Stand Together Continuing Fight Against Poverty With Help From Catalysts

A group committed to reducing poverty in the United States is continuing to put its money where its mouth is.

“Stand Together is focused on building safe and strong communities that break the cycle of poverty,” said Evan Feinberg, Executive Director of Stand Together. “What we do is we find the very best social-entrepreneur led non-profits. Organizations that are capable of helping people to tap into their unique gifts and talents and to overcome the circumstances of poverty.”

There are a pair of Wichita organizations that are on Stand Together’s list, Rise Up for Youth and Youth Entrepreneurs. There are also national organizations with Kansas offshoots.

“Ace Scholarships is a program that provides low-income children the opportunity to attend the school of their choice by providing a small scholarship,” said Feinberg. “The innovation really is, they’ve gotten private schools and families together to really come together to make it happen for those kids.”

28,000 scholarships have been provided across the country.

“Just this past month, we actually made $20 million in investments in non-profits across the country that are truly making a difference,” said Feinberg. “We did so as part of National Poverty Awareness Month. We want people across this country to be aware of the important problem of poverty and the 40 million Americans that are experiencing this problem, but also aware of the solutions.”

Stand Together is doing a Giving Together initiative where every dollar that is donated is matched, up to $10 million to encourage people to get involved in their communities. For more information, go to standtogetheragainstpoverty.org.