By Tamika Thompson
“What I witnessed firsthand during The Poverty Tour was both inspiring and heartbreaking,” Tavis said after returning from the road. “Americans who were recently middle class are now considered the ‘new poor’ and they live in our cities, suburbs and rural communities. But in the darkness, we also saw rays of hope in programs that are working on the ground, right now. The federal government has to find the will to continue to fund those programs in honor of a better tomorrow.”
View images from the 18-city, 11-state bus tour and share your thoughts.
Photography courtesy of Earl Gibson III
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- The poverty tour stopped in 18 cities and nine states over the course of six days to hear from the people who face poverty on a daily basis.
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- St. Sabina church was the site of the Poverty Tour's Chicago town hall meeting.
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- Dr. Cornel West gave a speech at the Poverty Tour's Chicago town hall meeting at St. Sabina church.
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- A woman listens during the Poverty Tour's Chicago town hall meeting at St. Sabina church.
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- St. Sabina's Father Michael Pfleger and the Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan listen to Tavis speak at the Poverty Tour's Chicago town hall meeting.
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- The poverty tour stopped at the Dr. King Legacy Apartments in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood. The affordable housing units are located at the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived in 1966 to draw attention to the housing crisis facing African Americans.
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- The newly constructed Dr. King Legacy Apartments in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood.
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- A resident of Camp Take Notice in Ann Arbor, MI shows Tavis and Dr. West around the homeless tent city.
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- Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) speaks at the Poverty Tour's Detroit town hall meeting.
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- Dr. Cornel West speaks at an assembly for students from the Woodward Academy in Detroit, MI; 90% of the students at the Academy are eligible for free and reduced lunch.
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- The Poverty Tour bus made a stop in Akron, OH, where Tavis and Dr. West met with military veterans for dinner.
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- Workers at the DC Central Kitchen prepare food that will be delivered to shelters, rehabilitation clinics and transitional homes. The organization offers training to and employs adults who are homeless, recovering from addiction or formerly incarcerated.
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- Workers at the DC Central Kitchen use leftover food to create meals for people in need.
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- Tavis and Dr. Cornel West visited The King Center in Atlanta, where they laid a wreath at the tomb of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
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- In the basement of Atlanta's famous Ebenezer Baptist Church, Tavis and Dr. Cornel West met with the head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, as well as with a few undocumented workers.
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- Tavis talks to K. Rashid Nuri, Founder of Truly Living Well farm, an organic farm in the heart of downtown Atlanta that helps develop the local food system through education and food production.
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- The Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, MS was the site of a free lunch for low-income families.
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- Performers took to the stage at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, MS.
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Mr. Salcito has got it right. As adults we should be prepared to teach ourselves the skills needed for jobs.
