KIE, in partnership with One Book, One Bakersfield, One Kern, will host a panel in CSUB's Student Union Multi-Purpose Room. The discussion will bring a local perspective to Kathryn Edin's book $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. After two decades of groundbreaking research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn't seen before -- households surviving on virtually no cash income. Edin, whose deep examination of her subjects' lives has "turned sociology upside down" (Mother Jones), teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on surveys of the incomes of the poor. The two made a surprising discovery: the number of American families living on $2.00 per person, per day, has skyrocketed to one and a half million American households, including about three million children.

After two decades of groundbreaking research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn't seen before -- households surviving on virtually no cash income. Edin, whose deep examination of her subjects' lives has "turned sociology upside down" (Mother Jones), teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on surveys of the incomes of the poor. The two made a surprising discovery: the number of American families living on $2.00 per person, per day, has skyrocketed to one and a half million American households, including about three million children.

But the fuller story remained to be told. Where do these families live? How did they get so desperately poor? What do they do to survive? In search of answers, Edin and Shaefer traveled across the country to speak with families living in this extreme poverty. Through the book's many compelling profiles, moving and startling answers emerge: a low-wage labor market that increasingly fails to deliver a living wage, and a growing but hidden landscape of survival strategies among America's extreme poor. Not just a powerful exposé,$2.00 a Day delivers new evidence and new ideas to our national debate on income inequality. (Taken from the book's publicity material.)

Karin Urso
Ms. Urso is a full-time lecturer in the nursing department at CSUB and a Public Health Nurse (PHN). She will address some of the health care implications of poverty.

Della Hodson
Ms. Hodson is President and CEO of United Way of Kern County. She will discuss "real cost measures" for what it takes to live in our region.

Deborah Johnson
Ms. Johnson is President and CEO of California Veterans Assistance Foundation, Inc. She will focus on the impact on vets.

Brady Bernhart
Mr. Bernhart is the Community Development Specialist for Community Action Partnership of Kern.

Michael Burroughs
Dr. Michael Burroughs, KIE Director, will moderate.

Free Admission and Free Parking in Lots K1, K2, K3 and M (after 6:00 PM) For Additional Information Call (661) 654-6263

Like all KIE events, this panel discussion was free and open to the public, thanks to generous support from Kern Schools Federal Credit Union and a partnership between Kaiser Permanente and San Joaquin Community Hospital. Their generous support allows us to make these special events available to all.