Larry James' Urban Daily

More than a month. . .

2012-01-31T07:56:00.000-06:00

Should there be a Black History Month in the U.S.?

Some would answer "No."

Filmmaker Shukree Tilghman among them, sets out to end Black History Month with his film, More Than A Month. The film will be seen on PBS in February during Black History Month.

View the video below. Read the backstory on Tilghman's work here. Tell me what you think.

100,000 Homes Campaign

2012-01-30T07:13:00.000-06:00

Over the past couple of years, 100 communities across the country have joined a collaborative effort, led by Community Solutions, to find permanent housing for 100,000 of the most medically vulnerable homeless Americans by July of 2013.

Together, these communities, including over 3,000 volunteers, are part of a growing movement known as the "100,000 Homes Campaign," and have helped 11,751 homeless people into permanent homes already available in the communities.

CitySquare is leading the effort here in Dallas. Later this year, likely in March, a large team of trained volunteers will fan out across the central business district to meet and to "register" as many of these very poor and typically medically weakened neighbors. The goal: to get to know who they are, document the health status of each, and to assist them in securing permanent housing along with the stability that having a place to call home provides.

Our partners in this effort include Downtown Dallas, Inc., Hamilton Properties, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and many other individuals and groups.

More information will be coming soon.

Interested in joining the team? Email me at ljames@CitySquare.org.

Watch an informative video here.

Rain not slowing us down!

2012-01-29T06:00:00.001-06:00

This video was shot last Thursday morning after the all night rain. Sun reappeared and the guys from ConReal hit it again with water pumps and big Cats!

Oh, and congratulations Dan Hopkins and Happy Birthday! You are now officially as old as rocks!

NBC Channel 5's "Tell Me Something Good" features Opportunity Center!

2012-01-28T06:00:00.009-06:00

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com/?__source=embedCode.

Funding

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

Frankly, too much of my time gets spent trying to raise money, balance tight budgets and squeeze efficiences out of every cent and process.

There. I feel better now!

Actually, there is a very warm, human side to fund development. Those who fund our work, be they foundation leaders, government decision makers, churches and faith communities on mission, individuals who care, businesses wanting to engage the community, all come to the process as human beings. Often, and when things align as they should, funders come seeking significant relationships, sometimes even friendship.

So, a big part of my life is a true blast.

But, back to numbers. You can't escape numbers, I've learned.

In looking over 2011, I discovered more data that confirms a consistent trend in our funding at CitySquare.

Get this.

"Poor folks," those who come to us seeking service, assistance and friendship contribute in gifts and/or fees 56% as much as the individuals who contribute dollars as donations only. I find that fairly amazing.

Translation: in 2011 individual donors contributed $1,087,758.59 to support our efforts in the inner city. During the same period, our neighbors/customers contributed $605,916.18.

Consider this.

During 2011, churches donated $214,740.31 to our efforts. Again, "poor folks" provided almost three (2.8) times as much from their income.

Funding remains a challenge. But working at it exposes me to some amazing folks, rich and poor. And, the numbers continually instruct.

Dallas Business Journal spotlights new "Opportunity Center"

2012-01-25T18:00:00.000-06:00

CitySquare celebrates construction launch
Dallas Business Journal by Bill Hethcock, Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 1:31pm CST

Construction is under way on the $12.5 million CitySquare Opportunity Center at the southeast corner of Interstate 30 and Malcolm X Blvd. in Dallas.

Public officials including Mayor Mike Rawlings and other project supporters will get a bus tour of the site at a breakfast Thursday to celebrate the start of construction.

The 52,000-square-foot campus will include a food distribution center; a teaching and production kitchen; a wellness center; and a large employment training center that will house new offices for Workforce Solutions of Greater Dallas and CitySquare’s WorkPaths employment training department. The center also will house the AmeriCorps headquarters/offices and a staging area for a summer and after-school lunch program funded by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
The services are all under one roof with easy access by Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

The opportunity center, scheduled to open in 2013, will serve low-income residents of East and South Dallas. The center has been a dream of CitySquare’s President and CEO Larry James, a longtime leader in efforts to end poverty in the heart of Dallas.

"The opportunity center will create both enhanced synergy among a vital group of nonprofit partners and convenience of access for the neighbors who come to us seeking to take positive, proactive steps toward a better, more stable life for themselves and their families," James said.

About half of the $12.5 million in development funds for the facility has already been raised, and a public fund-raising campaign is under way.

Omniplan provided the architectural design and Con-Real serves as general contractor for the Opportunity Center.

Bill covers health care, law, education and nonprofits.

Lord of the Dance

2012-01-25T09:58:00.001-06:00

This old Shaker hymn moves me. There's just "something" about dancing! Be sure that you view all the way to the end. . .there is a pause before the "resurrection" verse!

What do you think?

Working, but still poor. . .

2012-01-24T06:00:00.007-06:00

Here at CitySquare, we've known the hard truth for a very long time. Most of the low-income people with whom we work also work at a job, often more than one job.

The problem is not work.

The problem is pay and earning power.

Consider the analysis of Bill Quigley that follows. Take time to go to the complete text of the report. Then, tell me what you think.

Is it realistic to think that everyone who works should be able to sustain themselves by that work?

Working and Poor in the USA
Sunday 22 January 2012
By: Bill Quigley, The Center for Constitutional Rights

"Our nation, so richly endowed with natural resources and with a capable and industrious population, should be able to devise ways and means of insuring to all our able-bodied men and women, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” -Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1937

Millions of people in the US work and are still poor. Here are eight points that show why the US needs to dedicate itself to making work pay.

To read the entire report click here.

Irony in juxtaposition!

2012-01-22T06:00:00.009-06:00

POTUS sings Al Green!!!

2012-01-21T06:00:00.005-06:00

Forget partisan issues and perspectives. Just enjoy the fun and the humanity!

Opportunity disparity

2012-01-20T06:00:00.004-06:00

The following article appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The author, Margaret C. Simms is a senior fellow and director of the Low-Income Working Families project at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

Opportunity still has racial hue

At the march on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these now famous words: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

While King made the statement about racial equality and racial justice, at some level, it is a sentiment to which all parents can relate. All parents want their children to reach their potential and not be held back by anything other than their willingness to work hard.

Children are more likely to succeed if they have a stable home environment, adequate nutrition and the opportunity to get a good education. Unfortunately, nearly 50 years after the march on Washington, opportunity still has a racial dimension. That is not to say that progress hasn’t been made in breaking racial barriers. Advancement can be seen in every dimension of American life — education, politics and economic achievement. The percentage of African-Americans that have a college education has gone up from 3.5 percent to 18 percent. The number holding political office, including the presidency, has risen from about 1,400 to more than 10,500. Black men and women have held corporate CEO positions.

Yet in many areas, African-Americans have made little progress relative to their white counterparts. Median household income for African-Americans is only 58 percent of the median white household income, little different from the ratio in the late 1960s. This disparity reflects the fact that African-Americans are more likely to be unemployed regardless of how the economy is faring and that African-American families are more likely to be headed by women. Even when you compare households with the same family structure and educational level, African-Americans aren’t as well off.

A recent Pew Research Center study showed the recession and housing market crash hit African-Americans hard, as those with any assets at all were most likely to have them in the form of homeownership. The Pew report shows that between 2005 and 2009, African-American wealth fell by 53 percent compared with a 19 percent drop for white households. As a result, the typical white household had 20 times the net worth of the typical black household in 2009, up from 11 times in 2005. This is the biggest gap seen in the 25 years that the data have been collected.

To read the entire article click here.

As always, reactions invited.

Beyond charity, building justice into systems

2012-01-19T08:55:00.002-06:00

“On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

From a sermon entitled "A Time to Break Silence," at Riverside Church”

― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Toxic Stress," children and poverty

2012-01-18T06:00:00.004-06:00

We've known it for years here at CitySquare. Our young children live in a noisy, stress-filled world, even chaotic at times. We are now learning what this means in very practical and often frightening terms. The article from Nicholas Kristof that follows challenges me. What it calls for, in my view, is a national covenant, something much more serious than a media campagin. Rather, we need to step up, sign up and show up when it comes to providing for the well-being of our children. That means all of us: rich and poor, educated nad undereducated, parents and teachers, ministers and politicians, right and left and all the in between! We've got to do better.

Read on and see if you don't agree. LJ

A Poverty Solution That Starts With a Hug

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
January 7, 2012

PERHAPS the most widespread peril children face isn’t guns, swimming pools or speeding cars. Rather, scientists are suggesting that it may be “toxic stress” early in life, or even before birth.

This month, the American Academy of Pediatrics is issuing a landmark warning that this toxic stress can harm children for life. I’m as skeptical as anyone of headlines from new medical studies (Coffee is good for you! Coffee is bad for you!), but that’s not what this is.

Rather, this is a “policy statement” from the premier association of pediatricians, based on two decades of scientific research. This has revolutionary implications for medicine and for how we can more effectively chip away at poverty and crime.

Toxic stress might arise from parental abuse of alcohol or drugs. It could occur in a home where children are threatened and beaten. It might derive from chronic neglect — a child cries without being cuddled. Affection seems to defuse toxic stress — keep those hugs and lullabies coming! — suggesting that the stress emerges when a child senses persistent threats but no protector.

Cues of a hostile or indifferent environment flood an infant, or even a fetus, with stress hormones like cortisol in ways that can disrupt the body’s metabolism or the architecture of the brain.

The upshot is that children are sometimes permanently undermined. Even many years later, as adults, they are more likely to suffer heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other physical ailments. They are also more likely to struggle in school, have short tempers and tangle with the law.

The crucial period seems to be from conception through early childhood. After that, the brain is less pliable and has trouble being remolded.

“You can modify behavior later, but you can’t rewire disrupted brain circuits,” notes Jack P. Shonkoff, a Harvard pediatrician who has been a leader in this field. “We’re beginning to get a pretty compelling biological model of why kids who have experienced adversity have trouble learning.”

This new research addresses an uncomfortable truth: Poverty is difficult to overcome partly because of self-destructive behaviors. Children from poor homes often shine, but others may skip school, abuse narcotics, break the law, and have trouble settling down in a marriage and a job. Then their children may replicate this pattern.

Liberals sometimes ignore these self-destructive pathologies. Conservatives sometimes rely on them to blame poverty on the poor.

The research suggests that the roots of impairment and underachievement are biologically embedded, but preventable. “This is the biology of social class disparities,” Dr. Shonkoff said. “Early experiences are literally built into our bodies.”

The implication is that the most cost-effective window to bring about change isn’t high school or even kindergarten — although much greater efforts are needed in schools as well — but in the early years of life, or even before birth.

