In 200-2001 the author conceived and realized a research concerning the phenomenon of poverty in Białystok, a middle-sized town o f North-East of Poland. The basic methodological problem lays in the lack of clarity in defining poverty and in the measurement of its dimensions. The further problem concerns the definition of unemployment, the principal cause of poverty in Poland, especially as far as rural unemployment is concerned, is also put under the question mark, as well as the rule that those persons who do not follow the order of the public authority responsible for work problems to present themselves at the Office are crossed out of the unemployment register. The second paragraph deals with the lack of co-ordination between public institutions themselves engaged in combating the poverty, between them and the non-governmental organizations of this sphere of activity, and among numerous nongovernmental charity organizations. The next and the last subject of the presented text is the necessity of realizing social programs independently of political orientation of authorities currently in power. The public resources for social work should be distributed according to the abilities of particular organizations taking into account only substantial reasons.