Family Stability
We advocate for families that struggle to meet their basic needs but seek stability and success. Every family should be secure and stable in its finances, housing, health, and family relationships. Stability with basic needs helps families remain self-reliant and avoid falling into long-term poverty.
When families face unexpected setbacks, they should be able to rely on an effective, humane safety net that offers temporary support and stability until they can regain their self-reliance.
We advance public policy ideas that help families become and remain stable and self-reliant so they can pursue happiness and success.
Utah Legislative Update 2022
The Utah Legislature passed several bills during the 2022 session that will help those who are poor and disadvantaged rise up to become free and prosperous. One is Senate Bill 35--Expungement Modifications. This bill sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler makes the process...
Eviction Mediation Can Help Prevent Homelessness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") recently announced it was ending its eviction moratorium and...
Poverty Measures Don’t Accurately Measure Poverty
Poverty measurement guidelines are frequently used as a tool to determine who qualifies for government benefits and...
Monetary Bail Is Harmful to People Who Are Poor
Government created monetary bail to hold people who have been accused of crimes accountable, but the bail system...
Biden Is Right: Americans Should Not Receive Unemployment Benefits if They Can Work
There has been some debate about President Biden's recent statement that Americans who turn down jobs won't be able to receive unemployment benefits. There shouldn't be any debate at all. Prior to...
Support for Utah Bill HB 68: Full Disclosure for Tenants
Utah bill HB 68 (Rental Expenses Disclosure Requirements) would make the rental process for tenants more fair and transparent by requiring landlords to disclose specific information before a...
How We Respond to the Homelessness Crisis in Salt Lake City Will Define Us
Board member Derek Miller recently wrote an op-ed for the Deseret News discussing the dire situation of hundreds of people who have become homeless in Salt Lake City. He compares their situation to...
Clean Slate Law Helps Some Utahns with Criminal Records, But We Can Do More
In 2019, the Utah Legislature passed a bill that allows some people with nonviolent, misdemeanor criminal records to have their convictions automatically expunged under certain conditions. This law...
Utah Ranks 6th on the U.S. Prosperity Index, Nevada 46th
The Legatum Institute based in London has published state rankings as part of its United States Prosperity Index 2020. The Index uses 200 indicators in 11 categories to measure prosperity among the...
Utah and Nevada Rank in the Bottom Four for Mental Health Among the States
According to Mental Health America, Utah ranks 48th out of 51 states (and D.C.) in overall mental health (not good), 50th in the nation for adult mental health, and 41st for youth. Nevada fares even...
Utah Is One of the Happiest States in the Nation
WalletHub’s analysts considered income, physical health, personal purpose, and social connectivity to determine which states are home to the happiest Americans. In order to do so, it compared the 50...
Reimagining Welfare (Part 2 of 2)
CEO Paul Mero wrote a commentary for Utah Politico Hub (second part) outlining some principles and guidelines for a more effective approach to welfare and the safety net. Here's an excerpt:...
Reimagining Welfare (Part 1 of 2)
CEO Paul Mero wrote a commentary for Utah Politico Hub regarding the importance of having an effective welfare safety net. He also added, "Caring for our neighbors in need is the only way we’ll...
Utah Ranks #1 on the Family Prosperity Index
As the Dow Jones Industrial Average measures the rise and fall of the stock market, the Family Prosperity Index measures the strength and prosperity of families – and the nation – by combining the...
More Quest for Community
Robert Nisbet, author of the 1953 book The Quest for Community, defined alienation as “the state of mind that can find a social order remote, incomprehensible, or fraudulent; beyond real hope or...
Addiction is not a Moral Failure
Latent or explicit, the view of addiction as a moral failure is doing real damage. The stigma against addiction is “the single biggest reason America is failing in its response to the opioid...
It’s Time to Fight Poverty the “Utah Way”
CEO Paul Mero wrote an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune proposing a compact for poverty issues similar to the Utah Compact created for issues involving immigration. Mero suggests that the following...
Failure: The City of Draper, Utah
After more than three hours of listening to over 700 Draper residents protest his proposal to volunteer two Draper sites for a new homeless resource center, Mayor Troy Walker rescinded his offer...
Flipping the Script on Poverty
President and CEO Paul Mero wrote an op-ed for the Deseret News explaining that we need to shift the way we see those who are in need and the way we assist them. Here is an excerpt: I contend that...
About Us
We are advocates for those who are poor and disadvantaged. Our mission is to lift every person in need to prosperity and self-reliance through sound public policy that affirms each person’s human dignity and allows for every opportunity to flourish. We work with all people of good will who share our vision.
We invite you to join us. . . .
