Combating Poverty and a State Budget

Assemblywoman Latrice Walker sheds some light on some of the issues at stake in the state budget process along with issues and policy on the legislative docket. Rose Pierre Louis, the Chief Operating Officer of the McSilver Institute then joins us to discuss how an academic research institution creates new knowledge about the root causes of poverty and develops evidence-based interventions to impact public policy.

OUR GUESTS

New York State Assembly Member Latrice M. Walker is a native of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, educated in the New York City public schools. She received her undergraduate degree from SUNY Purchase College in Sociology and Political Science., JD from Pace University and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2007. She made a name for herself as a strong voice and advocate from the streets of Brownsville to the Halls of Justice. She represents the 55th Assembly District in the New York State Legislature as a member of the Housing, Election Law, Energy, Correction, and Insurance Committees. Currently, she serves as the Chair for the Subcommittee on Renewable Energy.

I find myself as a State Legislator able to utilize, whatever it is I’m able to bring to the table, to remove barriers from the people I represent so that we’re able to get through the door, and the one thing I always leave people with is that I’m not here to kick the door open, I want to take it off the hinges so that it can never go back on again.

Rose Pierre-Louis is the Deputy Director for Administration and External Affairs of The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work which is committed to creating new knowledge about the root causes of poverty, developing evidence-based interventions to address its consequences, and rapidly translating research findings into action through policy and practice. She holds a BS in political science from Tufts University and a JD from Case Western University School of Law. Pierre-Louis is known as a force for social and economic change, and possessing extensive public sector experience.

I’m use to rapid response and academia works at a different pace...You write this great research paper and it gets into some academic journal and that’s it. No, we have to think about how do we get this information to people that can really benefit from it...