Tavis Smiley and Cornel West wish to express our deep gratitude to Sylvester Brown, Jr., for his detailed empirical research and creative contribution to this work.
We are especially grateful to Cheryl Woodruff for her editorial genius and substantial stewardship of this book.
We are deeply indebted to two magnificent executive assistants, Jessita Usher and Lili Pollock, whose patience and perseverance proved invaluable in the writing of the text.
Special thanks to Juan Roberts/Creative Lunacy, Cindy Shaw/CreativeDetails.net, Debi Rose Catalano, Paulette Robinson, Thomas Louie, Kirsten Melvey, and Nicolette Salamanca.
And finally, to the entire team at The Smiley Group, Inc., for their support of our work and witness to raise poverty higher on the American agenda via the various media and public platforms we are blessed to have.