…While most states aim to reduce poverty, Minnesota wants to eliminate it.

Gregory Gray, director of Minnesota’s Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020 said he’s confident the program will maintain its political momentum because it started as a local faith-based movement that won unanimous legislative support for funding. Lawmakers’ only worry was that the commission would issue a report that landed on a shelf, Gray said.

But if the past is proof, Minnesota’s poverty commission can be expected to yield results. According to Gray, a similar effort in the 1980’s spawned innovative anti-poverty programs throughout the state and slashed Minnesota’s poverty rate — currently the eighth lowest in the nation.

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