Join us as we welcome Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox to discuss their book, Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty. Broke in America highlights the poverty crisis in the United States, focusing on policy and emphasizing key strategies in which to help eliminate this crisis. The authors will provide a general discussion about Broke in America, read an exerpt from the title, and answer questions from attendees. Registration is required and a Zoom link will be emailed one day before this event. A limited number of copies of the book will be available for loan at the Circulation Desk four weeks prior to the meeting date.

Joanne Samuel Goldblum is CEO and founder of the National Diaper Bank Network, encompassing more than 200 member organizations that provide diapers and other basic needs to families across America. In 2018, she founded the Alliance for Period Supplies, which provides free hygiene products to the one in four people for whom menstruation means difficulty attending school and work. Joanne has spent her career working with and advocating for families in poverty. She has written op-eds for Washington Post, US News & World Report, and HuffPost. She has been an ABC Person of the Week and the subject of profiles by CNN, People, and many other outlets. Joanne is an inspiring and in-demand speaker. In 2007, she was chosen as one of 10 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leaders on the basis of her work to found the New Haven Diaper Bank.

Colleen Shaddox is a print and radio journalist and activist. Her publication credits include New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, America, and many more. She left daily newspapers when an editor reprimanded her for "writing too many stories about poor people" and went to work in a soup kitchen. She has had one foot in journalism and one in non-profits ever since. In states throughout the country, Colleen has worked on winning campaigns to get kids out of adult prisons, to end juvenile life without parole, and to limit shackling in juvenile courts. She is a frequently anthologized fiction writer. Her award-winning play, The Shakespeares, and other dramatic works have been performed around the country.