Prophetic words: Reviving for the heart of our democracy

You may not agree with everything mentioned here.  There may be an issue or two you'd like to discuss or debate.  But, here is thoughtful theology--theology that moves to action by definition. 

Here we encounter the message and the values of the faith inspired by the prophetic movement of God. Here we see the strong, undeniable connection between the heart of God and the pain of the world, largely the product of the injustice we encounter at work all around us today.

When was the last time you heard anything like this in church?

The power of place. . .and data

Can you tackle poverty without taking on place?

Solomon Greene

June 28, 2016

Throughout June, Urban Institute scholars will offer evidence-based ideas for reducing poverty and increasing opportunity.

Earlier this month, House Republicans released a new plan to fight poverty and help Americans move up the economic ladder. The plan begins and ends with the premise that “The American Dream is the idea that, no matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and give it your all, you will succeed.” In between, however, there is scant mention of the role that place (i.e., where you come from) plays in perpetuating poverty or shaping economic opportunity.

This is a glaring omission, especially in light of the plan’s insistence on grounding poverty-reduction policies in the best available evidence. The evidence shows that geography plays a powerful role in determining life outcomes in the United States. Better understanding the mechanisms by which zip codes determine destiny and identifying effective strategies to sever the connection between poverty and place should be central to any federal antipoverty plan.

Read on. 

Poorest neighbors must not be ignored any longer. . .

Funds to help Dallas' homeless could be in short supply after police shooting

By Tasha Tsiaperas

Follow @ttsiaperas ttsiaperas@dallasnews.com

The Dallas Morning News

Published: 26 July 2016 05:26 PM

Updated: 26 July 2016 05:39 PM

The Dallas Commission on Homelessness is preparing for a budget fight when the group presents a proposal next week to solve the city's homeless problem.

The group expects to face tough competition for limited funds as city leaders finalize next year's budget.

The commission, formed in May by Mayor Mike Rawlings, was tasked with finding housing solutions for the estimated 3,900 homeless people in Dallas.

But after a gunman killed five Dallas police officers, including a DART officer, downtown earlier this month, commission members said police are likely to be a priority to the City Council.

Continue reading. . .

Food on the Move: CitySquare children thank police officers

Resource for inner city community development

 

 

Annual Conference

Save the date:  October 5-7, 2016

Dallas, Texas

Cliff Temple Baptist Church

(details here)

Safe Conversations

This is something hopeful. . .

In between. . .

Classic case of "between a rock and a hard place" for us at CitySquare.

See the video posted below.

On the one hand, the pressure created by the time frame to "move along" imposed on the people living in this encampment made it nearly impossible to transition folks from the street to housing.

We could have refused to be involved in the removal.

On the other, we couldn't walk away from so many friends and neighbors who endured the trauma of being removed.

We know most of these people. Our Homeless Outreach Team interviewed every one of them in an attempt to begin the process of moving toward permanent housing.  We had no choice but to be with them and attempt to ease their burden, even if inadequately.

Dallas (City and County) and its leaders need to stop, take stock and recognize the fact that every homeless person on our streets is just as important as the person living in the best housing available. Homeless persons are citizens and constituents, and must not continually be defined as a problem.

I believe the Mayor's Commission on Homelessness provides us the opportunity to "re-boot" and approach the challenge in a much different, more comprehensive manner.

Time will tell.

I know one thing for sure: Dallas must do better.


 

Once upon a time. . .

Earlier this year, I spoke at a "storytelling" workshop to a group of enthusiastic fund development and communications professionals.  The organizers of the event were the good folks at the Bob Schieffer College of Communication, Texas Christian University.  

I found my assigned topic intriguing:  “Awe & Aww: Storytelling to Motivate Impact and Engagement.”  What I shared were some basic principles of telling a story that either fills hearers with "awe," as in shock and awe, or "aww," as in puppy dog warm and fuzzy, good vibes. 

Here's a summary:

1)  Your story must always be true.  You know, rooted in reality.  No composites drawn from various experiences.  No embellishments.  Just the facts, please, but with great heart and emotion!

2)  Look for and journal seminal stories that arise from "breakthrough moments" that typically provide and define your organizational narrative long term.  These are tales that define your culture. If you know anything about CitySquare, you've heard the name Josefina Ortiz.  If you don't know her story, email me or, better yet, read my book, The Wealth of the Poor.

3) Gather up stories along the way--those ordinary instances that reflect your organizational culture.  These are the day-to-day events that align completely with the essence of your work and endeavors.  They reflect the state of your enduring soul. Your journal or your Outlook calendar should be full of these. 

4)  Be HONEST about your FAILURES.  All is not goodness and light!  Along the way you and your team blow it.  Include the negatives with the positives.  Keep it real.  Telling the truth always works.  Ask me sometime about our landscape company and our teenage summer program crew and buying and selling "grass"! 

5) REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT! Always be ready with a story, no matter how many times you've told it.  Great stories are more than worth repeating.  Telling stories again and again create the power that fuels movements and real solutions.

