APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, ABPP, has outlined three goals for the 2019 deep poverty initiative: change attitudes and perceptions, change practice and change policy. To augment deep poverty working group’s ongoing review of research and practice, APA has launched a number of programmatic and advocacy efforts.
Dialogues. Davis began the year by introducing the initiative in her keynote speech at the 11th Biennial National Multicultural Conference and Summit in Denver. In March, a cross-disciplinary expert panel convened in Washington, D.C., for a National Conversation on Deep Povertyopens in new window. Panelists, including Davis, Clarence Anthony, MPA, executive director of the advocacy group National League of Citiesopens in new window and former mayor of South Bay, Florida, and others, discussed the causes of, impacts of and possible solutions to deep poverty in the United States.
Events. APA is also working to host a congressional event on deep poverty and its psychological ramifications; will offer several sessions on the topic during APA 2019 in Chicago, Aug. 8–11; and will observe the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Oct. 17.
Policy. On the policy front, APA has focused on thwarting federal attempts to weaken the social safety net, which have included efforts to implement block grants, stricter work requirements or shorter time limits for health care, nutritional assistance and housing programs. For example, APA opposes an ongoing effort to institute work requirements for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, because of the physical and mental health benefits of the program as well as psychological research suggesting that revoking benefits does not help unemployed people find work.
Advocacy. APA’s advocacy team also supports the Raise the Wage Act, an effort to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour; the Homeless Children and Youth Act, which would provide services for homeless families; and other public policies shown to mitigate the effects of deep poverty. In addition, APA plans to provide a toolkit to help psychologists submit op-eds about deep poverty to their local newspapers.
