Antipoverty Groups See Opportunity in Economic-Stimulus Plan

Now that House Democrats have released their economic-stimulus package, antipoverty charities say the proposal is an unprecedented opportunity to help the needy.

The package includes billions of dollars in spending on Medicaid and other federal programs that will help nonprofit groups in cash-strapped states, reports The Chronicle.

Calling it “the mother of all stimuli,” the Bread for the World Institute, an antipoverty group in Washington, says that the package is “positively breathtaking. There’s no other way to describe it.”

“For those who are used to fighting for every nickel of new spending on antipoverty, this is also, perversely, our moment. We’ll never see spending like this ever again,” an unnamed staff member writes on its blog.

Angela Glover Blackwell, chief executive of PolicyLink, a nonprofit group in Oakland, Calif., has also said the stimulus proposal could provide a huge lift to impoverished Americans — if it’s spent wisely.

What do you think of the stimulus package? How can it best help nonprofit groups? Click on the comment button below to share your views.