Celebrating our Experts on Poverty

RESULTS Experts on Poverty are a cohort of individuals with lived and living experience of poverty from across the nation. 

As a person with lived experience of poverty myself, I know the negative stereotypes pushed onto individuals and families who experience poverty only serve to further divide us. To truly end poverty, we must have the voices of those most impacted at the table, helping to destroy false narratives, and coming up with and implementing real solutions. Only we, as those with lived and living experience of poverty, truly know the intricacies of what we experience and are the key to changing policies for the better. 

Part of becoming an anti-oppressive organization is understanding the true value that those with lived and living experience of poverty have and recognizing that only including us in advocacy and policy for the sake of sharing our poverty stories is exploitative, traumatic, and devaluing. We are way more than our stories. We provide a level of expertise that no one else can because not only do we understand the nuances of federal, state, and local anti-poverty policy, but we also understand the emotional, mental, and physical toll poverty has on an individual/family level because we have in the past or currently live and breathe it every single day. 

This year, our Experts on Poverty shared their personal experiences of poverty, professional expertise around the implementation and impact of various anti-poverty policies, and recommendations for how anti-poverty organizations can better center the needs of those with lived and living experience of poverty in a multitude of ways. 

Some of the Experts greatest accomplishments in 2021 included: 

• 12 Experts had roles in the 2021 RESULTS International Conference including leading two conference sessions on storytelling and speaking in sessions on the impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the value of housing vouchers. 
• 4 Experts shared their experiences and the impact the Child Tax Credit has had in their lives with advocates across the country and Congress through compelling videos and a powerful op-ed. 
• 7 Experts in the past month and a half attended and spoke in 3 different conferences, including leading a plenary for the first time ever at the Hunger Free Communities Summit. 

The Experts on Poverty had a phenomenal impact on policy makers, advocates, organizational leaders, and more, with many people quoting the Experts on social media and reaching out to let us know how listening to the Experts inspired them. The Experts on Poverty truly ended this year with a bang. 

To learn more about the Experts on Poverty program and view their past work, check out the Experts on Poverty webpage. 

We will be looking for 5 new Experts to join the cohort in January 2022 so stay tuned for more information on how to apply.