“Protecting young children from adversity is a promising, science-based strategy to address many of the most persistent and costly problems facing contemporary society, including limited educational achievement, diminished economic productivity, criminality, and disparities in health,” the pediatrics academy said in its policy statement.

One successful example of early intervention is home visitation by childcare experts, like those from the Nurse-Family Partnership. This organization sends nurses to visit poor, vulnerable women who are pregnant for the first time. The nurse warns against smoking and alcohol and drug abuse, and later encourages breast-feeding and good nutrition, while coaxing mothers to cuddle their children and read to them. This program continues until the child is 2.

At age 6, studies have found, these children are only one-third as likely to have behavioral or intellectual problems as others who weren’t enrolled. At age 15, the children are less than half as likely to have been arrested.

Evidence of the importance of early experiences has been mounting like snowflakes in a blizzard. For example, several studies examined Dutch men and women who had been in utero during a brief famine at the end of World War II. Decades later, those “famine babies” had more trouble concentrating and more heart disease than those born before or after.

Other scholars examined children who had been badly neglected in Romanian orphanages. Those who spent more time in the orphanages had shorter telomeres, a change in chromosomes that’s a marker of accelerated aging. Their brain scans also looked different.

The science is still accumulating. But a compelling message from biology is that if we want to chip away at poverty and improve educational and health outcomes, we have to start earlier. For many children, damage has been suffered before the first day of school.

As Frederick Douglass noted, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

2012-01-17T17:03:00.000-06:00

Pictured below are two options for signage on a large, ClearChannel billboard located at the edge of our property where we are constructing the new CitySquare "Opportunity Center."

The billboards have been provided at a great price and point to our new development.

Here's the question: which one do you like the best and why? Your responses will help us make our selection!

Snow. . .

2012-01-17T06:00:00.004-06:00

What is it about snow?

I don't know about you, but I'm fascinated by it every time it comes!

I suppose it goes back to my childhood. Nothing was better than an unexpected, "snow day" in Texas that put an end to school and turned everyone out into the white wonderland.

I also expect that somehow I'm "hard-wired" to appreciate the white stuff. I'm told that the afternoon I was born, Spokane, Washington took the assault of the worst snow storm the city had seen in about 25 years! So, I got here in the snow, and I've always loved it. The more the better.

As I've grown older though, snow has pushed me down and along a more contemplative path every time it shows up. Over the past few years my experience with snow prompted more time with a camera in hand, as if the magic and mystery of the snow would somehow escape me before I could savor it adequately.

And the amazing, deep, unexpected snows of the last 2-3 years have brought amazing experiences of appreciation, celebration and self-reflection, as if snow signals my way farther down a very important pathway I'm meant to take.

Call me crazy, but there is something about the snow.

I caught the image above earlier this month when I was in Colorado speaking to and working with about 150 business majors from Abilene Christian University and Lubbock Christian University. The corner post on the porch of the cabin where I slept found itself adorned with the beautiful stuff on the morning my trip came to a close. Dare I say a special blessing to point me in the right direction once again?

Remembering to never forget

2012-01-16T06:00:00.003-06:00

The complications of prayer. . .

2012-01-15T09:34:00.000-06:00

Prayer can be complicated.

Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow sees the NFL as a platform for witness in the form of an "in your face" display of religious action at the end of most successful touchdown drives and games. The popular young player even displays biblical passages etched on his no glare, black eye strips.

Hey, to each his own, I suppose.

Still, Jesus did say on one occasion, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (see Matthew 6:5-8 for statement and context).

Even thanking God for the blessings of life can get complicated. Don't you think?

It seems important to be very thoughtful about how we pray and about those things for which we pray. Prayer should be a time of deep reflection, a private alignment of human life with the values of faith as we come to understand the agenda of God. What do you think?

A prayer. . .

2012-01-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

Oh, God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work, help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home,
help me to remember the homeless;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember whose who suffer;
And, remembering, help me
to destroy my complacency
and bestir my compassion.
Make me concerned enough
to help, by word and deed,
those who cry out.

(Printed on a card from Salesian Missions, New Rochelle, NY.)
for what we take for granted.

First Church--out in the Arkansas woods. . .

2012-01-11T21:01:00.002-06:00

My experience with "pastoral ministry" began in the backwoods of central Arkansas. My members emerged from the woods on Sunday mornings.

We had no town, just a small, white building.

Composed of Pooles and Barnetts for the most part, the members farmed soy beans, hunted in the woods and fished in the streams. They were solid, lovely, sweet people.

Best of all, they put up with me.

They taught me a lot about friendship.

They were warm, gracious people. And, they loved humor! I could tell stories about things that happened among these folks, all hilarious!

I remember leaving this church as one of the hard things of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that, ironically, these sweet people prepared me for life and ministry in an urban context.

I loved them.

They loved me.

Does anything else really matter?

"The journey" as the point. . .

2012-01-10T06:19:00.000-06:00

"But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?"

Walt Whitman

(quoted by Chris Johns, Editor, National Geographic, December 2011)

Could it be that the point is not "finding," but the search, the journey?

Just wondering.

High impact, human need, great hope

2012-01-09T07:09:00.001-06:00

From time to time in the New Year I intend to share the stories of the real people we encounter every day here at CitySquare. What follows here is the first:

A 36-year-old single mother with a 7- year- old daughter came to CitySquare in January 2011 in need of rental assistance. The woman and her daughter were previously homeless before moving into their apartment in September 2010.

In November 2010, she lost her job and fell behind on her rent. CitySquare provided rental and utility assistance through the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) that we administer for the City of Dallas. The woman remained in the program and received intensive case management and financial assistance for 9 months.

During this time, the woman gained full time, permanent employment. She applied for and received childcare services and transportation vouchers). She also attended CitySquare’s Money Management Class and Employment Workshops. She opened a checking account and is now able to budget her money. In addition, we were able to change her electric provider to TXU (who waived her deposit) and enrolled her in Light-Up Texas. More recently, she moved into a cheaper and safer apartment.

She completed the HPRP program and is now stably housed. Last October she paid her rent on her own and still had over $400 in her bank account! As of December 2011, she continues to be employed and stably housed.

This woman worked hard and made significant achievements in becoming self-sufficient. She continues to meet with her case manager here at CitySquare, Krystal Lotspeich, to work and strive to meet her future goals.

My favorite artist. . .

2012-01-07T06:00:00.002-06:00

My favorite artist, Gracie Bea Toombs is headed to the state art competition with her latest masterpiece!

The fact that she is my granddaughter has absolutely nothing to do with my objective assessment of her wonderful work!

I'm thinking Picasso.

How about you?

Apparel for the New Year!

2012-01-06T06:00:00.002-06:00

Need some casual apparel as we head into the New Year?

Visit the CitySquare Store here.

You'll be able to pick up some nice items and support CitySquare's work in the inner city in the process!

Happy New Year from CitySquare!

2012 image provoking reflection

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Reflections on Poverty: A Photograph of a Desolate Man in Casablanca

Posted on December 27, 2011

By The Activists Photography Collective

Outside of the medina in central Casablanca, Morocco, a man rested shamefully with his back turned to the public whilst shoppers went about their daily duties, bags in hand, ignoring this man’s existence. His face was hidden, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if it wasn’t: globally, we have become so desensitized to the suffering of our fellow human beings that we walk past those perched on street corners, laying in the gutters, begging for money, or bundled up during fridgid weather without giving them a second thought. If they do something that catches our attention in any particular way, annoyed looks or words of disdain are usually cast in their direction. They are just like you and I and deserve to be treated as such, regardless of the amount of money in their bank account, the clothes on their back, or whether or not they have roofs over their heads. From Casablanca to Kalamazoo and everywhere in between, the revolution of compassion must start today. Be a revolutionary by honouring human dignity.

A simple thought for a new year

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

Poverty provides context for much/most of Chrisitan "revelation." Embracing the struggle versus poverty is a faithful option that connects us to God.

Employment Training in Construction from CitySquare!

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

Embracing poverty?

2012-01-02T06:00:00.003-06:00

Reading the Gospel of St. Luke challenges me every time I open myself to its message. Again and again Luke shows just how much Jesus said about poverty and the suffering of the impoverished. He calls those who want to follow him to take poverty seriously and to respond to it with generosity, compassion and seriousness. He challenges followers to divest themselves of their wealth and "lay up treasure in heaven," seeming to indicate that assisting those trapped in poverty will result in some eternal return on investment. On at least one occasion he counseled a very rich many to sell all he had, give his assets to the poor and then come and follow.

Luke's second volume, Acts of the Apostles, reveals that the earliest Christian community got Jesus' message as members sold possessions and gave to the communal fund that wiped poverty out among his early followers.

Most of the time though, I don't embrace poverty as a spiritual discipline that both assists the poor more completely and witnesses to the evil of impoverishment. Few contemporary expressions or understandings of the Christian faith call followers to intentionally embrace poverty as a style of lfie.

Consider the following thoughts:

Poverty is an act of love and liberation. It has a redemptive values. If the ultimate cause of human exploitation and alienation is selfishness, the deepest reason for voluntary poverty is love of neighbor. Christian poverty has meaning only as a commitment of solidarity with the poor, with those who suffer misery and injustice. The commitment is to witness to the evil which has resulted from sin and is a breach of communion. It is not a question of idealizing poverty, but rather of taking it on as it is--an evil--to protest against it and to struggle to abolish it. As Ricoeur says, you cannot really be with the poor unless you are struggling against poverty. Because of this solidarity--which must manifest itself in specific action, a style of life, a break with one's social class--one can also help the poor and exploitated to become aware of their exploitation and seek liberation from it. Christian poverty, an expression of love, is solidarity with the poor and is a protest against poverty. This is the concrete, contemporary meaning of the witness of poverty. It is a poverty lived not for its own sake, but rather as an authentic imitation of Christ; it is a poverty which means taking on the sinful human condition to liberate humankind from sin and all its consequences. (page 172)

Gustavo Gutierrez

Theology of Liberation

Ring out the old, ring in the new!

2012-01-01T06:00:00.007-06:00

Ring Out , Wild Bells

Alfred Lord Tennyson

1850

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Human mediation to loving God

2011-12-31T06:05:00.004-06:00

It is not enough to say that love of God is inseparable from the love of one's neighbor. It must be added that love for God is unavoidably expressed through love of one's neighbor. Moreover, God is loved in the neighbor: "But if a man says, 'I love God,' while hating his brother, he is a liar. If he does not love the brother whom he has seen, it cannot be that he loves God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). To love one's brother, to love all persons, is a necessary and indispensable mediation of the love of God; it is to love God: "You did it for me, . . .you did not do it for me."

