Arkansan talks up anti-poverty efforts

A Little Rock educator encouraged lawmakers last week to provide funding for health and anti-poverty efforts around the globe.

Anne Stefanova attended the One Campaign’s Power Summit, an annual gathering of international aid advocates from across the country.

The organization has gained considerable attention for its charitable efforts. It doesn’t hurt that its co-founder is a well-known musical artist: Bono of U2 fame.

Its sister organization, (Red), has helped to raise more than $600 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria since 2006.

While in Washington, D.C., Stefanova visited with U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers who serves as co-chairman of the Senate Hunger Caucus.

Worldwide, close to 800 million people live in extreme poverty, according to the One Campaign. The World Bank sets the “extreme poverty” line at $1.90 per day.

President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2019 budget would have cut federal contributions to the fund by $425 million. Ultimately, Congress kept the funding at $1.35 billion.

The One Campaign has at least one former employee who is now in the Trump administration. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, an Arkansan, once served as the group’s national campaign manager. Planning to visit the nation’s capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansas online.com. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s

Washington bureau? It’s available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.