LIFT Annual Report 2015: Creating A Better Way | Page 4

What if we could create a brighter and richer childhood for the next generation of children? What if we could stem the tide of intergenerational poverty? What if we could resuscitate the promise of the American Dream? At LIFT, we believe all those things are possible. For seventeen years, we have worked tirelessly to help people reach better, more stable places in their lives. Our Advocates and staff have partnered with thousands of Members to secure higher-wage jobs, safer homes, and the hope and courage needed to keep pressing on. I am proud of the work we have done together to arrive at this place, and it is still not enough. We aspire for a world in which our Members and their families not only survive, but also thrive. Today, despite over fifty years of America’s War on Poverty, income inequality is increasing, the middle class is shrinking, and half of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Almost one in four U.S. children under the age of six lives in poverty, the highest proportion of any age group, child or adult. And if you are a child born into the lowest income bracket, you are five times more likely to remain there than to advance to the highest income bracket. Poverty in America has become a destructive legacy that gets passed down from generation to generation. We see an opportunity to create a different future for our children. Research tells us that the early years of a child’s life are critical for establishing a strong foundation for the future; by intervening early to provide the vital developmental supports a child needs, we can have an outsized impact on her future. And what better way to ensure a child gets what she needs than to invest in the most important people in that child’s life, her parents? Drawing on our seventeen years of experience working with adults, LIFT is sharpening its 4