Water. Food. Housing. The most basic and crucial needs for survival, yet 40 percent of people in the United States don't have the resources to get them. With key policy changes, we could eradicate poverty in this country within our lifetime--but we need to get started now.

Nearly 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line--about $26,200 for a family of four. Low-income families and individuals are everywhere, from cities to rural communities. While poverty is commonly seen as a personal failure, or a deficiency of character or knowledge, it's actually the result of bad policy.

Public policy has purposefully erected barriers that deny access to basic needs, creating a society where people can easily become trapped--not because we lack the resources to lift them out, but because we are actively choosing not to. Poverty is close to inevitable for low-wage workers and their children, and a large percentage of these people, despite qualifying for it, do not receive government aid.

From Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox, Broke in America offers an eye-opening and galvanizing look at life in poverty in this country: how circumstances and public policy conspire to keep people poor, and the concrete steps we can take to end poverty for good.

In clear, accessible prose, Goldblum and Shaddox detail the ways the current system is broken and how it's failing so many of us. They also highlight outdated and ineffective policies that are causing or contributing to this unnecessary problem.

Every chapter features action items readers can use to combat poverty--both nationwide and in our local communities, including the most effective public policies you can support and how to work hand-in-hand with representatives to affect change.

So far, our attempted solutions have fallen short because they try to fix poor people rather than address the underlying problems. Fortunately, it's much easier to fix policy than people. Essential and timely, Broke in America offers a crucial road map for securing a brighter future.

Joanne Samuel Goldblum is the founding Executive Director of the National Diaper Bank Network. She is also the founder of the Diaper Bank, formerly the New Haven Diaper Bank, where she volunteered as the executive director from 2004 until 2010. Prior to that she was a clinical faculty member at Yale Child Study Center Family Support Service from 1998-2005. 

Goldblum was chosen as a 2007 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader for her work. She was also named 2007 New Haven Register Person of the Year. She has received numerous other awards for her work at the Diaper Bank. Goldblum has a BA from New York University and an MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work.

Source: Huffpost