On November 14th, 2013 our Social Justice group went to the McSilver Institute for poverty policy and research to interview Mary McKay, the director of the institute, Ammu Kowolik, the volunteer coordinator, along with an NYU intern working with them. We ended up speaking with only Ammu and the intern. They talked about what McSilver does. The McSilver institute is one of the only organizations that conduct studies and surveys that is directly involved with poverty. They are a research and data group rather than a hands-on organization. However they also participate in charitable events and they also participate in something called the “Homeless Count”, which is administrated and organized by Hunter College. On January 27th, in Winter season at 10:00 p.m, volunteers gather and begin their count on how many homeless people are outside living in the cold. This may take up to five to seven hours. The McSilver institute also is in charge of outreach programs, which records data on high school dropouts, and people under 21 living in poverty. Later we were able to talk to Mary McKay, the director. She talked about how she started working in the field of poverty, doing things such as volunteering at soup kitchens, and creating a toy drive for Christmas. She also recommended different organizations that we can talk to, however she could not directly help us with hands-on work. We really learned a lot from her group at the McSilver Institute.