Poverty is a worldwide issue that affects countless numbers of adults children.

So many organizations exist to try and help humans who live in poverty, and big strides have been made but poverty still remains one of the biggest worldwide crises we face.

There are vastly different reasons for why poverty exists and why people are unable to pull themselves out, but today I’d like to highlight a Northwest non-profit that highlights the positive impact art can have on the efforts to assist people living in poverty.

The Borgen Project located in Tacoma WA in an “innovative national campaign that is working to make poverty a focus of US Foreign Policy”.

There are 2 articles on their website that really caught my attention:

https://borgenproject.org/5-ways-art-can-help-alleviate-poverty/ posted this story by Nina Verfallie:
“5 Ways Art Can Help Alleviate Poverty” which highlights the positive impact creating art has on those who live in poor areas.

1. Art can help impoverished children increase their chances of going to college.
2. Art programs can focus on entire communities faced with poverty.
3. Art and creative expression can help provide employment and income.
4. Art can advocate for the impoverished, provide visibility to issues of poverty.
5. Art can help fund projects and utilize creativity to find measures to help end the suffering of the billions of the worlds poor.

Some samples from Borgen Magazine: http://www.borgenmagazine.com/modern-poverty-art-show/

“3 Examples of Art Highlighting Poverty“. The Borgen Project also posted this similar story which highlights art from Van Gogh, Gorden Parks, and Bob Marley: https://borgenproject.org/art-highlighting-poverty/

“The Gleaners”, Jean-Francois Millet 1857