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Voluntary Poverty Has to Be a Choice

• Authored by:
• Kyle Chandler-Isacksen

I have read quite a few articles recently about “green” living, reducing footprints, and sustainability. None of them have mentioned one of the greatest ways of creating positive change in the world. Voluntary poverty is a far more fundamental and effective way to decrease consumption and impact, while increasing human connection and improving life all around. Our family of four lives on about $7000 a year, and our lives are more enjoyable, fuller, richer, healthier, and more interesting to us than the life we see being lived in the mainstream economy. This is nothing new of course; sages and mystics have been sharing the joys of voluntary poverty and simplicity for eons. But voluntary poverty is rarely seen as a positive lifestyle choice in modern-day America.

On Money (November 2015)

Changes – Quaker Voluntary Service (news item)

Quaker Voluntary Service - Briefing (news item)

Quaker Voluntary Service Portland (news item)

Quaker Voluntary Service

The Airtight Cage of Poverty

• Authored by:
• Anthony Manousos,
• Jill Shook

“We are tired of smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society,” said Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963). To address this crisis, Dr. King (along with Quaker activist Bayard Rustin) launched the Poor People’s Campaign, focusing on economic justice, especially around jobs and housing. In February 1968, King announced the Campaign’s specific demands: $30 billion for anti-poverty programs, full employment, guaranteed income, and the annual construction of 500,000 affordable residences.

On Captivity (January 2018)

Quaker Voluntary Service 2023-2024 (news item)

Quaker Voluntary Service Deadline Extended (news item)

Quaker Voluntary Service is Hiring (news item)