NEWARK – Rick Robertson and Rick Foard of the War Against Poverty Coalition led a rally of progressives this afternoon on Broad Street in an attempt to raise awareness to President Donald J. Trump’s budget war on War on Poverty funding.

Robertson specifically focused on Trump’s proposed cuts and/or elimination of energy assistance programs and legal services.

“We want people to put pressure on lawmakers to stop these cuts,” Robertson told InsiderNJ.

For his part, Fard said he isn’t optimistic about he two-party system as currently constituted providing adequate resistance to Trump’s desired cuts.  But “Our goal is to raise consciousness and awareness, and we would like to stop the cuts,” the activist said.

“I’m not speaking for everybody in the organization but personally I don’t think we can rely on the established political parties,” Foard said, when asked if he anticipates any congressional shifts of power in 2018 and the possibility of a directional change away from Trump.

“Only a small number of people hold influence,” he added.

Other organizations participating in the rally outside the federal building included the Newark chapter of the NAACP and the People’s Organization for Progress.