UW-Madison's Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group Hunger and Homelessness Campaign held a poverty summit 'Saturday to promote community involvement and advocacy in the Madison area.
Mariana Berbert, poverty summit coordinator and intern for the Hunger and '""Homelessness Campaign, said the goal of the summit was to educate attendees about poverty and homelessness and how it could be solved through legislation.
""We have been working with issues of hunger and homelessness and doing '""great service projects, but we wanted a chance to move forward and help '""with even more issues,"" she said.
According to Bob Jones, director of public policy for the Wisconsin '""Community Action Program, poverty is going to become a greater problem '""because of the current economic crisis. Jones said '""it is going to be harder to secure funds for programs benefiting the needy.
""[The financial crisis] creates a bad climate where [lawmakers] want to '""cut funds,"" he said. ""We are fighting hard to protect what we've got.""
Vicky Selkowe, manager of mobilization strategies for the Wisconsin Council '""on Children and Families, said individuals should '""examine the effects of poverty more closely.'""'""
""People don't see that poverty has impacts not only on the people '""themselves, but on the community,"" Selkowe said. ""If you have poor people in '""the community, they are running up health-care costs ... and their '""children in schools are not doing as well. The impact of all these '""things is beyond the families themselves.""'""
Berbert said she was happy with the turnout at the summit and felt the people who '""attended were passionate about the issues discussed.
""There were 20 people there, which may not sound like a large number, '""but as we learned from [Selkowe] it only takes 10 interested people to '""get a politician's attention,"" Berbert said.
Berbert said she felt the chapter made progress in finding new ways '""to become active and brainstorming solutions to yield long-term benefits.
""We as students are educated and caring members of our community,"" she '""said. ""We can make a difference if we want, we just have to give it '""thought, care and dedication.""
