Milwaukee conference aims to understand the roots of poverty and how to fix the problem

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Understanding the roots of poverty and how to fix the problem is the focus of a two-day conference in Milwaukee.

"Dismantling the Systems of Poverty" hopes to give people an accurate picture of people struggling in Milwaukee and across the state and explains how poverty impacts all of society.

"When we see in one zip code to another a difference in life expectancy of 20 years, when kids are entering school without the capacity to learn, then everyone in society will pay a price for not attacking the roots of poverty," said Kathryn Edin, Professor of Public Health at John Hopkins University.

The Social Development Commission, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Medical Society of Milwaukee County hosted the conference.