Karen Dolan
Karen Dolan is a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies – a progressive think tank dedicated to building a more equitable, ecologically sustainable, and peaceful society. Karen holds an M.A. With Highest Distinction in Philosophy and Social Policy from the American University in Washington DC.
Karen joined IPS in 1996. Her public scholarship and activism at IPS has linked community-led organizations with social movements and policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels. The focus of her work is on anti-poverty issues, juvenile justice, criminal justice reform, and transgender rights with a focus on race, gender, and gender identity.
Karen currently directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty project.
“[The US] has increasingly become a more unequal society – inequality has been on the rise – and the safety net – especially for cash assistance – for welfare benefits that reach the poorest, has been on a steady decline.
So, we are in a crisis situation and it is one that is affecting the majority of people in this country.””
In this interview, Karen talks to Project Twist-It about the enduring myths associated with people living in poverty or struggling to get by in America.
She was discussing, in particular, the work the IPS had recently completed on the Poor People’s Campaign Audit – The Souls of Poor Folks.