Center for Poverty Solutions

Poverty loses when human dignity prevails

America has lost the War on Poverty. After nearly 60 years and $12 trillion, the poverty rate remains stuck between 11% and 15%. We’ve focused on making poverty more bearable rather than helping people escape a trap that lasts for generations. We’ve created dependence and taken people’s dignity and purpose. There are better ways to treat people, and we will bring free-market solutions to one of the most important policy issues of our time through the Center for Poverty Solutions, starting in Chicago. Together, we can defeat poverty and build self-worth.

Matthew Hamer

Matthew Hamer grew up on Chicago’s South Side. In junior high, his family of four was evicted from their one-bedroom apartment, leaving them in homeless shelters. An abundance of hard work and the intervention of a highly committed teacher allowed Matthew and his brother, Levy, to graduate college and find successful careers. “I still remember...

Want to eradicate Chicago poverty? Create more full-time jobs

Data shows full-time, year-round employment virtually guarantees Chicagoans will live above the poverty line.

By Bryce Hill

How education impacts Chicago poverty

1 in 5 Chicagoans living in poverty has a bachelor’s degree. Those without a high school diploma are four times more likely to live in poverty.

By Bryce Hill, Dylan Sharkey

Poverty in Chicago higher in 2022 than before War on Poverty

Nearly 60 years after the U.S. began the War on Poverty, the rate of Chicagoans living in poverty is higher than it was before the effort. National poverty rates have fluctuated between 11-15%, defying solutions and perpetuating dependence.

By Bryce Hill, Dylan Sharkey

Chicago poverty higher than San Francisco, Los Angeles

Chicago has one of the highest poverty rates among the nation’s biggest cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles.

By Bryce Hill, Dylan Sharkey

Wilbert Adams Jr.

"I had a good future in that field, but God had another plan and he changed my life. The addiction caused me to draw close to God, and God drew close to me and put me in his service.”

Center for Poverty Solutions: How to better assess poverty in Chicago and America

America’s War on Poverty has been an abject failure. Nearly $12 trillion and 60 years later, official poverty rates remain basically unchanged. While the nation waged a well-intentioned assault on poverty, it inadvertently launched a far more sinister war: on dignity. While attempting to eradicate poverty, America created countless government welfare programs. In doing so,...

By Bryce Hill

Illinois can fight poverty by reducing excessive regulations that limit jobs

Data from the Mercatus Center shows Illinois faces a high regulatory burden at both the federal and state level. Research shows these regulations place a disproportionately high burden on the poor, helping to keep them in poverty.

By Joe Tabor

Jeff ‘Rafi’ Boyd

“I came to the realization while I was incarcerated that I had to make some serious, life-changing decisions. I had obviously made a bad career choice. I made a conscious effort and decision to turn my life around.”

Devin Jones

“The biggest thing is that people need to be empowered, not the government. We’ve seen such a transfer of wealth from individual people to the government. Such a transfer of authority.”

Larry Roberts

Larry Roberts is a Chicago barber who helps former inmates reclaim their lives and dignity through jobs training. We first spoke to him in 2021. His school ran a barber shop inside the Chatham neighborhood Walmart until this spring, when Walmart abruptly closed that location and three others. Larry is looking for a new location...

Steven Blake

Steven Blake was homeless for years until another man showed him how selling fruit in downtown Chicago could rebuild his life. Now Blake employs other homeless people who are working their ways off the streets. “I do not hire people who already ‘have.’ I want to train the ones and teach the ones to be...

1-in-6 Illinoisans rely on food stamps for Christmas dinner

Illinois has the 6th-highest number of residents buying their meals with nutrition benefits, and the number grew almost 11% from a year earlier.

By Patrick Andriesen

Marius Powell

“You need stable housing to get yourself together, hold a job and contribute to society. Without proper housing people end up using more resources.”