The mission of the Show Me Campaign is to break the cycle of poverty using solutions that have been proven to improve people’s lives and to give them the opportunities to survive, thrive and succeed.
Poverty in the United States
Fact: More than thirteen million children live in poverty in the United States. [i]
Poverty is often handed down from generation to generation. When a child is born into a poor family, they’re likely to stay that way. A good education is the best tool you can give a child to break out of the cycle of poverty and yet, across the United States, many students are forced to attend failing schools.
U.S. high school graduation rates have fallen from #1 to #18 in the world. One third of American children don’t graduate from high school. Just 15% of our schools – the ones we call “drop out factories” – are responsible for 50% of the drop out students and those schools are more likely to have a majority of students who are African American or Latino.
Yet there are great reasons for hope. Schools across the country are defying the odds and helping kids succeed in even the most challenging neighborhoods. The Show Me Campaign focuses on education reform to ensure that every child has the opportunity to shine.
Global Poverty
Fact: More than one billion people live in extreme poverty globally, trying to live on less than a dollar a day.
Millennium Villages
To help end extreme poverty, the Show Me Campaign supports the Millennium Villages Project, a community-led development initiative aimed at achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
The Show Me Campaign is helping the community of Mbola, Tanzania build a better life for themselves by:
– Supporting agriculture education and providing fertilizer to farmers
– Providing sustainable access to clean drinking water
– Building schools, training teachers and providing lunches
– Saving lives by promoting basic health and providing medical supplies such as bed nets, medicines, vaccines and clinics
[i] Data from National KIDS COUNT Program
