An article in the Huffington Post by Maurice Lim Miller discusses the importance of social networks (both information sharing and viral communication via technology and human connections) in breaking the cycle of poverty. An excerpt:

With more Americans than ever in poverty and with funding for social services dropping day by day, the nation's attention is rightly focused on scrutinizing the status quo. Some of us are also looking critically at our failed poverty-fighting efforts. As we consider what to do to move our nation forward, I suggest we also look back at the lessons of our past.

Throughout U.S. history, entire communities of poor people have left poverty. But remarkably, none of these successes look like the public and philanthropic approaches we have relied on in our 47-year war on poverty. Nor do they look like the gravity-defying "up by your boot-straps" proposition of those who seek to dismantle the safety net.

Read the full article.