Update on The Plan

February 9, 2011

As the economic crisis deepens in Illinois and poverty rates rise, Heartland Alliance has redoubled its efforts to fight extreme poverty, defined as living at 50 percent of the federal poverty line or less. Extreme poverty means real trauma in the lives of close to 760,000 families in Illinois. Think of any hardship, and those living in extreme poverty are most likely going to be hit first and hardest. Over half of those in extreme poverty in Illinois are without health insurance. People in extreme poverty are three times as likely to be living in crowded housing. What might be a minor crisis in many lives—such as a trip to the emergency room—can be a devastating event that may take years to recover from.

Since 2006, Heartland Alliance’s From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign has advocated the need to address the growing problem of extreme poverty in Illinois. As a direct result of these efforts, the state of Illinois established the Commission on the Elimination of Poverty to develop a set of comprehensive recommendations that would cut extreme poverty in Illinois in half by 2015.

On December 9, 2010, the Commission released its plan to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. To ensure that our lawmakers adopt the Commission’s recommendations and begin the process of eliminating poverty in Illinois, we need you to make your voice heard. By endorsing the Commission’s plan to halve extreme poverty, you will help to realize human rights in Illinois.

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