Now entering its 31st volume, the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy has been the leading journal bringing solutions to systemic and deeply entrenched issues relating to poverty law. We remain committed to fighting the legal, economic, and social structures that perpetuate racial and socioeconomic inequalities. Through our print publications, we strive to highlight the work of scholars, professionals, and people experiencing economic insecurity in order to provide innovative and realistic solutions to our most important problems.  

This first issue of Volume 31 highlights the ways in which poverty law and pol icy span many critical issues: from housing conditions to healthcare; from targeted reparations to child welfare prevention.  

Our first article, written by Victoria Esposito, lays the foundation for Volume 31 by tracing the history of existing poverty law scholarship and recommending a new, collaborative approach that more systemically looks at the ways in which various parts of the legal system collaborate to create and perpetuate poverty. Esposito’s “Systems of Poverty” approach would allow for a better understanding of the cumulative effects of multiple systems that interact to regulate people living in poverty. Our second article, written by Delaram Takyar, seeks to expand the route to recovery for tenants harmed by negligently maintained housing. The Article argues that the “loss of chance” doctrine, historically used in medical malpractice cases, should be expanded to landlord-tenant cases involving substandard housing conditions.  

The last four pieces in this issue are Notes written by recent alumni or current members of the Journal. First, Vol. 31 Editor in Chief Sierra Campbell argues that medical-legal partnerships coupled with mandatory reporting reform can shift medical providers from sites of surveillance that funnel families with low incomes and Black families into the child welfare system into sites of support. Second, Vol. 30 Executive Editor Karina Pereira analyzes the use of ARPA funding intended to address economic impacts of the pandemic and offers recommendations to ensure federal funding effectively addresses affordable housing needs. Third, Vol. 30 Senior Editor Micah Poulson explores the racial discrimination and disparities in access to the GI Bill and argues for reparations for Black WWII veterans and their descendants using the corrective justice theory. Finally, Vol. 31 Notes Editor Lauren Smith argues that legislators should make parts of the ARPA permanent or use ARPA as a guide to expand access to high-quality childcare that is especially critical for working mothers.  

As we begin Volume 31, we want to thank our incredible staff for their invaluable commitment to editing groundbreaking scholarship. We also want to thank our Faculty Advisors and Board of Advisors for their support and guidance on this issue. Finally, we want to thank you, our reader; we look forward to sharing these ideas with you.  

Sincerely,  

Sierra Campbell, Editor in Chief, Vol. 31  

Ruby Grace, Managing Editor, Vol. 31