Sargent Shriver National Center On Poverty Law

Causes: Crime & Law, Government & Public Administration, Homeless & Housing, Housing Development, Construction & Management, Public Interest Law

Mission: The Shriver Center provides national leadership in advancing laws and policies to secure justice that improves the lives and opportunities of people with low-income.

Results: The Shriver Center engages in direct advocacy campaigns in Illinois and around the country to improve policies and programs on specific issues, and also engages in broader advocacy on general issues of justice, opportunity, and human rights.

Geographic areas served: Nation

Programs: The Shriver Center's legal program combines a unique public interest law office that services low-income people with communication and research services that support others who work for social and economic justice. Among the nation's leading experts on poverty law, the Center's attorneys address issues including welfare-to-work training and education, child care, nutritional assistance, child support, domestic violence, public and subsidized housing, and economic development issues. Our attorneys advocate on behalf of people in poverty before legislative and administrative tribunals and monitor and analyze developments in welfare and housing laws, regulations, and policies. The attorneys also represent clients in cases with broad policy implications. The Center's knowledge and experience in state public policy, our close working relationships with low-income individuals, community groups, and coalitions, and our legal, administrative, and budgetary expertise enable us effectively to influence public policies to create social justice and economic opportunities for people in poverty.

The Center enhances and multiplies the benefits of its advocacy through communications and research, including publications, a poverty law library, and its Web site (www.povertylaw.org). These services provide essential resources for poverty law advocates, policy analysts, lawmakers, grass-roots organizations, and others working for social and economic justice throughout the country.