We find the Lord in our encounters with others, especially the poor, marginated, and exploited ones. An act of love towards them is an act of love towards God. This is why Congar speaks of "the sacrament of our neighbor," who as a visible reality reveals to us and allows us to welcome the Lord: "But there is one thing that is privileged to be a paradoxical sign of God, in relation to which men are able to manifest their deepest commitment--our Neighbor. The sacrament of our Neighbor!" (pages 114, 115)

Gustavo Gutierrez

A Theology of Liberation

Opportunity Center Update. . .

2011-12-30T06:00:00.002-06:00

Photos taken this week at the site of CitySquare's new Opportunity Center located at the southeast corner of I-30 and Malcolm X Boulevard, an important gateway to South Dallas Fair Park. Great views of the Downtown skyline and easy access from all directions make the property very attractive for its purpose.

Early in 2012, we will launch the public phase of a capital campaign to fully fund the new development that will include a health creation center, workforce training and job placement, nutrition education, food distribution and literacy instruction.

More details coming very soon about our partners and our plans.

Stay tuned!

Destination Islands

2011-12-29T06:00:00.002-06:00

Inner city neighborhoods are not all blight and despair, to be sure. Amazingly, wealth co-exists with grave poverty in every inner city community with hopes for renewal.

Here in Old East Dallas "Jimmy's" is a prime example of a "destination island." People from all over Dallas make the trek to Jimmy's for fine food and the wonderful experience of simply shopping in this amazing store!

I feel so very blessed that Jimmy just won't leave our neighborhood!

If you live in the Dallas area, you've got to check it out. If you live outside Dallas, Jimmy's is reason enough to plan a trip!
Great food.

Great atmosphere.

Great experience. Great people!

You can help TODAY!

2011-12-28T15:14:00.000-06:00

CitySquare needs your help before January 1!

You can help TODAY!

Take a look here to find out how you can make a huge difference!

Theology of the neighbor

2011-12-28T06:00:00.002-06:00

The idea of "neighbor" occupies an extremely important place in the world and work of CitySquare. Such has been the case since at least 1994 when we began to talk in terms of the primacy of the neighbor in determining our course of work in inner city communities in Dallas, Texas. We didn't discover written documentation for the ideas that emerged from our relationships with "the poor" until many years later. And, we're still finding experienced-based evidence and argument that the approach is valid and essential.

Consider the following explanation of a "theology of the neighbor."

Our encounter with the Lord occurs in our encounter with others, especially in the encounter with those whose human features have been disfigured by oppression, despoliation, and alienation and who have "no beauty, no majesty" but are the things "from which men turn away their eyes" (Isa. 53:2-3). These are the marginal groups, who have fashioned a true culture for themselves and whose values one must understand if one wishes to reach them. The salvation of humanity passes through them; they are the bearers of the meaning of history and "inherit the Kingdom" (James 2:5). Our attitude towards them, or rather our commitment to them, will indicate whether or not we are directing our existence in conformity with the will of the Father. This is what Christ reveals to us by identifying himself with the poor in the text of Matthew. A theology of the neighbor, which has yet to be worked out, would have to be structured on this basis. (page 116)

A Theology of Liberation

Gustavo Gutierrez

East Dallas bones and underbelly

2011-12-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

Living in Old East Dallas provides lots of interesting sights, sounds and situations!

Since 1999, it's been home.

There are many old, interesting, turn-of-the last century homes that double as "money pits" to those who purchase them. At the same time, remodeling these homes has played a part in the renewal of this inner city neighborhood. Still, the area is populated by low-income working families, many homeless persons and lots of renters who make their homes in under-serviced, often substandard rental properties.

The community is extremely diverse in every respect--ethnically, racially, economically, educationally, religiously.

Interesting place.

I shot these photos some time ago, and ran across them while cleaning out other old photographs. Posted here with love, respect and continuing amazement, as well as a healthy sense of mystery and wonder.

Gutierrez on Christmas

2011-12-26T06:00:00.004-06:00

The Irruption of God

By Gustavo Gutierrez on 12-29-2010

It is often said at Christmas that Jesus is born into every family and every heart. But these "births" must not make us forget the primordial, massive fact that Jesus was born of Mary among a people that at the time were dominated by the greatest empire of the age. If we forget that fact, the birth of Jesus becomes an abstraction, a symbol, a cipher. Apart from its historical coordinates the event loses its meaning. To the eyes of Christians the incarnation is the irruption of God into human history: an incarnation into littleness and service in the midst of overbearing power exercised by the mighty of this world; an irruption that smells of the stable.

Source: The God of Life

When God dropped in. . .

2011-12-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

For most Christians, today occupies a very special place not only on the calendar, but also in an understanding of how God operates in and with the world.

I say "most" because I grew up in a tradition that prided itself in not celebrating the birth of Christ. The justification for this strange, "non-practice" had something to do with the idea that no one really knew when Jesus was born and that the early church didn't seem to pay much attention to the birth story. Neither idea made much sense to me from the time I was just a boy. Who cared about the exact date? And, it seemed to me that the early church cared enough about the event to include it in two of the gospel narratives.

But, this is not my point on this gray Christmas morning.

Reading the Gospel narratives about the birth of Jesus turns out to be an exciting, surprising, powerful, informative and formative experience every year.

Consider, for Christians this story's major themes include the following:

poor, very young parents
unlikely explanations as to why a baby is on the way
a teenage pregnancy
hardship
humility and humiliation
misunderstandings
faith and deep trust
great danger and violence
oppression
poverty
obedience
surprising events
political intrigue
divine intervention
refugee status
flight /migration
understanding of God's work on behalf of the poor and oppressed
housing need
danger of infant mortality
providence
darkness
great Light
miracles in the midst of "the ordinary"
formation of new, very unique community

Clearly, this narrative sets the stage and establishes the tone and texture for the rest of the story of Jesus. Note: when the gift of God's life shows up for all humanity, we discover it among the poor and outcast. This unlikely incarnation powerfully communicates God's message of hope and eliminates any doubt about whose side God takes in the human struggle for life and love and justice.

God drops in among the "lowly" to bring great, good news! In doing so God marks out the pathway for all who claim to follow this child.

Infant Impact

2011-12-24T09:30:00.000-06:00

Luke 1:46-55

46 And Marysaid,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
⁴⁸ for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
⁵² He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Minor League Christmas Greeting. . .

2011-12-23T06:00:00.003-06:00

Childhood hunger, a national disgrace

2011-12-22T06:00:00.002-06:00

CitySquare works throughout the year on issues related to hunger.

A large part of what we do relates directly to childhood hunger. During the last two summers, we've distributed over 1MM meals to children who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program during the school year. Getting to know these children and their families has been a great experience. Observing the challenges facing these same families motivates us to continue the battle against hunger and food insecurity in Dallas and beyond. (FYI: Exciting news will be coming soon relative to our plans to do even more, and in other cities.)

A national, partner organization, Share Our Strength produced the video you can access below that deals with childhood hunger and allows the voices of children to convey the sobering message.

I invite you to join CitySquare TODAY in the fight against hunger in our community!

The evidence mounts on income inequality and the growing national gap. . .

2011-12-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

23 Mind-Blowing Facts About Income Inequality In America

Gus Lubin
Nov. 7, 2011, 9:29 AM
From Business Insider

Once again the rich are getting richer as the poor get poorer in America.

Although rich people took a hit in the financial crisis, the stock market has recovered strongly.

Main Street has not: Median household income has fallen 10% since the beginning of the recession and unemployment has increased by nearly 5 percentage points.

Populist movements among Democrats and Republicans have finally put this issue in the spotlight. If you haven't seen these charts, then prepare to have your mind blown.

To read on click here. Take the time to view the remarkable charts and graphs that simply report the facts established by the data. The current trends appear frighteningly like the period immediately prior to the Great Depression.

All the while, the poor suffer most.

CityWalk in Sports Illustrated

2011-12-20T06:00:00.044-06:00

The World Series last season turned out to be really fun for folks in Dallas.

Even though our team did not prevail, everyone had lots of fun watching the series and cheering on the Texas Rangers!

Below you'll see the cover of Sports Illustrated the week of the series between the Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

On the back of the cover page you can see 511 N. Akard, CityWalk at Akard, the headquarters building for CitySquare and the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation!

We show up in the background of a Fruit of the Loom ad, but we are there!

Look high up in the background of the ad page and you'll see our distinctive 511 sign!

Fun and very cool! Don't you think?

Santa 1952

2011-12-19T06:00:00.003-06:00

Light

2011-12-18T06:00:00.004-06:00

Isaiah 9
¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
² The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Half of Americans poor & low income

2011-12-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income

by HOPE YEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too 'rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."

Full report found here.

Big win for low income families, public health and Dallas Farmers Market

2011-12-16T06:00:00.002-06:00

Read the good news here!

Thanks to Rev. Gerald Britt, his public policy team and our many community partners!

Healthy food choices make our community stronger.

Movin' dirt at Opportunity Center. . .FINALLY!

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

A Voice from Business on Creating Jobs

2011-12-14T06:00:00.005-06:00

[This just in from Bloomberg Business Week! Read it all before you react. I think some will find this surprising and informative.]

Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators

By Nick Hanauer
December 07, 2011 10:22 AM EST

Trouble is, sometimes the things that we know to be true are dead wrong. For the larger part of human history, for example, people were sure that the sun circles the Earth and that we are at the center of the universe. It doesn’t, and we aren’t. The conventional wisdom that the rich and businesses are our nation’s “job creators” is every bit as false.

I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software. I founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2007 for $6.4 billion. I was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc.

Even so, I’ve never been a “job creator.” I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.

That’s why I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is the feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion a virtuous cycle that allows companies to survive and thrive and business owners to hire. An ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than I ever have been or ever will be.

Theory of Evolution

When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around.

It is unquestionably true that without entrepreneurs and investors, you can’t have a dynamic and growing capitalist economy. But it’s equally true that without consumers, you can’t have entrepreneurs and investors. And the more we have happy customers with lots of disposable income, the better our businesses will do.

That’s why our current policies are so upside down. When the American middle class defends a tax system in which the lion’s share of benefits accrues to the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer.

And that’s what has been happening in the U.S. for the last 30 years.

Take time to read on here.

Occupy Jerusalem

2011-12-13T06:00:00.003-06:00

James W. McCarty, III posted this to Twitter from his blog not long ago. I thought it was brilliant. What do you think?

