TalkPoverty.org — a project of the Center for American Progress — is dedicated to covering poverty in America by lifting up the voices of advocates, policymakers, and people struggling to make ends meet.

What We’re Looking For

We are seeking original content — no reprints or book excerpts — between 750-1,000 words. TalkPoverty is a U.S.-based publication and our work is grounded in the communities we work and report with. We welcome submissions sent to editorial@talkpoverty.org from new and emerging writers as well as established ones.

We publish:

Personal essays: First-person narratives about the systems that directly affect us, from stories about using government benefits to discussions of how social attitudes about poverty have shaped your experiences.

Example: Maybe This Is the Article That Will Convince You Not to Cut Medicaid

Op-eds: Commentary on current events that integrates a strong and actionable opinion element.

Example: New Survey Says Women Are Leading the Resistance, Because Of Course They Are

Original Reporting: Reported features on poverty and inequity highlighting new research, exposing issues in low-income communities, and documenting experiences of economic insecurity and inequity.

Example: A Cruel New Bill Is About to Become Law in Mississippi

Explainers: An overview of a topic from a subject matter expert, designed to ground readers in facts to help them understand an issue and use that knowledge in advocacy work.

Example: Congressional Democrats’ $15 Minimum Wage Bill, Explained

How To Pitch Us

Please pitch us one story idea at a time.

Take your time to develop a thoughtful proposal that outlines the story you want to tell, how you plan to tell it, and the preliminary work you’ve done to prepare for it. Your pitch should have a clear, coherent narrative, take us on a defined journey, and tell us what makes your story unique and appropriate for this moment.

For example, “I want to write about water contamination” is a broad idea, while “I want to write about how drinking contaminated water while I was growing up made me sick” is a story. Adding that you’d like to tell this as a first-person story that will include research on contamination and disparate impact will put your pitch in context.

Next, tell us about yourself. What are the credentials in the form of identity and experience that make you a good fit to tell this story? Please include links to writing samples so we can see your prior work; they do not need to be professionally published.