It's possible to beat poverty without a winning lottery ticket.

That's part of the message economist Armine Yalnizyan will use to inspire people to make a difference in the Hamilton community when she speaks at a free lecture today.

"There's this notion that, if I play my cards right, I'll win," she said.

But looking out just for ourselves isn't enough.

"Things can happen, and we should be protecting each other."

In her speech, Yalnizyan will discuss different kinds of poverty and how people can help their communities in ways other than charity.

Poverty impacts everyone because it's typically poorer people who most often use the health-care system, she said.

Yalnizyan said her speech will be "a bit of a rallying call. Let's do something, (and) you don't need tons and tons of money to do it."

A shift between generations is partly to blame for how society deals with poverty now, said Yalnizyan, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"Now that we're making five, six times the money" we once did, it seems we feel we can't do anything, she said.

"It is possible to get things done and ... we have done it in the past with far fewer resources."

Yalnizyan said the people who overcame economic despair after the Great Depression and the Second World War worked together for a solution.

And that's what today's society must do, she added.

"Things can be done but only if we act together and raise expectations," she said.

jdunning@thespec.com

905-526-3368

NEED TO KNOW

What: Anti-poverty speech with economist Armine Yalnizyan

Where: Hamilton Spectator Auditorium

When: Today at 7 p.m.; free but, to reserve a seat, e-mail sciencecity@mcmaster.ca or phone 905-525-9140, ext. 24934