About the Project

The Poverty and Democracy Project has two basic purposes:

1) to provide educational materials about poverty and the relationship of poverty to the ideals of democracy; and

2) to provide opportunities for individuals to participate in anti-poverty efforts, especially at the legislative level within the state of Illinois.

The educational materials and advocacy opportunities are provided for informational purposes. Often, individuals indicate a desire to "do something" to reduce poverty, but they express a frustration regarding both their understanding of poverty and their lack of knowledge of how to make a difference. The Poverty and Democracy Project, and this website in particular, are created for such people.

Understanding poverty is an important first step in effectively reducing poverty. Too often, those in poverty are only abstractions in the minds of those who do not live in poverty. Too often, a lack of knowledge about the forces that create and entrench poverty in our society allow for the perpetuation of half-truths, simplistic analysis, and ill-informed moral judgments. Of course, the best way to learn about poverty is actually to be with those who are poor and to learn from their stories and struggles. Opportunities for such personal solidarity will be posted in the near future on the "Anti-Poverty Links" page of this website. Beyond this, a somewhat detailed presentation of poverty information and of initiatives designed to reduce poverty will hopefully enable some to understand poverty better and find the motivation to help reduce poverty.

Democracy is an important part of this project for at least two reasons:

1) If law and legislation are relevant to poverty, then they are a concern of "we the people." Our elected officials make these laws, and they can make new laws. Over time, this website will provide examples of the way that law and legislation (including laws not passed and laws not even imagined) impact the lives of those who are now, or might one day be, in poverty.

2) There are two rival visions of democracy in conflict in our society. On the one hand, democracy is understood as a system of government produced by a social contract between individuals designed to protect the rights of those individuals. Often, the most important of these rights is the right to private property. In this understanding of democracy, the individual is the most important unit of government and society. A second, though far less dominant, vision of democracy suggests that individuals live and thrive in relation to other individuals, and that the different members of society are deeply connected to each other and to their environments. Here, democracy is a social ideal in which the individual success is measured in terms of a contribution to the whole of society.

The Poverty and Democracy Project affirms both that poverty is a problem for "we the people" and it seeks to advance the vision of democracy as a social ideal that understands the success of individuals in terms of the success of all people.

E-mail the Poverty and Democracy Project at jpettit@depaul.edu, or call Joe Pettit, in the Religious Studies Department at (773) 325-4987.