Discussion Guide

After you have had an opportunity to use the poverty risk calculator, there may be a number of questions and issues that you’d like to discuss or think about further. One of the ideas behind constructing this website is to encourage such conversations, and hopefully this guide will facilitate these discussions. The discussion guide is designed for either an individual exploration of the issues surrounding American poverty and inequality, or as a means to facilitate a group discussion.
Module1What is poverty, and how might we measure it? Module2Have you or someone you know experienced poverty? Module3What are the realities versus the myths of poverty? Module4What is the logic behind statistical probability? Module5Why are the five background factors so important? Module6How can we understand the root causes of poverty? Module7How important is hard work for avoiding poverty? Module8Why is poverty higher in the U.S. than in other countries? Module9Why is it important to reduce poverty? Module10What can be done to alleviate poverty? Module11What is the moral ground to view poverty? Module12How can change be created?

Tools Providing Insight

We believe that the poverty risk calculator, together with the discussion guide, are powerful tools that can provide insight into some of the more important dynamics of American poverty and inequality. The intended audience for the calculator and the discussion guide is broad. We anticipate their use by many different groups in order to delve further into the subject of American poverty. Such groups include community organizations, high school classes, religious congregations, social service providers, college students and their professors, policy think tanks, the engaged citizenry, and many others. We have designed this discussion guide to be a window into an initial exploration of American poverty.

On each of the individual module pages we have compiled additional resources to help further your understanding of poverty and inequality. These links will allow you to delve deeper into the topics that you wish to learn more about. The content found on these links is very accessible and contains a wealth of information. In addition, the content itself is in various formats including videos, audio files, and text based materials.  Finally, we have attached a printable pdf on each of the individual module pages so that you may use these pdfs as handout material in your discussions or take them with you.