The Rights of the Poor: The Authoritative ACLU Guide to Poor People's Rights (ACLU Handbook)

Using a simple question-and-answer format, Helen Hershkoff and Stephen Loffredo provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the rights of the poor. Hershkoff and Loffredo explain how poor people can use the law to obtain services necessary for basic living: income support, food assistance, health care, housing, and education. The eligibility requirements for all programs for the poor are complex and keep changing. The "welfare reform" act of August 1996 further complicates the rules and makes this ACLU guide even more essential. Written for poor people and their advocates, as well as for anyone interested in the contemporary status of the "War on Poverty, " this book also describes how poor people can use the law to participate more fully in political and community life. Hershkoff and Loffredo also explain how poor persons can use the court system to enforce their rights. Finally, they discuss the right to vote and to run for office, encouraging poor persons and their advocates to participate more actively in national and grassroots politics.

Helen Hershkoff is an assistant professor of law at the New York University School of Law. She is the former associate director of the ACLU and a member of the board of directors at the Urban Justice Center in New York City and the Food Research and Action Center in Washington, D.C.Stephen Loffredo is an associate professor of law at the City University of New York Law School. He served as executive director of Main Street Legal Services, CUNY Law School, and is pro bono counsel and a member of the board of directors at the Urban Justice Center in New York City.