Jesus was an Occupier

December 8, 2011

Yesterday I wrote a piece responding to Tony Perkins’s piece at CNN in which he claims that Jesus was not an occupier, but was “a free-marketer.” Well, his piece upset me so much I’ve decided to write another response to that ludicrous claim. So, here you go:

Theologically speaking, Christians have a variety of answers to the question of why Jesus was killed: to appease God’s anger for human sin, to bear the just punishment owed to God by a sinful humanity, as a moral example of suffering love for God that future Christians should follow, as a sacrifice offered to God for the forgiveness of human sin, as the ultimate example of God’s unending love for humanity, and several other formulations. Historically speaking, however, there is a nearly universally accepted answer among scholars as to why he was killed: Because Jesus occupied the temple.

During Jesus’ life the temple in Jerusalem was the symbolic center of Jewish religious, political, legal, and economic power. It was, in the words of one of my former Bible professors, the White House, Supreme Court, and Federal Reserve combined. During the time of Jesus’ life the temple had a practice of using “moneychangers.” Moneychangers had the task of exchanging Roman and other money for ‘temple money,’ and charged an exorbitantly high exchange rate to do so. So, the poor, in order to pay their temple taxes or for the animals needed to go through with their religious sacrifices, had to pay more than real value for this necessity. This practice was especially unjust in light of the fact that God allowed for different animals to be sacrificed by people of different socio-economic classes to avoid placing too great a burden on the poor. This temple practice, in spirit if not letter, was a direct violation of God’s law which was constructed with an eye toward helping the poor.

Jesus, within the week that he was killed, became quite angry about this practice. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and chased the animals and those selling them out of the temple courtyard where this was practiced. He even made a whip and drove people out condemning the powerful for their perversion of holy space and exploitation of the poor and accusing them of turning the house of God, a house of prayer, into a “den of robbers.” Jesus occupied the temple. And they quickly killed him for it.

The Gospel of Mark informs us that it is after this incident that the religious leaders began plotting about how to kill Jesus (Mark 11:18). No longer was Jesus only someone who challenged their religious traditions and authority; now he was messing with their money. Jesus chose to occupy the temple and those he offended chose to have him occupy the cross instead.

Historically speaking, Jesus was a religious leader put to death by the Roman Empire for being a political threat. What was that threat? Jesus challenged the reigning political-economic system (which was also tied to religion) by taking over the space those in power claimed to hold a monopoly over. He shut-down, even if only for a very short-time, the reigning economic system that contributed to reifying the positions of the rich and poor in ancient Israel. He was killed for being an occupier.

I do not share this story to claim that Jesus’ actions in the temple naturally lead to the actions of those occupying Wall Street. Rather, I tell this story because there are some who are claiming that Jesus was not an occupier, and implying that those who are currently occupying Wall Street and other streets are in some way unchristian. This sort of claim is historically inaccurate. In fact, Jesus’ life makes no sense, historically speaking, without the decisive moment leading to his death being that he actually was an occupier.

What does this mean for us today?

It means that we cannot dismiss out of hand the actions of the occupy movement as inherently unchristian or anti-Jesus. Rather, it seems that people engaging in such activity should receive the benefit of the doubt that they are, in fact, being quite faithful to at least one of the key moments in Jesus’ life. Those who oppose such actions and defend the reigning economic system are the ones who bear the burden of proof that they are, in fact, remaining faithful to the example and teachings of Jesus the occupier.

I am not claiming that the occupy movement is, in fact, representative of what Jesus would do today or that it is a new form of church. Rather, I am simply stating that those who claim such actions can have nothing to do with the way of Jesus have seemingly missed a historical fact: Jesus was, perhaps the first, occupier.

To visit the blog click here.

Mapping poverty in the U. S.

2011-12-12T06:00:00.003-06:00

Check out the source for this instructive map here and here.

No surprise on Texas for us. Lots of work to do.

Santa's hearing different kinds of Christmas wish lists in 2011

2011-12-11T06:00:00.003-06:00

Santa finds kids giving shorter lists in recession

By MARTHA WAGGONER
AP – Tue, Dec 6,

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A job for their mom or dad. Money for the heating bill. Food or a place to live. Maybe gloves or boots.

More and more, Santas say the children on their laps are asking for less for themselves — and Santa is promising less as well.

With unemployment stubbornly high, more homes in foreclosure and the economic outlook dim, many children who visit Santa are all too aware of the struggle to make ends meet.

"These children understand the conditions around the home when they ask for stuff," said Richard Holden, a 69-year-old Santa from Gastonia, N.C. "They understand when there are other children in the family, they need to be cautious or thoughtful of them as well and not ask for 10 to 12 items."

Cliff Snider, who's been playing Santa since he was a teenager, agrees.

"I think the parents are saying, 'It's an economic thing. Just list two to three things you really want to have,'" he said. "Parents are trying to encourage the children to be thrifty."

And the 64-year-old Snider does his best to help out. When he gets a big-ticket request, he typically responds: "There's an awful lot of children asking for that this year. What else do you want?"

At the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School, Santas learn lines like, "Wow, that's a big gift. Is there anything else you might like?"

These days, though, Santas are having to use it less and less.

"I think it's becoming more popular not to have that long list," said Tom Valent, dean of the Howard Santa school in Midland, Mich., which gets more than 3,000 letters to Santa a year and just graduated its 75th class. "Families are teaching their children to be as much of a giver as a receiver."

Starlight Fonseca has been teaching her five children, ages 5 to 14, "that we're not the only ones who have to cut things back. We're not the only ones struggling."

The 31-year-old mother and her husband Jose had been relying on a stipend from the University of Texas law school that Fonseca lost when an illness made it impossible for her to keep her grades up. She'd hoped to graduate in May but was unable to attend school this semester and can't get student loans due to poor credit.

Fonseca tells her kids that "to make it fair for everyone, Santa has to cut back for everyone. ... We paint it in a way that Santa is doing the best he can to make everybody happy at Christmas."

It's especially hard for the oldest children.

They were two little kids who used to be excited about Christmas, and now they know every gift under the tree should have gone to the utility company," she said. "It shouldn't be that way, but that's where we are now."

Of course, Santas still see some kids like the 9-year-old who pulled out a BlackBerry and showed Snider photos of all the things he wanted. "It cracked me up," he said.

Holden's response to a long list is to say something like, "Why don't you narrow this down just a little bit and choose two or three items you would really like?" Sometimes he'll even mention prices, and say, "With things like they are, Santa Claus will do what he can to help you get what you like. But we can't make you any promises."

Tim Connaghan, who runs the International University for Santa Claus in Riverside, Calif., conducts an annual survey among the 500 Santas he employs. The economy has become such a big issue that Connaghan asked them for advice on how to handle some of the questions kids were asking about unemployed parents or having to move.

"Let's all hope your dad will find a new job, or you will get into a new home," is one recommended response.

"Acknowledge the problem, give them a positive response and say, 'Santa loves you, too. Maybe I could get something special for you,'" said Connaghan. "It's that quick, usually. But the hope is that when the child leaves, he feels a little better."

Connaghan recalled the night he and other Santas took some needy children shopping. One boy wanted to buy toilet paper because his mother was taking napkins and paper towels from a fast food restaurant for toilet paper.

"He wanted to buy her real toilet paper — a common, everyday item that we all take for granted," Connaghan said. "And this child is thinking this is a Christmas gift."

Holden has had children ask for things like heat at home. He'll tell the child Santa will do what he can, then try to let the parents know about agencies that might help.

One child returned a year later and "said she wanted to thank Santa for getting her some help when they didn't have food or a place to stay." Someone had overheard the conversation with Santa and helped the family.

"There's more to being a Santa Claus than you think there is," Holden said. "You don't just go 'ho, ho, ho,' pat them on the back of the head and send them on their way. You get involved with them. ... You just make sure they feel loved and they feel special when they leave your lap.

Holiday Alcohol Limit Test: Smile and Useful Remedy to Abuse!

2011-12-10T06:00:00.005-06:00

1. Click on the man's nose.

2. A new window will open - click on the man's nose again.

3. For each time you click on his nose, you can drink another glass of wine or beer!

Holiday Project to Consider!

2011-12-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

You, your family or your group looking for a Christmas project to benefit struggling neighbors in our city?

Here's an idea for you: consider a CitySquare Clothing Drive...for your neighborhood, church, organization, office or club!

We will supply all materials you'll need to get started and organized!

Our trucks will even pick up the clothing your collect! The picture above shows our crew and truck at the ready just for you, as well as employees from Flexpress, after the printing company held a company-wide and neighborhood-wide drive for us last month.

Why this suggestion now? The CitySquare Thrift Store now offers a big "50% Off All Clothing Sale" after wich we will start hustling to restock.

Any and all help greatly needed and appreciated!

For details contact Will Goldman at 214.887.8800 or 214.202.6578!

You have to make an effort to ignore!

2011-12-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

The Importance/Necessity of Guides

2011-12-06T06:00:00.006-06:00

I expect that most of us have heard the popular notion "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

Across the years several of us have appended the common wisdom with an additional statement, "But best of all is pond ownership, or at least a key to the gate that lets you in so you can fish!" Access to opportunity is essential no matter what one's skill set.

My experience last Friday reminded me of another important component to success in any life-sustaining endeavor that involves skill development: all of us need a guide. Mentors who teach us the ropes beyond just the raw skills are absolutely essential to success and progress as individuals and as communities.

My oldest grandson, Wyatt, his dad and I went to Lake Texoma to fish for small mouth bass, commonly known as Stripers.

We met Roger, our guide for the day.

All of us had experience fishing.

We all knew how to cast a line, to use a rod and reel. We'd baited many a hook prior to this trip.

Roger instructed us in a few of the fine points of the particulars of fishing for Stripers, but he did much more than that.

Roger showed us where the fish were!

He went right to them because he knew the vast lake that stretched out for miles before us like the back of his hand. He knew when they would bite. He had it all figured out.

So, all three of us got busy with what we knew--fishing. But we put our weight down on what he showed us as our guide. He navigated the waters, prepared us for the cold wind and spray and led us to the treasure! By the time our day was over we all considered Roger not only the expert, but more importantly, our good friend!

The city is full of people with great potential, many skills and great desire.

What's needed in every case is a trusted guide or guides to walk alongside for just a ways until everyone can find the path to what they need most. It is a self-deluding myth to believe that we can somehow make it in life all on our own. There is really no such thing as a self-made man or woman. We all need help. Those of us who are doing relatively well have enjoyed plenty of it.

Oh, and I apologize for shamelessly displaying our catch. But pictures seem to make my point best of all.

I assure you, without the guide, we have no photos, to say nothing of a completely different set of memories!

Food Deserts

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dr. Mark DeHaven is a member of CitySquare Board of Directors!

