiple economic and social factors that contribute to income disparities and inequities, e.g. workforce, education, health care, etc.; the opportunity created by the growth in the city’s tax base for addressing deep structural issues, e.g. affordable housing; the urgency of engaging young people in this work; the need to “take the conversation” to the streets; and the urgency of making and executing an action plan.

To view the video from the event, please click here.