Poor People’s Campaign calls on President Biden to ensure rights for underserved communities

DELAWARE – The Poor People’s Campaign is focusing on President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office. They say he can improve a number of services for neglected communities with their list of 14 policy recommendations. “Their concerns are marginalized in national and state political discussions. After 2020, 42% of the people in Delaware were poor or low income. That’s a total of 410,000 residents,” said Carl Lathon with the Poor People’s Campaign.

The campaign called for COVID-19 relief that provides free testing, treatments, and vaccines directly to the poor. They also called for affordable and easy access to health care, raising the federal minimum wage, guaranteeing housing, and investing in education and jobs in overlooked communities. The Poor People’s Campaign also asked for President Biden to ensure the rights of indigenous people and follow through on immigration reform. Another action they asked for was to establish a permanent council to advocate for under-served people.

Lathon says the COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the need for these changes. “Our society’s failure to meet the needs of these millions of people around health care, jobs, wages, housing, food, water, and more presents a critical weakness to the nation’s public health and economic well being,” said Lathon.

The Poor People’s Campaign says they’ve been in talks with members of President Biden’s team about the issues they stressed Wednesday.