Sunday Meditation

2011-12-04T06:00:00.003-06:00

Amos 5:11-24

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
¹² For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
¹³ Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
¹⁴ Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
¹⁵ Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.
¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says:
“There will be wailing in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
¹⁷ There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through your midst,”
says the LORD.

The Day of the LORD

¹⁸ Woe to you who long
for the day of the LORD!
Why do you long for the day of the LORD?
That day will be darkness, not light.
¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
²⁰ Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? ²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Heroic Leadership

2011-12-03T09:18:00.001-06:00

Each month CitySquare hosts two sessions of our "Urban Engagement Book Club." Meeting each month on the first Thursday (Highland Park United Methodist Church) and the third Thursday (First United Methodist Church Dallas) from noon until 1:15 p.m., the groups enjoy a book synopsis and follow on discussion of books relating to urban issues, inner city ministry, public policy, leadership and history. Randy Mayeux provides an innovative, comprehensive overview of each volume. Participants receive a couple of pages of key quotes and an outline of the book being considered. The goal of each session is to make people leave feeling as if they have read the book, whether they have or not! So, no advanced reading is required.

Here's a quote from Chris Lowney's great book on leadership drawn from the history of the Jesuits:

…the abilities to innovate, to remain flexible and adapt constantly, to set ambitious goals, to think globally, to move quickly, to take risks. ...I became convinced that their approach to molding innovative, risk-taking, ambitious, flexible global thinkers worked.

Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World
Chicago: Loyola Press (2003)
by Chris Lowney

The amazing rise of the rich

2011-12-01T16:07:00.001-06:00

Recently, I ran across Tim Dickinson's essay in Rolling Stone describing the intentional, dramatic and unjust strategy that has been imposed on us all over the past 25 years (see below). The facts of the case make me angry. The ugly truth about our culture, our economy and our political reality would enrage the Hebrew prophets, you know, guys like Amos, Jeremiah, Micah, Isaiah, to say nothing of Jesus and his brother, James.

Please take the time to read the entire report. Then, tell me what you think. I hope some of you who seldom comment will make the special effort to do so on this post. I can anticipate the predictable reactions of some of my regular readers. What I need on this post is a response from you who see the truth here. I'd love a conversation about what we can do. Or, if you disagree with the article, comment on its substance.

How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich
The inside story of how the Republicans abandoned the poor and the middle class to pursue their relentless agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent

By Tim Dickinson

November 9, 2011 7:00 AM ET

The nation is still recovering from a crushing recession that sent unemployment hovering above nine percent for two straight years. The president, mindful of soaring deficits, is pushing bold action to shore up the nation's balance sheet. Cloaking himself in the language of class warfare, he calls on a hostile Congress to end wasteful tax breaks for the rich. "We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share," he thunders to a crowd in Georgia. Such tax loopholes, he adds, "sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary – and that's crazy."

Preacher-like, the president draws the crowd into a call-and-response. "Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver," he demands, "or less?"

The crowd, sounding every bit like the protesters from Occupy Wall Street, roars back: "MORE!"

The year was 1985. The president was Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Read the entire instructive report here.

Cut in state mental health funds huge blow to many homeless and to housing efforts. . .

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

Late last week, we received word from Value Options, the state's private insurance provider for mental health services for the very poor, that cuts in benefits would be forthcoming tomorrow (December 1).

The funding action taken responds to the very disappointing level of support from the state legislature in its last session.

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance believes that adjustments in the latest funding plan need to be forthcoming to protect consumers who are most vulnerable. Among the necessary adjustments, the following should be carefully considered and resolved as quickly as possible:

• The reduction of the case rate for indigent populations to $100 per month from $140 per month will leave many homeless individuals without case management services.

• Homeless individuals with mental illnesses and addictions have few natural supports in place to help them negotiate services systems and ensure their basic needs are met.

• The majority of the 2000 formerly homeless individuals with mental disorders and addictions who now live in supportive housing need the vital case management services now provided.

• It is crucial that a clear case management plan for homeless individuals, those in supportive housing, individuals leaving the jail and those returning from the state hospital be crafted and communicated to the field quickly.

• Note: The estimated cost of serving people with mental illness who are homeless is three time higher than for consumers who are in stable housing because of the increased incidence of crisis and subsequent rates of emergency room visits, hospitalizations and incarcerations among those who have no homes of their own.

• Homeless Individuals, including parents in families who are homeless, should be considered a priority population and services should remain whole for these populations.

Again, the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable among us take the hit in the public policy decisions of the State of Texas. We must find a way to do things differently and more effectively.

Injured, broke, and trying to work. . .

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

Friday a man knocked on my front door.

His jeans were torn, his clothing filthy, his facial expressions bespoke his fear and embarrassment.

"I live down the street in the blue apartments," he began. He told me his name and then began telling me his story.

He needed to earn a few dollars to purchase his anti-seizure medication. Just out of the hospital after a series of episodes, he needed a job.

When I reached for my wallet, he stepped back.

"No, don't do that," he scolded me. "I don't want a handout, I want a job. May I clean your windows or rake your lawn?" he suggested.

As we negotiated the job options, he showed me the gunshot wound that marked the back of his head. He pushed back his drooping right eyelid to reveal the absence of a normal eye. He told me an incident of random gunfire had devastated him and his life.

"The bullet came out my eye," he informed me. "The brain injury changed me."

He then began to cry.

He told me his meager disability benefits don't near cover his cost of living. He wept when he told me that he used our food pantry at CitySquare so he could eat.

He told me about his church.

He told me about his career before being shot.

He hugged me.

He went to work on the leaves in my yard, and I paid him well so that he could get his meds.

My neighbor should be doing better. Make no mistake about it: he's trying very hard. He's doing all he can do.

I'll try to help him, to stay in touch.

But the scale of problems like his are overwhelming. With so many in dire need, we need economies of scale provided by collective, national solutions.

In Monday's newspaper I read about more cuts in our privatized mental health services for the poor and disabled in Texas. As the report noted, Texas has made it to the bottom of the national ranking for these services.

Think about it.

Things aren't working. . .

2011-11-28T06:00:00.001-06:00

Did you see the 60 Minutes program last night regarding the growth in the numbers of homeless families and children? Families living in their cars. Children "learning how to be homeless." Check it out here.

Somehow current lectures about freedom, rugged individualism, tax cuts for the wealthiest, no matter what the human cost; and shrinking government ring right hollow when you have to face the stories of these families fallen on very hard times.

One out of 4 children in America is classified as living at or below the poverty line.

Almost 50 million Americans find themselves scratching out a living at or below the poverty line.

People want to work, but our economy is not working for growing numbers of us.

If we don't begin to do better, I say. . .

Shame on us!

If

2011-11-27T06:00:00.002-06:00

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

~Rudyard Kipling

"Wrap it up" at Barners and Noble and help CitySquare!!!

2011-11-26T06:00:00.005-06:00

Thanksgiving 2011: Widening wealth/poverty gap

2011-11-26T06:00:00.003-06:00

Challenging thoughts for Thanksgiving. . .I posted this same material last year. . .things are now worse. . .

Poverty and Thanksgiving: A Call to Close the Rich-Poor Gap

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It calls forth the essential spiritual value of gratitude. I have precious memories of feasts shared with family and with good friends at congregational dinners. I eagerly anticipate this year's gathering.

Imagine inviting family and friends over for Thanksgiving dinner and feeding some of them a lavish feast and some of them scraps and leftovers. While some are served an overabundance of delicious food, others receive tiny portions of unappetizing leavings. Horrible thought!

Two apparently unrelated headlines caught my eye a few weeks ago as I surfed my usual news sites. I can't get them out of my mind. The first is a truly major development: The percentage of people living in poverty in the United States is the highest in half a century. One out of seven Americans lives in poverty.

The second headline was a mere tidbit in the business news. It said something to the effect that companies that make things no one really needs have done very well in this recession. Though apparently unrelated, the two items are, of course, intimately connected. The poor are getting poorer and their numbers are increasing while the rich are doing very well. They continue to buy high tech gadgets and luxury items.

These news items should have been a major religious story. At one level, the growing gap between rich and poor is an economic and political issue. But it is also a moral and, ultimately, a religious issue. There is a temptation to see economic relationships as the result of uncontrollable forces. As a matter of fact, allowing this widening gap between rich and poor is a choice -- a moral choice. And it is a moral choice with enormous spiritual consequences.

All of the great religious traditions teach us that we are connected to one another. Every human being is my brother or sister. Every faith teaches compassion, that those who love God express that by loving others. Every faith also teaches us that we become fully human in community.

Economic inequality pollutes human relationships the way smog pollutes our lungs. Just look at life where the gaps between rich and poor are greatest -- Latin America and Africa. And look back to when the gap was greatest in American history. These were times of slavery and robber barons.

I know from my years in parish ministry the financial strains that beset families. I have seen a member lose her home because of predatory lending practices and witnessed the devastation of a sudden illness. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2009 59.1 million Americans had no health insurance, and we know that catastrophic health expenses can plunge families into poverty. Why is it that the United States is the only country in the developed world without universal health insurance for its citizens? And why here, in the richest country in the world, did more than 1 million children go hungry in 2008, according to the Dept. of Agriculture? These are more than political issues; these are spiritual issues as well.

Inequality breeds fear, bitterness, suspicion, crime and violence. It eats away at the dignity and self esteem of the poor while it hardens the hearts of the rich. Inequality numbs our spirits. Ultimately it dehumanizes us. Ironically, social psychology shows us that our grandmothers were right: The rich are not happier.

The answer is not some romantic neo-Marxist notion of a perfect equality. But neither is it the uncontrolled and rapacious avarice that sacrifices people to profit margins and outrageous consumption.

The growing gap between rich and poor harms us all. We can choose a better way. Let us share the bounty of the earth. There is enough for everyone at the Thanksgiving table.

[To read the original from The Huffington Post, click here.]

Shopping carts. . .

2011-11-25T06:00:00.004-06:00

[What follows provides very instructive insight into the world of deep poverty organized around an all too common sight in urban America today.]

On Shopping Carts, Thanksgiving, and Homelessness

What has four wheels and carries a turkey?

Unless you own a turkey farm, chances are that the bird in your oven took a spin in a shopping cart. Most of us don’t think twice about using a shopping cart (except when it has a squeaky wheel).
On the streets, a shopping cart is called a “buggy.” When I was homeless, I avoided “pushing a buggy” as long as I could. When that day finally came – when I had to get something from point A to Point B and had no other option but to use a shopping cart – I could no longer be in denial about my situation. I was homeless. As you can imagine, accepting that reality was devastating.

To read entire essay click here.

