Day presents a striking portrayal of poverty, with all its related problems, among black women in this country unemployment, underemployment, isolation, and lack of assets such a car or home ownership. She turns to the black church as a potential agent of social change, indicating ways in which the black church can take up the equivalent of a "Poor People's Campaign." She takes on the common stereotypes that castigate poor black women as "morally problematic and dependent on the money of good tax-paying citizens," demonstrating their inaccuracy.
A specific concern Day addresses throughout is how to aid black women to develop assets that will prevent long-term poverty and allow them to thrive. In the words of Cornel West, "This book is a pioneering and path-blazing work in Christian ethics that combines a sophisticated class-based notion of thriving with an asset-building approach of public policy for prophetic Christian praxis. Keri Day makes Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fanny Lou Hamer smile from the grave!"
