Dispelling the Myths of Poverty Campaign

Myths about people living in poverty are prevalent. You may have heard some along these lines: "The poor are lazy." "They're freeloaders." Unfortunately, these commonly held misconceptions have played a key role in dismantling important programs that aid the poor.

Students at Portland State University have developed a media campaign to help dispel the myths of poverty. The students asked CCFC's Poverty Advisory Committee (PAC) to be the "community partner" for the project. As their final project for a service learning "Capstone Course," 14 college juniors and seniors from a variety of disciplines created an action-oriented ad campaign geared to change common misconceptions about poverty and poor people. "The ads produced by the students are powerful," says Leslie Clark, PAC Chair.

Some of the ads are shown below. Click on the images to see them as full page PDFs. We invite you to post them on your site, or print and distribute them. For additional ads, including bumper stickers, and files in other formats please email Janet Hawkins.

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