The Geography of Poverty in America

Abstract

"Poverty problems are problems for everybody," says Scott W. Allard, Daniel J. Evans Endowed Professor of Social Policy at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington. Allard's book Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty explores the rise in poverty in America's suburbs over the past three decades. In this video, Allard discusses how the shifting geography of poverty — in combination with the persistent poverty problems in urban centers — poses new challenges for public and nonprofit assistance programs. "Ultimately our ability to tackle poverty effectively is going to hinge on whether we see it [poverty] as a shared fate," he says.