FEATURING JOANNE SAMUEL GOLDBLUM AND COLLEEN SHADDOX – As the United States Congress tackles the question of economic aid tailored to the pandemic’s devastation, there is still a blind spot over how our economic system is designed to be unequal. While the pandemic increased inequality, it also exposed the pitfalls of pre-existing inequality. A large majority of Americans, even before 2020, had less than $1,000 of savings. Wages stagnated for those lucky enough to still have a job and hunger became so rampant that food banks struggled to keep up with the demand. Women and people of color have been far more vulnerable. Poverty remains invisible in the U.S. 

Joanne Samuel Goldblum, CEO and founder of the National Diaper Bank Network and the Alliance for Period Supplies, Colleen Shaddox, a journalist focusing on criminal justice reform and inequality and who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NPR. Goldblum and Shaddox are co-authors of the new book, “Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty.”