RESULTS launched our Experts on Poverty program in 2015. The program includes a cohort of individuals with lived/living experiences of poverty from across the nation. The Experts on Poverty (also known as Experts or EOPs) receive training and support to become stronger leaders in the anti-poverty movement. They shift the narrative around those who experience poverty and highlight the way anti-poverty policies affect their everyday lives.
See below to learn more and meet the current Experts on Poverty.
The program:
EMPOWERS those with lived experience to shape public policy by educating members of Congress, collaborating with other advocates to advance key anti-poverty policies, and weighing in with RESULTS staff on overall campaign priorities, goals, values and principles.
CONNECTS individuals with lived experience to each other to build confidence and community.
TRAINS the Experts on policy, advocacy, storytelling and organizing to become stronger advocates and to help them build the leadership skills of current RESULTS advocates.
ELEVATES the Experts in the RESULTS network, their communities, the media, with legislators, other organizations and the public to increase their influence and career opportunities.
Check out the profiles below to learn more about our current Experts on Poverty.
Interested in having an Expert on Poverty speak at your event? Fill out the Speaker Request Form here.
Lexington, KY
“To have your own home is just one of those basic essential needs, like healthcare and food on the table. To not have that robs you a bit of your basic humanity.”
Atlanta, GA
“I am very pleased to advocate as a RESULTS Expert on Poverty. They showed me exactly how to use my story of lived poverty experience to make the greatest impact.”
Milwaukee, WI
“We shouldn’t be denying help to the people who need it most so we can give more to those who need it least. My family and millions of others are living proof of the need for greater investments in social assistance.”
Stanford, CA
“I am an immigrant from Brazil, single-mother, brain scientist in training, and anti-poverty advocate. I support antipoverty legislation because I know what is like to not have basic needs met and how it deprives you of your humanity. I joined RESULTS and the Experts on Poverty to talk to legislators in hopes to improve the lives of people who struggle to make ends meet, to give back their dignity and humanity.”
Indianapolis, IN
“Being a part of the Experts on Poverty is an opportunity to leverage my experience to advance the eradication of poverty. When you’re enduring poverty you are taught that it is shameful. Through EOP you are empowered to see your experience as a tool in your toolbox. You are encouraged to use your experience as a catalyst for change. I think that is extremely powerful.”
Newark, NJ
“Here’s what I’ve discovered: You can work hard, do all the right things and still teeter on the edge of poverty.”
Las Vegas, NV
“By understanding my life in poverty, I can help others out of poverty.“
Columbia, SC
“To honor those who have helped me and my family, I am committed to paying it forward. By being an Expert on Poverty and advocating for Results, I am giving voice to the unheard.”
Oklahoma City, OK
“I am passionate about ending poverty because I have been impoverished. As a result, I have developed a deep empathy for those who are facing economic hardships, a belief in social justice, and a desire to help create a more equitable and compassionate world in my lifetime.”
Read Tiffany’s op-ed in Other Words
Indianapolis, IN
“I have chosen to take on the role of an Expert on Poverty to be a voice for those who have no voice! I want to empower, impact, and uplift those individuals to remain hopeful by sharing my lived experiences, with the motto that your beginning doesn’t have to be your ending because of your gifts and talents that are within!”