FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tawana Jacobs, 202-552-6534 (Office), 202-297-1696 (Cell), tjacobs@interaction.org

INTERACTION ANNOUNCES “PROGRESS AGAINST POVERTY WEEK 2008”

Second Year of Annual Campaign to Focus on Millennium Development Goals

Poverty alleviation has never had a higher public profile than this year. The American
people, while most anxious about the U.S. economy, are also extremely concerned with how
their country is viewed by others around the world. Five past U.S. Secretaries of State
believe that our country’s investment in international development is essential to improving
our country’s reputation. So do our 2008 U.S. presidential candidates – John McCain and
Barack Obama.

InterAction’s annual poverty week observance, Progress Against Poverty Week 2008, is
dedicated to celebrating how far the international development and humanitarian community
has advanced in the fight against global poverty. A special ceremony will honor Julia Taft,
an extraordinary community leader, past government official, and recent InterAction
President & CEO. Other events will look forward to how U.S. organizations can better align
their work with global plans to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Established at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, the MDGs are a globally agreed upon
framework to cut poverty in half by 2015. Unlike other donor nations who participated in the
official mid-point review in 2007, the U.S. remains uncommitted to using the MDGs as the
framework for its official development assistance (ODA).

InterAction hopes that Progress Against Poverty Week 2008: Aligning with the Millennium
Development Goals will serve to move the U.S.-based international development and
humanitarian community closer to success before the given deadline.

For more information about Interaction and Progress Against Poverty Week 2008, visit
www.InterAction.org and click on the Progress logo.

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InterAction is the largest alliance US-based development and humanitarian assistance

nongovernmental organizations. Our 170 members operate in every developing country, working with
local communities to overcome poverty and suffering by helping to improve their quality of life.