President's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

2011-11-24T09:37:00.000-06:00

By Associated Press, Published: November 23

President Barack Obama’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation as released by the White House:

One of our nation’s oldest and most cherished traditions, Thanksgiving Day brings us closer to our loved ones and invites us to reflect on the blessings that enrich our lives. The observance recalls the celebration of an autumn harvest centuries ago, when the Wampanoag tribe joined the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony to share in the fruits of a bountiful season. The feast honored the Wampanoag for generously extending their knowledge of local game and agriculture to the Pilgrims, and today we renew our gratitude to all American Indians and Alaska Natives. We take this time to remember the ways that the first Americans have enriched our nation’s heritage, from their generosity centuries ago to the everyday contributions they make to all facets of American life. As we come together with friends, family and neighbors to celebrate, let us set aside our daily concerns and give thanks for the providence bestowed upon us.

Read the entire Proclamation here.

One prayer

2011-11-24T06:00:00.001-06:00

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was “thank you,” that would suffice.

~ Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

National will

2011-11-23T06:00:00.002-06:00

I "lifted" the following text directly from the NASA History Office archives. Titled "The Decision to Go to the Moon: President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961 Speech before a Joint Session of Congress," it's worth reading today at a time when we face so many challenges.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. A number of political factors affected Kennedy's decision and the timing of it. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States "catch up to and overtake" the Soviet Union in the "space race." Four years after the Sputnik shock of 1957, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space on April 12, 1961, greatly embarrassing the U.S.

While Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, he only flew on a short suborbital flight instead of orbiting the Earth, as Gagarin had done. In addition, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in mid-April put unquantifiable pressure on Kennedy. He wanted to announce a program that the U.S. had a strong chance at achieving before the Soviet Union.

After consulting with Vice President Johnson, NASA Administrator James Webb, and other officials, he concluded that landing an American on the Moon would be a very challenging technological feat, but an area of space exploration in which the U.S. actually had a potential lead. Thus the cold war is the primary contextual lens through which many historians now view Kennedy's speech.

The decision involved much consideration before making it public, as well as enormous human efforts and expenditures to make what became Project Apollo a reality by 1969. Only the construction of the Panama Canal in modern peacetime and the Manhattan Project in war were comparable in scope. NASA's overall human spaceflight efforts were guided by Kennedy's speech; Projects Mercury (at least in its latter stages), Gemini, and Apollo were designed to execute Kennedy's goal. His goal was achieved on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong stepped off the Lunar Module's ladder and onto the Moon's surface.

I thought of this historic speech and all of the accomplishments that followed its vision as I watched the bp oil spill continue to assault the Gulf of Mexico. Whenever I hear people say that alternative energy is "impossible" or "impractical" or "not going to happen" for this reason or that, I think of Kennedy, his leadership and his outrageous vision.

If, as a people, we were willing to sacrifice during the retooling period, our economy could shift to alternative sources of energy development and we could become more green, more fully employed and more secure as a people.

To say that "it can't be done" is to say more about ourselves as a people than about what is technologically possible. A new visionary policy, complete with incentives and tax credits, could spawn an entire new economy that would lead us in a much more sustainable direction.

Kennedy saw this when he looked up at the moon. Growing numbers of us can see it as we watch our devastated Gulf marshes, shores, friends and wildlife.

I'll never forget

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Sadly, it was one of those "I'll never forget where I was when I heard" moments.

Eighth grade science class with Mr. Troublefield creeped along about as usual. The PA system crackled and the emotional voice of our principal broke the news to us that President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed in Downtown Dallas. School was dismissed.

At home, I found my mother crying in front of our old black and white television.

What a loss to the nation.

Today in Downtown Dallas several thousand people will be walking across some of that same pavement, this time in a benefit for our homeless neighbors, a fitting tribute on the 45th anniversary of his death.

In thinking of his terrible death, I thought of the brief speech the young President delivered at the founding of the Peace Corps by executve order. It seems a most fitting way to honor and to remember this fallen patriot:

I have today signed an Executive Order providing for the establishment of a Peace Corps on a temporary pilot basis. I am also sending to Congress a message proposing authorization of a permanent Peace Corps. This Corps will be a pool of trained American men and women sent overseas by the U.S. Government or through private institutions and organizations to help foreign countries meet their urgent needs for skilled manpower.

It is our hope to have 500 or more people in the field by the end of the year.

The initial reactions to the Peace Corps proposal are convincing proof that we have, in this country, an immense reservoir of such men and women--anxious to sacrifice their energies and time and toil to the cause of world peace and human progress.

In establishing our Peace Corps we intend to make full use of the resources and talents of private institutions and groups. Universities, voluntary agencies, labor unions and industry will be asked to share in this effort--contributing diverse sources of energy and imagination--making it clear that the responsibility for peace is the responsibility of our entire society.

We will only send abroad Americans who are wanted by the host country--who have a real job to do--and who are qualified to do that job. Programs will be developed with care, and after full negotiation, in order to make sure that the Peace Corps is wanted and will contribute to the welfare of other people. Our Peace Corps is not designed as an instrument of diplomacy or propaganda or ideological conflict. It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development.

Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs. Men and women will be expected to work and live alongside the nationals of the country in which they are stationed--doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language.

But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying. For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps--who works in a foreign land--will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.

Statement Upon Signing Order Establishing the Peace Corps
President John F. Kennedy
March 1, 1961
Listen to this speech

.

Homeless children and youth. . .our response???

2011-11-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

Consider. . .

39% of the national homeless population are children.
42% of homeless children are under 5-years-old (just like my youngest grandson, Henry!)
Of the 42% only 15% are enrolled in pre-school
38% of the homeless population have less than a high school diploma by age 18
50% of the homeless population report dropping out of school during the course of their education

Imagine. . .

57% of homeless kids spend at least one day every month without food.
Every year 20,000 homeless children are forced into prostitution
50% of homeless children report intense conflict or physical harm by a family member as a major reason why they are homeless
>25% of former foster children become homeless within 2-4 years of leaving the system
50% of youth aging out of foster care and juvenile justice systems will be homeless within 6 months

Fact. . .

Young people at-risk of homelessness do not fit into existing eligibility defintions and often fall through the cracks receiving no services at all, or receiving only limited services.

Want to do something NOW???

Support the Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2011 (HR 32) which would amend the U. S. Housing and Urban Development definition of homelessness to include children, youth and their families who are verified as homeless by school district liaisons, Head Start programs, Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs and early intervention programs under teh Individuals with Disabilites Act.
Support the Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act (HR 1253/S 571) to strengthen educational protections and services for homeless children and youth.

Everyone will be rich here!

2011-11-19T06:00:00.002-06:00

What William Faulkner understood about why the middle seldom, if ever, opposes the top:

"There was no literate middle class to produce a literature. In a pastoral cityless land they lived remote and at economic war with both slave and slaveholder. When they emerged, gradually, son by infrequent son, like old Sutpen, it was not to establish themselves as a middle class but to make themselves barons, too.”

[William Faulkner, describing the class structure of the prewar South to Malcolm Cowley.]

Chamber Membership Meeting

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to Address Membership of Chamber of Human
Services Nonprofits

Human service nonprofits are invited to attend the next Chamber of Human Services Nonprofits membership meeting on to learn more about the Chamber, celebrate in pre-holiday festivities and hear from special guest, Mayor Mike Rawlings.

Join us for the next meeting:
Chamber of Human Services Nonprofits Membership Meeting
Friday, December 9, 5 - 6:30 p.m.
Communities Foundation of Texas
5500 Caruth Haven Lane, Dallas

What is the Chamber of Human Services Nonprofits?

Launched in September 2011, the Chamber of Human Service Nonprofits (CHSN) provides a forum to focus on issues related to the delivery of human service programs. Open only to chief executive officers of human services nonprofits, the Chamber will create a network to collaborate,advocate and serve as a nexus for a voice with funders about critical issues that impact those in need in North Texas communities.

Interested in membership with the Chamber?
Annual membership is $30.

Work

2011-11-17T06:00:00.008-06:00

What Work Is

By Philip Levine

(Listen to Levine read his poem here.)

We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is--if you're
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot to another.
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
into your hair, blurring your vision
until you think you see your own brother
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
and of course it's someone else's brother,
narrower across the shoulders than
yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
that does not hide the stubbornness,
the sad refusal to give in to
rain, to the hours wasted waiting,
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
a man is waiting who will say, "No,
we're not hiring today," for any
reason he wants. You love your brother,
now suddenly you can hardly stand
the love flooding you for your brother,
who's not beside you or behind or
ahead because he's home trying to
sleep off a miserable night shift
at Cadillac so he can get up
before noon to study his German.
Works eight hours a night so he can sing
Wagner, the opera you hate most,
the worst music ever invented.
How long has it been since you told him
you loved him, held his wide shoulders,
opened your eyes wide and said those words,
and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never
done something so simple, so obvious,
not because you're too young or too dumb,
not because you're jealous or even mean
or incapable of crying in
the presence of another man, no,
just because you don't know what work is.

COMMIT!

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

What follows describes Commit!, a new coalition of Dallas County stakeholders interested in improving public education in our community. Well worth your time to have a look. CitySquare is proud to be a supporter and involved.

Commit!

Our Mission

Commit! is a partnership of Dallas area stakeholders highly committed to the transformative power of education who are working together to ensure that all students graduate and succeed in college and/or the global work force.

The Need

Dallas County currently educates over 550,000 children in Grades K-12 across 16 different public school districts and 80 different public charter schools.

There are another 200,000+ children from ages 0-5 who receive a broad variety of early childhood services, ranging from an excellent Pre-K education to none at all.

Dallas County also houses numerous two-year and four-year higher education institutions, both public and private, which provide post-secondary education to over 100,000 students annually.

These 850,000 students, of which almost 70% are economically disadvantaged, are further supported by 300+ separate non-profits focused on a variety of areas, including but not limited to in-school, after school and summer school programs, mentoring, tutoring, literacy and college access. Each organization has their own strategic plan and often their own unique way of measuring success.

Commit!’s purpose is simple but ambitious….to help coordinate and align the various strategic plans found at each of these institutions toward a set of common, measurable goals adopted by the community as vitally important.

Kindergarten readiness.
Graduation from high school with 21st century skills.
College and/or work force success.

The challenge is urgent. The need is great. Won’t you commit to join us?

“It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

Visit Commit! website here. Join the movement today!

