The Poverty Pimp paradigm

(Editor’s note: The following was published to Facebook by Michael Barksdale. There is no easy answer but asking questions is a good start.)

By Michael Barksdale

Shifting Power: Confronting the Poverty Pimp Paradigm

I recently participated in three separate meetings, each with a different focus and composed of people from varied backgrounds and demographics. In each meeting, the term “poverty pimp” surfaced organically and without prompting. The term refers to individuals, organizations, or politicians who exploit poverty for personal, political, or financial gain rather than genuinely working to alleviate it. I was taken back in the first meeting as it was only the third time I had heard it used. During the second meeting, I chuckled, thinking what a weird coincidence. But the third time-it arrested my attention causing me to bring more awareness to this practice.

Over several decades, this behavior has been observed in many communities, where certain nonprofits, agencies, and leaders have been accused of benefiting from the persistent struggles of disadvantaged populations. Rather than pursuing sustainable solutions, these actors may prioritize salaries, status, perceived power or influence, perpetuating systems of dependency and using impoverished communities as leverage for funding, votes, or public image.

Dating back to the 1960s and 1970s, such patterns have drawn sustained criticism for diverting resources toward organizational survival or political power instead of true community empowerment. The ongoing concern is that while some institutions and leaders have grown stronger, the communities they claim to serve remain trapped in persistent poverty—underscoring the urgent need for authentic, accountable, and community-centered leadership focused on real, measurable change. Power has to shift to communities while addressing systems and not symptom.

We have to move away from programs to pathways…from gatekeepers to community governance…from service delivery to capacity building…from poverty as an identity to poverty as a solvable condition!

The current system is not designed to eliminate poverty — it’s designed to administer it. Let’s change the paradigm by building assets, ownership, and mobility. We’ll need to measure outcomes such as income, stability, education, and wealth.

The shift has begun, so stay tuned…