Mayors call for a focus on poverty

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other mayors from across the country will meet in Watts today and call on the presidential candidates to make poverty a central issue in the national economic debate.

The mayors are getting together under the auspices of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and Villaraigosa is chairman of the group’s task force on poverty, work and opportunity. In that role, he is leading the effort to adopt new initiatives to alleviate poverty nationwide.

The group’s recommendations include updating the poverty level measurement, creating a Cabinet-level position to address poverty, expanding the earned income tax credit and promoting universal preschool programs.

-- Amanda Covarrubias