Youth "aging out" of foster care

2011-11-15T06:00:00.002-06:00

CitySquare works with youth who age out of the foster care system here in North Texas. As a matter of fact, we engage young people from the 19-county, northeast Texas Child Protective Services region. In Dallas County, approximately 150 of these special youth age out each year. Our Transition Resource Action Center (TRAC) provides services to about 900 youth annually. TRAC's headquarters are housed in a full-service, one-stop shop located on Live Oak in a building provided to us by the Meadows Foundation, our great partners in this special work. We also operate an office in Tarrant County in Fort Worth.

The population presents us with real challenges. The average young person we serve has experienced 9 foster care placements before turning 18. Think about about that reality for a moment.

Evy Kay Washburne, TRAC Director, provided the following results of a resent data evaluation of the young people who walk through our doors seeking help and hope.

In general. . .

30.4% have a history of truancy
30.8% have been in special education/resource classes while in school
26.2 have been incarcerated or adjudicated
59.9% have been diagnosed with mental illness
17.5% have developmental disabilities

More specifically. . .

10.5% arrive pregnant
17.4% have children
40.4% have tested for HIV/STI
58.7% have been physically abused
35.4% have been sexually abused
68.3 have been verbally/emotionally abused
85.2% have been neglected
67.3% have been on psychotropic medications
21.6% are currently on psychotropic medications
9.% have seriously injured another person
15.4% have tried to hurt themselves or commit suicide
12.3% homeless at program entry
22.4% were housed temporarily, in substandard or eviction pending at program entry
47.8% have experienced homelessness
69.5% unemployed at program entry
21.3% temporary, part time or seasonal employment at program entry

Regarding income. . .

77.5% gross monthly income $0-$500
21% gross monthly income $501-$1,000
1.5% gross monthly income $1,001-$1,500

Regarding education. . .

53.9% HS diploma or GED at program entry
8.9% last grade completed 12th
25.4% last grade completed 11th

2011-11-14T06:00:00.002-06:00

I wrote the following essay in June 1997. After you read the story, I'll explain what happened next.

_______________________________

He sat in a chair near our coffee pot. He dozed while waiting his turn to visit with a counselor. His graying hair captured my attention first. When I caught eye of his feet, I stopped.

My introduction roused him from his nap.

I sat down on a table by his chair.

"What happened to your shoes," I asked.

"Someone took them while I was asleep," he answered with a bit of a sheepish grin and a slight downward turn of the head.

"When?" I asked.

"Well, let's see," he paused and rubbed his chin in thought and calculation. "Couple of weeks ago," he reported.

"You've been walking around barefoot for two weeks?" I asked.

"Yes, I expect I have. Look at those feet," he invited, as together we inspected his swollen, weary feet.

Living in a shelter, lost in the city, here was a man basically alone.

"Why?" doesn't matter much, does it?

Yes, he may be battling the consequences of alcoholism. Certainly poverty, hunger and the prospects offered by dead end after dead end contribute to his situation.

But, here was a man old enough to be my father who walked the streets of my city without shoes.

We provided him shoes. I would like to believe we gave him much more as well.

What price do you assign dignity, respect and love? Our work is important.
_______________________________

A few days after this story appeared in our newsletter, I received a note written in an unsteady script that read as follows:

"Larry, I can't do any more at this time--a little to help buy the poor guy some shoes."

Enclosed in the handwritten note was $7 in cash.

I still have the essay, the note and the cash framed and sitting by my desk in my office.

Griffey

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Griffey has been part of our family for over a decade. Jennifer and Brandon, our daughter and son-in-law, brought him home as a puppy just after they were married. Of course, Gracie and Wyatt have known him since they were born. Griffey watched over them protectively and tolerated their playfulness and wrestling on a daily basis. Everyone in our family loved him.

On Friday, the time arrived for Griffey to pass on from here to the next life. He lived the last few years with cancer, but only began to suffer recently. The veterinarian who carried for Griffey, cared even more for the Toombs family as they told their beloved pet a tearful "Good-bye." The passage was sweet, even the sadness worked out right. We all have cried.

Griffey was a very good boy. We will never forget him. He did so much for us.

Gracie offered about the best summary of this special pet that I could imagine when she said, "Griffey understood everything about us, but we didn't understand everything about him."

Rest in peace, old friend. You did your work well, very well, indeed.

A tribute to a dog. . .

2011-11-12T06:00:00.005-06:00

Prepare to shed a tear here!

This video sent me off down a long memory lane with my own children and, now, my grandchildren. It also set me to thinking about pets and children from extremely low-income families. There are a number of dogs in our building here in Downtown Dallas, home to over 250 low-income folks.

Watch. Consider. Enjoy!

[Note: I posted this before learning of the passing of our family's beloved Griffey on Friday. He was an amazing dog. R.I.P., Griffey. We'll never forget you. With much love, Granddad]

Mayor proclaims Dallas "No Kid Hungry City"

2011-11-11T06:00:00.005-06:00

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings Proclaims Dallas as
“No Kid Hungry City”
Nov. 9, 2011 / GDJR NEWS WIRE

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings spoke Wednesday to the North Texas Hunger Summit declaring that Dallas would become a “No Kid Hungry City” and a Food Planning Association would accomplish this goal.

The summit was hosted by 30th District Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson who moved to action after viewing a local non-profit video on hunger.

The video created by FEED 3, a local educational nonprofit focused on addressing hunger and poverty in North Texas, revealed that over 380,000 North Texas children are challenged with hunger. The summit held at the Dallas Farmers Market, included governmental agencies, non-profits, local community food pantries, and business leaders.

Congresswoman Johnson shared passionately her desire to end hunger in the 30th District where some of the most impoverished counties of Texas exist. Determined to follow through on her commitment, Johnson's staff worked over the past nine months with local non profits to assist in launching a Food Planning Association. Local organizations such as CitySquare, a leading nonprofit that addresses hunger with families and children, FEED 3, North Texas Food Bank, DISD, USDA, Greater Dallas Justice Revival, Texas Baptist, and local food pantries are key partners in forming the local food planning association.

Read the entire report here

"Trickle down" turns out to be "rush up"

2011-11-10T05:54:00.000-06:00

For years, and especially since 2008, we've heard expression after expression of fear that the nation is in the midst of a great "redistribution of wealth" from the rich to the poor. We've been told that the United States is on the cusp of falling into a thoroughgoing shift to socialism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Well, almost.

It is true that there has been a great redistribution of wealth going on. As a matter of fact, it's been underway for the past 30 years. But the direction of the wealth's movement has not been downward toward the undeserving poor as so many seem to fear. No, the movement has been upward to the most well-to-do, and the shift has been massive. And, we see the results every day, as increasing numbers of people come our way seeking assistance.

Eugene Robinson explains in the following report:

The study that shows why Occupy Wall Street struck a nerve

The hard-right conservatives who dominate the Republican Party claim to despise the redistribution of wealth, but secretly they love it — as long as the process involves depriving the poor and middle class to benefit the rich, not the other way around.

That is precisely what has been happening, as a jaw-dropping new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office demonstrates. Three decades of trickle-down economic theory, see-no-evil deregulation and tax-cutting fervor have led to massive redistribution. Another word for what’s been happening might be theft.

The gist of the CBO study, titled “Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007,” is that while we’ve become wealthier overall, these new riches have largely bypassed many Americans and instead flowed mostly to the affluent. Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I don’t remember voting to turn the United States into a nation starkly divided between haves and have-nots. Yet that’s where we’ve been led.

Overall, in inflation-adjusted dollars, average after-tax household income grew by 62 percent during the period under study, according to the CBO. This sounds great — but only until you look a little closer.

For those at the bottom — the one-fifth of households with the lowest incomes — the increase was just 18 percent. For the middle three-fifths, the average increase was 40 percent. Spread over nearly 30 years, these gains are modest, not meteoric.

By contrast, look at the top 1 percent of earners. Their after-tax household income increased by an astonishing 275 percent. For those keeping track, this means it nearly quadrupled. Nice work, if you can get it.

This is not what Republicans want you to think of when you hear the word redistribution.

To read the entire report click here.

Reactions welcomed, as always.

Shoes

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

A pair of new shoes.
Ancient Amos’ retail value, the purchase price
For what’s left of the life of a poor man.
Not too bad a deal, unless you are the man.

One prescription,generic antibiotic for tiny ears and the fever
Of night—the purchase price for one more shred of
A father’s, a mother’s dignity willingly offered up
In a crowded place of charity instead of life.

High tech preservation of the good life whirls nearby,
With new robotics and life-scanners projecting full-color
Images of the insides of those with deep pockets and policies,
Clearing minds and hearts of a reality just a block away.

A penny for your thoughts, about as prophetic as we get,
While children cry and mothers pray and fathers wince against
The plight that is their city, the place of light and games
And the new—clearly as old as Amos himself.

High steeples point up to Heaven to keep from facing Earth,
Minds stolen away from the street
By the power of salvation’s lure,
Have it all and don’t look back—
Amos’ tears still fall.

[First posted on January 8, 2005]

Lost in Detention

2011-11-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

Watch Lost in Detention on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

We're better than this. . .

2011-11-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

To say again that the U. S. needs comprehensive immigration reform is beyond question. However, when you understand the "on the ground" realities for families and communities, the game changes. We can do so much better than this. Have we forgotten who we are as a people? Can we so easily turn our backs on our history and heritage? I am ashamed.
How about you?

Study: 5,100 Kids in Foster Care After Parents Deported
November 3, 2011, 2:01 pm ET by Gretchen Gavett

“Even if the [immigration] law is executed with perfection, there will be parents separated from their children,” White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz told us when we interviewed for her our recent film Lost in Detention.

And while she stressed that the solution is comprehensive immigration reform, a new report from the Applied Research Center [ARC], which advocates for immigration reform, has found that, in the meantime, an increasing number of children are being placed into foster care when a parent is deported.

At least 5,100 children in 22 states are currently in foster care, and if the current pace of deportations continues, ARC expects that number to rise to 15,000 children in the next five years. Nearly 397,000 people were deported in fiscal year 2011 — up from more than 392,000 in 2010. Since Obama took office, his administration has deported more than a million people.

The record number of deportations is in part attributed to federal-local partnership programs like Secure Communities and 287(g), which track the immigration status of people booked in jails across the country. According to ARC, foster care children in counties participating in 287(g) are 29 percent more likely to have parent who has been detained or deported.

This trend worries some, including Lake County, Ill., Sheriff Mark Curran, who was an initial . . .

To read entire report click here.

Jammin' at CityWalk!

2011-11-06T11:47:00.001-06:00

Dwight Johnson, aka Demetrius, can lay down a tune through his sax but right from his heart! I caught him practicing in the Glaze Community Room at CityWalk, our mixed-use, Downtown housing development, one evening recently.

I love to hear him play!

