APA Deep Poverty Initiative

Sad underserved woman standing in doorway with daughter at the window

APA's Deep Poverty Initiative aims to improve the role of psychological science in informing the societal and structural decision-making processes affecting people living in deep poverty.

bod-bingham-rosie 2019 APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, ABPP , made examining psychology’s role in ending deep poverty is a key initiative of her presidential year. This initiative establishes ongoing collaboration between psychological science and the public and private sectors through advocacy efforts, user-friendly science-based resources and partnerships to effect population-level change. This will improve awareness within key stakeholders in the public and private sectors (e.g. psychologists, government, press, corporations, public organizations, communities) of the applicable findings in psychological science connected to deep poverty.

The American Psychological Association is well positioned to lead this initiative that proposes moving beyond understanding causes and consequences of poverty- towards using psychological science as a catalyst to address and help solve deep poverty.

We Want To...

Change Attitudes and Perceptions

Utilize psychological science (and related communications science in framing and persuasion) to challenge biases, stereotypes, prejudicial attitudes, and narratives about people living in poverty that lead to discriminatory behaviors and decision making.

Change Practice

Build the capacity of poverty serving organizations to access and utilize psychological science to more effectively advocate for and implement evidence-based antipoverty programming in their communities of influence.

Change Policy

Shape political decision-making to combat ineffective/inequitable policies and build support for safety net and other scalable programming that benefit those living in deep poverty and effective strategies for improving socioeconomic circumstances.

The APA Deep Poverty Initiative Challenge

Take the APA Deep Poverty Initiative Challenge to put deep poverty on everyone’s radar. The challenge provides tools to address deep poverty in your community and beyond. Click the button below to take the challenge.

Take the Challenge

A Congressional Call to End Deep Poverty

In honor of work of 2019 APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, and her commitment to addressing deep poverty, APA worked with congressional offices to introduce H.Res. 763, a House resolution "Expressing Support for the Development of a National Strategic Plan to End Deep Poverty".

What is Deep Poverty?

Falling Below the Poverty Line

Deep poverty is defined as a state in which an individual household’s annual income falls below 50 percent of the poverty line. The associations between poverty and indicators of behavioral, mental, and physical health are well documented by psychological research spanning several decades.

More Than 18.5 million People

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world and, yet, continues to have areas of poverty in much of the country. Today, more than 18.5 million people in the U.S. live in deep poverty. In September 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded the highest level of extreme poverty since it began tracking the metric in the mid-1970s.

APA's National Conversation on Deep Poverty

Deep poverty affects more than 18.5 million people in the United States. So how can we move the needle to lift more Americans out of this vicious cycle? APA's National Conversation on Deep Poverty explored the causes, impact and potential solutions to extreme poverty in the U.S. with a cross-disciplinary panel of experts dedicated to unraveling this complex issue. 

Download the Resource List (PDF, 21KB)

Impact of Deep Poverty

Research supports that people living in deep poverty are at higher risk for stress, anxiety, depression and more likely to experience violence, homelessness and a host of other challenges.

Public Perception

Perceptions of people living in poverty by others often attribute poverty to personal failings and poor decision making rather than structural, systemic contributors. The just world hypothesis states that people believe that the world is basically fair, so people get what they deserve. This leads to an individualistic, victim-blaming discourse, touting deviant behaviors, laziness, and poor decision making as major causes of poverty.

Structural Factors

Public policies, government funding, and reforms to safety-net programs have come to increasingly reflect these stereotypes, for example the increasing imposition of work requirements in programs assisting with medical care, nutrition and housing. Continued erosion of these programs would put tens of millions of Americans’ well-being at risk.

Deep Poverty Initiative Actions

This initiative will use APA’s visibility and voice to:

  • Convene a National Conversation on Deep Poverty to raise awareness with stakeholders.

  • Hold briefings and meetings with legislators.

  • Social and other media to share messages.

  • Educate journalists about the psychological science that underlies both how deep poverty happens and the consequences to the people affected and their communities.

  • Provide psychologists evidence-based information that they can use in their communities.

Additional Videos

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A Little More Hope, A Little Less Blame | Rosie Phillips Davis | TEDxMemphis

In the world where there are nearly a billion workers living with their families on less than $2 per day, we still tend to blame poor people for poverty. Economic mobility is increasingly elusive, but 2019 APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, shares her thoughts on how offering hope — not blame — could help make change possible. 

Three Ways We Hope to Change How We Understand Deep Poverty

2019 APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, speaks about APA's Deep Poverty Initiative that proposes moving beyond understanding causes and consequences of poverty- towards using psychological science as a catalyst.

Injecting psychological science into the discussions around deep poverty can make a difference in the way we talk about this issue and how we write legislation to end deep poverty.
—Rosie P. Davis, PhD, ABPP, 2019 American Psychological Association President
APA Office of the President
The 2019 APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, ABPP, Initiative on Deep Poverty will use psychological science as a catalyst to help change perceptions of people living in deep poverty, stop victim-blaming and focus on changing structures that cause deep poverty.
Office on Socioeconomic Status

The Office on Socioeconomic Status (SES) is responsible for directing, overseeing, facilitating and promoting psychology’s contribution to the understanding of SES and the lives and well-being of the poor.

SES Office

Date created: 2019