It is good journalism because it includes all of the essential elements we use as criteria; and it can be graded high in all except balance. In its effort to make poverty an unacceptable part of our society it avoids the explanations that we might ponder in our efforts to understand why the issue of poverty is so prevalent. Also, by getting more of the excuses offered by those in power to do something about this we might "know the enemy" and arm ourselves with counter arguments and strategies to battle the persistant evil.

Poverty "isn't about them, it's about us" is the key quote. "Us" as all the people. ALL people - the wealthy, the middle-class, the poor - are short changed by the repercussions of poverty.

This story describes the effect of specific items of legislation on the lives of individual people. In a Democracy, that is one of the most important roles of the press. While it is an advocacy piece rather than simple a report, it is an extremely important, under-reported topic. Putting poverty in the context of the wealth and particularly the problem-solving entrepreneurship of Connecticut is a thought-provoking juxtaposition.