2. An experienced educational leader based in Illinois, Jeff Pesek
serves as the board president of J.S. Morton High School
District 201. Outside of his professional duties, Jeff Pesek
maintains affiliations with Catholic Charities USA, a
humanitarian organization that assists individuals regardless of
their religious or socioeconomic background.
Acknowledging what President Lyndon B. Johnson dubbed the
“war on poverty” more than 50 years ago, Catholic Charities
USA recently initiated a joint effort between 10 major nonprofits
(including the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, Lutheran
Services in America, and the United Way) to host the 2014
National Poverty Summit in Washington, D.C., this past April.

3. At the event, leaders from private, government, and
nonprofit sectors joined together to try to understand and
deal with the collective obstacles preventing more than 46
million Americans from securing stable housing or food
security, and to discuss strategies for implementing
meaningful and long-lasting social change.
Although the United States’ poverty rate was halved
between 1964 and 1973, it became less of a priority soon
after the Johnson administration left office. In the aftermath
of the recent 2008 financial crisis, however, poverty has
again arisen as a problem for millions of Americans on a
day-to-day basis.

4. The collaboration among private, public,
religious, and secular organizations that
convened in early 2014 to address poverty took
up the challenge of what Pope Francis has
called “an economy of exclusion” and “stunted
opportunity,” heightened by an increasing gap in
wages between affluent and lower- and middle-income
families. For details about presentations
and discussions at the 2014 National Poverty
Summit, visit www.nationalpovertysummit.org.