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Conference

Can We End Poverty?

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Columbia University
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Featuring
Featuring John Allison, President, Cato Institute; John McWhorter, Center for American Studies, Columbia University; Michael D. Tanner, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; Ron Haskins, Co-Director, Center on Children and Families, Budgeting for National Priorities Project; Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO, PolicyLink; Christopher Wimer, Co-Director, Center on Poverty and Social Policy; Robert Doar, Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute; Jo Kwong, Director of Economic Opportunity Programs, Philanthropy Roundtable; Harriet Karr-McDonald, Executive Vice President, Doe Fund; Robert Woodson, Founder and President, Center for Neighborhood Enterprise; David Beito, Professor of American History, University of Alabama; and Ruth Rathblott, President and Chief Executive Office, Harlem Educational Activities Fund.

March 26, 2015, 8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Columbia University
Roone Arledge Auditorium
Alfred Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway
New York City

On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a State of the Union address to Congress in which he declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.” Johnson’s goal was not only to “relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” Since then, federal and state governments have spent more than $19 trillion fighting poverty. But what has really been accomplished with all of that funding?

This special half-day conference brings together a wide range of experts from across the political spectrum to discuss whether the War on Poverty succeeded in reducing poverty in the United States, what remains to be done, and whether private charitable efforts would be a better alternative to government welfare programs.

8:00 a.m. — 8:30 a.m. Registration

8:30 a.m. — 8:45 a.m. Welcome Address

John Allison
President, Cato Institute

8:45 a.m. — 9:30 a.m. Keynote Address



John McWhorter
Center for American Studies, Columbia University

9:30 a.m. — 10:45 a.m. PANEL 1: 50 Years of the War on Poverty: Success, Failure, Incomplete?



Moderator: Ron Haskins
Co-Director, Center on Children and Families and Budgeting for National Priorities Project, Brookings Institution

Michael Tanner
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

Angela Glover Blackwell
Founder and CEO, PolicyLink

Christopher Wimer
Co-Director, Center on Poverty and Social Policy, School of Social Work, Columbia University

Robert Doar
Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute

10:45 a.m. — 11:00 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. — 12:15 p.m. PANEL 2: Private Alternatives to Government Welfare



Moderator: Jo Kwong
Director of Economic Opportunity Programs, Philanthropy Roundtable

Harriet Karr-McDonald
Executive Vice President, Doe Fund

Robert Woodson
Founder and President, Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

David Beito
Professor of American History, University of Alabama

Ruth Rathblott
President and Chief Executive Officer, Harlem Educational Activities Fund