There you have it.  And, good luck with telling your powerful tales from your important work. 

Community Engagement

Rev. George Battle served at CitySquare as one of our AmeriCorps members after his graduation from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. He has since gone on to direct the Zip Code Connection for the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.

He is a great leader with a great understanding of his community.

I feel honored to call him friend.

What George shares in this interview in the aftermath of events of the last three weeks is important.

"Losers" and Hope

The past two mornings I've stopped by "Tent City II" on my way to the office. 

At the insistence of the Dallas City Council, city staff, including police, were given about two weeks to clean up the camp and remove the residents.

The scene: magnetic.  Both days, it literally pulled me into its center as I got out of my car (a huge luxury, by the way).

The pull connected my eyes to an extremely hard, harsh reality over the two-day period. 

Possibly 100 tents with the owners and others on day one. By 9:00 a.m. on day two, virtually everything had been removed, including most of the people.

Almost all of the residents were black. 

All possessed almost nothing. 

When rounded up by the city workers, these possessions formed giant piles that otherwise I would have classified as trash.  In fact, the piles represented the net worth of the departing owners. 

The deadline on this closing, harsh itself, fit the circumstances of the people I saw Monday and Tuesday.  Better, the deadline, completely unrealistic, framed our community response to the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable among us. 

We haul trash off. 

We move undesirable persons, even when they have no place to go. 

Some regard our homeless neighbors as inherent "losers." 

If you think about it and if you hear the stories of those being moved from under now the second bridge in our city, these people are definitely losers, just not inherently so.  

You see, each has lost something precious, invaluable and essential. In most cases the loss has been in multiple layers, as loss usually goes with people.

Losses like. . .

Health.

Children and grandchildren.

Mates.

Parents.

Relationships.

Marriages.

Jobs.

Options.

Sobriety.

Sanity.

Homes.

The list goes on. 

Maybe I'm off the edge here.  But, if I put myself in the shoes of these, the weakest among us, I'd hope for better from my hometown. 

But, how realistic would my hope actually be? 

What if I lost everything and became a real "loser" due to the loss, what could I expect?  Where could I place my trust at the lowest moment of my life?   To whom could I turn with a realistic expectation of receiving the help, the hand up I would certainly need to get back home?

Based on our community performance to date, my honest answers provide me no real comfort.

Big Sale!!!!

Dale Hansen, prophet

Dale Hansen, longtime Dallas sports journalist, turned prophet or preacher last week after the "ambush" on our Downtown streets.

His words combine most of the themes that we heard in the memorial service today at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

It seemed to me that his perspective deserved to be published/broadcast again.

Perspectives differ. . .

Experiences determine perspectives, attitudes and expectations.

I'm not sure why this reality is so hard to understand or accept, though I have a hunch or two.

The data below clearly reports  that African Americans possess and express quite a different experience of life in the United States than do white people.

People like me would do well to keep this fact in mind.

Even better, it would be really good for me to find out just why this is true.
 

Race Relations in the United States | InsideGov

Percent Saying Blacks are Treated less Fairly than Whites | InsideGov

Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement | InsideGov

The Free State of Jones

On July 4, I "experienced" the new film starring Matthew  McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell and Mahershala Ali, The Free State of Jones (video clip below). 

McConaughey offers up a stunningly intense interpretation of the life and leadership of Jones County, Mississippi farmer, Newton Knight.  Building a fighting, resistance force of "runaways," slave and free, Knight's influence at its apex extended across three southeast Mississippi counties. 

As the Civil War raged throughout the South, coming at last to Vicksburg, Mississippi, Knight developed serious objections to the entire cause of the Confederacy.  He analyzed the brutal conflict as a battle by the poor and dispossessed for the wealthy, and the hegemony of the landed gentry via the slave system.  As one of Knight's fundamental principles put it:  "No man should be made poor to make other men rich." 

The true story reveals the amazing depth of the suffering of people of color in Mississippi before, during and after the Civil War.  As I watched the film, an acidic grief flooded over me.  To realize something of the pain, disappointment, suffering and heroic endurance of black Americans helps frame my work and my life.

Every person of age in the United States should view and grapple with this important film.  Certainly, every white person needs to watch and inquire after this film. 

People who don't understand the Black Lives Matter movement, need to sit in a theater for a bit over the two hours necessary to soak in the rationale back of the request that as white folks, we just need to sit still, listen and learn those things about our history as a nation that we still don't want to face. 

God, have mercy on us all. 

Simple/Profound

What Life Is About

No matter how varied and rich our experiences, how honored we’ve been, how great our achievements, we will have missed what life was all about if we do not become love…. I think one of the great failures of ministers like myself is that we have exhorted people to love, and we have deplored the lack of love in the world, yet we have not become love. We have not known how to instruct our own souls in the art of loving.

Seized by the Power of a Great Affection is available here.

N. Gordon Cosby
Source: Seized by the Power of a Great Affection

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