As a matter of fact, he's agreed to play for us this coming Wednesday during our "Lunch and Learn" luncheon during which I'll share an update on our progress and plans at CitySquare. For details call 214.303-2128.

CForward--check it out!

2011-11-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

100K Homes Campaign at CitySquare!

2011-11-04T17:30:00.000-05:00

Join CitySquare and Common Ground for a Discussion on Homelessness and Housing

Communities across the country have joined the 100K Homes Campaign, which aims to find permanent housing for 100,000 of the most medically vulnerable homeless Americans by July of 2013. Together, these communities, including over 3,000 volunteers, are part of a growing movement and have already helped nearly 11,150 homeless people into permanent homes. Will Dallas be a part of this campaign? Join us for the conversation with a guest speaker and question and answer session. Click here to learn more about the campaign.

Speaker: Linda Kaufman, Eastern U.S. Field Organizer, 100K Homes Campaign

Linda has worked in homeless services in D.C. for over 25 years; most recently leading Pathways to Housing D.C. In addition to her work to end homelessness in D.C., she is also involved in other issues of social justice in the City. She was deeply involved in the District’s Housing First Initiative, overseeing street outreach, administering the Vulnerability Index, and providing one Permanent Supportive Housing team at Pathways for 150 tenants.

WHEN: Tuesday, November 8, 2011 from 10- 11:30 a.m.

WHERE: CityWalk@Akard, 511 N. Akard Street; 3rd Floor, Glaze Community Room. Light refreshments will be served.

RSVP: Lisa Ciminelli, Director of Social Work Services, CitySquare 214-828-2696, Ext. 127

Parking and Check-In Instructions: Parking is available for $5 in the lots behind our building. Check in at the front desk in the lobby and you will be escorted to the 3rd floor.

About CitySquare:
CitySquare exists to fight the root causes of poverty while partnering with those in need. Working together as a community, we feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless and renew hope in the heart of our city. www.CitySquare.org

About Common Ground:
Common Ground’s network of well designed, affordable apartments — linked to the services people need to maintain their housing, restore their health, and regain their economic independence — has enabled more than 4,000 individuals to overcome homelessness. http://www.commonground.org/

Public transit as civil rights issue. . .

2011-11-04T06:00:00.010-05:00

I well remember the campaign (read just here "struggle") in 1986 to pass the public initiative that created the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system (DART). The system has come a long way since then, and with great results. What follows is an article by John Hendel discussing public transit as a civil rights issue. Clearly, the provision of adequate transportation infrastructure affects economic development, wealth creation and living wage jobs.

Here's an exercise for you. Drive from Downtown Dallas north up Central Expressway counting each exit between your start and the Richardson city limits. Repeat the process, but this time drive south until you reach the southern boundary of Dallas. Note the development around each exit. Compare and contrast. Why so much opportunity to the north and so little to the south? When the highway was built in the early 1950s the economic disparity between north and south was nothing like today. Obviously, the planning wrapped up on the transportation development drove the economic advantages north. What we build and how we plan it matters.

After you read Hendel's report, let me know what you think.

To what extent is public transit a dimension of the civil rights debate?

Many people, after all, rely on public transportation to get to work, both here and all over the United States. They take buses, Metro trains, light rail, the MARC, and other options. Increasingly people dismiss the automobile and use Zipcar, Capital Bikeshare, and might be able to take advantage of other transit options like streetcars, if those ever do appear (the District hopes to debut the first functioning lines in mid-2013, last we've heard). In the D.C. metro area, nearly 200,000 households manage to get by without a car. Is a functioning, reliable public transit system not only wise for the reasons of reducing congestion and helping the environment but also simply a reflection of what people deserve?

At The Root, founder and CEO of PolicyLink Angela Glover Blackwell suggests that yes, a functioning, funded public transit system is a vital part of the civil rights debate and points to several cities around the country, from Detroit to Little Rock, that struggle with and seek to revitalize their transit options. She also identifies the way our Congress fumbles its way forward with the proper funding. What we need, according to Blackwell, is wisdom in our transit choices and funding.

Blackwell notes the following:

Equity advocates must demand wiser investment of transportation dollars. Policymakers must reduce the burden on millions of struggling families who rely on public transit that is available and affordable. Without urgent attention, this lack of transportation will continue to be a proxy for leaving whole communities out of the American mainstream.

Despite all of the political posturing hailing the environmental, economic and other merits of a cutting-edge network of public transit systems, the nation has fallen woefully short of advancing a sustainable, 21st-century transportation system for the future.

Is Blackwell right?

To read more click here.

"No Kid Hungry Dallas Summit"

2011-11-03T06:00:00.003-05:00

CitySquare on NBC Channel 5

2011-11-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

A window into CitySquare. . .

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

Here's the latest video produced at CitySquare. It first aired to the audience who attended our just completed "A Night to Remember 2011 with Jay Leno." It provides another glimpse into our world.

Street doctor

2011-10-31T06:00:00.002-05:00

This is the real deal! Reminds me of Dr. Jim Walton who makes house calls on the urban poor and staffs a weekly clinic here at CityWalk. Health care reform calls for a new commitment to healing and respecting healthcare and basic wellness as a human right.

"Holy City"

2011-10-30T06:00:00.004-05:00

Glory and Wretchedness

2011-10-29T06:00:00.002-05:00

"Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody's eyes because you feel you haven't got anything to lose--you're just there. The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We'd be so depressed, discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn't have enough energy to eat an apple. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.”

- Pema Chodron

Occupy movement learning what homeless have long known. . .

2011-10-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

Received the article summary below recently.

Barbara Ehrenreich likely knows more about poverty, the decline of the working class and the growth of the underclass in America as anyone alive today. Her article is significant, and rooted in very literal reality.

Homelessness and the Occupy Wall Street Movement

The logistics involved in maintaining the Occupy Wall Street protests turn out to be some of the very activities that homeless people have been banned from doing in most cities for years.

Barbara Ehrenreich argues that there is common cause between OWS and the homeless; that the financial elites that have destroyed the middle class have also criminalized homelessness, and that, as a result, most of what constitutes survival in public spaces has become illegal.

"What the Occupy Wall Streeters are beginning to discover, and homeless people have known all along, is that most ordinary, biologically necessary activities are illegal when performed in American streets — not just peeing, but sitting, lying down, and sleeping. It is illegal, in other words, to be homeless or live outdoors for any other reason. It should be noted, though, that there are no laws requiring cities to provide food, shelter or restrooms for their indigent citizens...What occupiers from all walks of life are discovering, at least every time they contemplate taking a leak, is that to be homeless in America is to live like a fugitive."

To read the entire Ehrenreich essay click here. Reactions welcomed!

He just gets it done!

2011-10-27T06:23:00.003-05:00

Check out this New York Times story on Rangers' manager, Ron Washington. Good stuff!

CitySquare's AmeriCorps team rocks!!!

2011-10-26T10:12:00.000-05:00

Find out who's noticing the work of CitySquare's best-practice AmeriCorps team!

Click here and look for the report on Dallas.

Or better, click here and read the report on our Dallas work.

Or best of all, click here and see who else is paying attention!

Way to go, CitySquare AmeriCorps team!

Humor me. . .

2011-10-26T05:57:00.001-05:00

Humor me, I'm an aging grandfather! Pictured below you'll find real treasure.

Gracie cheers on one of her school's football clubs.

Owen mixes it up on the soccer field.

Henry clowns and makes everyone smile.

Wyatt scores a touchdown after a long run during a flag football game.

Pure treasure, I tell you, pure treasure!

God, bless the children; these and all the rest. Priceless, priceless.

Picture worth a thousand words. . .

2011-10-25T16:34:00.000-05:00

Tara

2011-10-25T06:00:00.015-05:00

Recently, Chris Oliver, one of our outreach workers to the homeless who live on the streets of the central business district here in Dallas, shared the following story with me. It is not an exceptional story really. However, it is, like so many others I could report, powerful.

Actually, this reports on two women. Tara, a young girl in a terrible spot. And, Daneille, the dedicated leader of our team of street outreach workers.

Feed back invited.

TARA

We were first alerted to Tara in May by the Dallas Police Department. Daneille was the first to make contact with Tara, a sweet, scared, attractive 17-year old runaway from Arkansas. Initial contact included establishing trust, with Daneille gently listening to the young girl’s story, even sitting on the pavement with her outside The Stewpot under the hot sun. Though Daneille would get a little closer with each encounter, Tara would constantly refuse any help and run off again to her encampment under an I-45 bridge.

Then one day, as I’m doing some early morning paperwork in the office, in walks Daneille followed closely behind by Tara.

For the next three days, Daneille mothered Tara like she was her own daughter. Daneille spent her own money to feed Tara, let Tara play games on her computer to keep her engaged and occupied, brought in a radio and CD’s for Tara to listen to, called in personal favors to find her shelter and used her personal vehicle to get Tara there and back.

Tara stayed in the office with us from morning to as late as 8-9 pm each day, and stuck to Daneille like glue.

The whole time, Daneille was working tirelessly on accessing services for Tara, both here in Dallas and back in Arkansas. Her persistence eventually paid off as Daneille was able to contact Tara’s support system back in Arkansas as well as get her hooked up with the appropriate agency here in Dallas that would work on getting Tara back to Arkansas safely.

I was with Daneille when she brought Tara to the CPS office at the end of the third day, and though Tara was reluctant at first to go along with the plan, Daneille was able to console her and show her that this was for the best and everything would be alright.

There were tears all around as Tara gave Daneille a big, long hug before saying good-bye. A few days later, Tara was back safely with her support system in Arkansas. Since then, Tara has called Daneille on several occasions to let her know how well she is doing, the most recent of those calls coming just last week.

This is just one of many similar stories illustrating how Daneille has set an example for me to follow by going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that we get our neighbors the help they need.

>1/2 of US qualifies for affordable housing at CityWalk in Dallas

2011-10-24T06:00:00.002-05:00

Half of all U. S. workers earned less than $26,364 in wages during 2010.

That's the latest based on payroll taxes reported to the Social Security Administration. To read a complete analysis of the data click here.

CityWalk, our Downtown affordable housing development here in Dallas, uses "means testing" to qualify residents according to tax credit rules that are tied to a major source of the funding used to convert the old office building to homes. Under these rules a tenant is allowed to earn approximately $27,000 annually. Anyone earning more than that ceiling cannot live in the building.

So, over 1/2 of all working Americans are eligible to occupy one of our apartments! Most people regard the building as "affordable housing" for low-income persons and families.

This fact illustrates something about the reality and pervasiveness of poverty in our country. It also forces some questions on us about our attitudes toward "the poor" in our society, don't you think?