The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

Expanding Justice and Opportunity

The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law provides national leadership in identifying, developing, and supporting creative and collaborative approaches to achieve social and economic justice for low-income people and communities. The 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.

Our advocacy niche is the nexus between federal policy and state implementation, a key position in this era of devolution of power to the states in many areas of social policy and law.

Reflecting its original national mission as a leader in the law-based effort to achieve justice and opportunity for all, the Center’s advocacy has an intentionally national aspect in addition to its Illinois base.  An important component of our national work is the publication of Clearinghouse Review, a journal focused on best practice in litigation and advocacy on issues related to social and economic justice.

Also, the Center publishes an annual Poverty Scorecard, which provides a snapshot of how each United States Senator and Representative voted on legislation having to do with a range of issues, providing a measure of our elected officials’ commitment to achieving justice and opportunity for low-income Americans.

Read about our 2009 accomplishments and our most recent annual report.