The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, Beaufort County resident Charlette Blackwell Clark and the Rev. David Moore speak about local poverty at Metropolitan AME Zion Church in Washington on Thursday morning. Barber organized the Truth and Hope Poverty Tour, in which media, politicians and interested parties were invited to tour five eastern North Carolina towns to bring attention to the prevalence of poverty in the region. Washington was the first stop on a tour that also included Roper, Elizabeth City, Ahoskie, Scotland Neck and Rocky Mount. (WDN Photo/Vail Stewart Rumley)