Fall 2025 Newsletter: How We Build Community to Counter Poverty
Letter from ATD Fourth World’s Representative at the United Nations
“I cannot begin to talk about policy if I am constantly having to first convince you that I am human and worthy of dignity.”
Creating community is one of the first steps to countering poverty. People need to know that they are not alone; that they are not the only person experiencing an issue or circumstance; that their voices and experiences, along with the knowledge gained, matter. They need to know that their contribution is valued.
Several years ago, I was talking with a colleague about why people with a direct experience of poverty aren’t listened to when it comes to conversations around poverty eradication policy. I explained that I cannot begin to talk about policy if I am constantly having to first convince you that I am human and worthy of dignity. Sadly, this is still true today when we hear the false narratives about people living in poverty, false narratives that are perpetuated, believed, and codified in policy.
The dimension “Subjugation” named in our report on the Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty research (read more inside), illustrates a belief in a lack of commonality or shared morals that leads to designation as “the other” for people in poverty. This marginalization creates and enforces the social isolation people in poverty can experience from society, institutions, and even their own family members.
Marginalization and social isolation can be countered with community. ATD Fourth World creates programs that foster conditions for community building, mutual understanding, and working together on common issues. As examples:
The Social Justice Movie Club in New York City breaks down silos by inviting Fourth World Activists (who have experience of poverty), Fourth World Allies, and members of United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations to watch a movie together, have snacks, and engage in informal conversation. This simple idea lets people see each other as people, without power dynamics or hierarchies overshadowing the conversation.
The Education and Learning Advocacy project in Gallup, New Mexico, does the same by bringing parents and educators together to focus on the common goal of quality education for their children, without institutional or social hierarchies separating them.
The webinars presented as part of United Nations commissions does this on a larger scale by bringing people from different countries together to express their experiences and insights on a shared issue, and connecting them to a worldwide community without credentials, nationalities, or governments separating them.
No one person can end poverty on their own. It is a group effort that includes everyone. Community breaks isolation, dispels false narratives, and disrupts marginalization by creating understanding that lets people see each other’s shared humanity.
-Maryann Broxton , ATD Fourth World United Nations Representative
