Wisdom from a summer intern

            I was going to start this essay with the phrase “Before I started at CitySquare, I thought that poverty…”, but there are two fundamental errors with this. 1) I yawned reading it. 2) I didn’t think about poverty. I ignored poverty because, you know, ignoring problems makes them go away. Except when it doesn’t, which is all the time.

            So there I was, just an entitled college-aged ginger kid strutting in the door of 511 like I owned the place. If you could have read my thoughts that day, you would’ve heard things like “CitySquare needs me,” “I’m sure it’ll be fine that I parked in 7-Eleven’s 15-minute customers only parking spot,” and “I’m going to be the Batman of interns.” In short, I was wrong, super wrong, and unfortunately wrong, respectively.

            Shortly, I moved my car, and then my journey started. I’ve stumbled more than any of the development team would’ve probably liked, but they were always prepared to correct my misconceptions and errors, which I greatly appreciated. Without that, I might still be thinking thoughts one and three up there.

            To keep it short, I came in subconsciously thinking that I was going to pour in to people because I obviously had so much to give. The exact opposite was true. I came in with almost nothing to give but my time and attention, but I learned more from a half-hour trip to the grocery store with Wendy, a ten-minute car ride conversation with Laureen about the toxicity of an “Us versus them” mentality, realizing just how necessary sending thank you notes is, an interview with a man who spent twenty years addicted to crack and eleven homeless who is now gainfully employed an engaged to be married, and the story of a woman who has volunteered every moment she could over the last five years despite having two separate strokes than I have in nineteen years of passing open and desperate hearts and hands in the street because I was too self-absorbed to care.

             Poverty isn’t a hole you dig yourself. It’s an unfathomably gigantic pit with an infinite number of different holes leading down. Some you can walk into, but others drag you down by no fault of your own. Despite the number of ways in, there are only a few ladders out. As it turns out, throwing canned food from the lip of the pit doesn’t do much good.

It’s difficult, and it requires boldness, an open mind and a caring heart, but the true solution is getting off our entitled butts and climbing down the ladder to offer a helping hand to the men and women who can’t find their way to it.

It’s not “Us versus them,” “Us and them,” or even “Us for them.” It’s simply “We.” The phrase gets thrown around a lot around here, but the longer I’m here the more I realize that we truly are all wealthy and poor in our own ways. We can all learn from each other, and we who are more fortunate monetarily are wandering in pits of our own. That man sleeping under an umbrella on the pavement might be the hand you need.

I’ve been humbled, I’ve been blessed, and I’ve been taught. Those are not the three things I was expecting to be in those blanks, but maybe that’s exactly why I was here. I’m sorry I was no Bruce Wayne, but thank you for showing me I wasn’t.

Caleb Bishop, Summer 2015

Words from a summer intern

Poverty is…

A simple statement, but more complex than one might think. Two summers ago, I participated in the poverty simulation at CitySquare. I have been on several mission trips to some of the poorest countries in the world. These missions gave me a look into what life is like for a lot of people. On all of these trips there are two groups of people, the ones serving and the ones being served. What I really loved about the poverty simulation is that it gave me the chance to experience the other side of things and get a taste of what life is like for people living in poverty. I’m not ignorant enough to think poverty is only a problem in third world countries, but I don’t think I ever realized just how relevant it is so close to home.

CitySquare has opened my mind to the notion that it’s not the ones serving and the ones being served, or as they would say ‘us and them.’ Poverty is not a one-sided battle. We are all in this together. This organization is breaking down barriers that have been in place for years. I love that the people CitySquare serves are ‘neighbors,’ because they are. This world is not ours; we are all neighbors.  

On another note, internships get a bad rap. People complain that it’s a lot of work for little reward, or maybe that as an intern you’re just doing busy work. Lucky for me, my experience has been far from either of those. This summer has been such an incredible opportunity. I’ve learned so much working with the CitySquare development team. In terms of my education, this team has equipped me with skills that will be essential in my future. They have given me a chance to be a part of every aspect of how a non-profit works, from donor relations to event planning. Non-profit work is extremely relational and I’m glad I got to see that firsthand. I am beyond thankful for their willingness to work beside me, not above me.

It’s not often that one would find a non-profit whose employees and volunteers are all equally passionate about the work they are doing. The CitySquare team is dedicated to fighting the root causes of poverty. Instead of throwing money at the cause, they are actively involved in providing hope for our neighbors and building relationships. I can’t thank this organization enough for letting me be involved in the work they are doing. 

Addison Hurst, Summer 2015

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!

A day

Days pass like a whirlwind for me. 

Unfortunately, at the end of most days, I seldom stop to reflect on what's happened to me. 

Yesterday was not unusual, but it brought my way a number of significant experiences. 

9:08 a.m.  Fire alarms going off in building.  This time it is no false alarm or test drill.  Smoke reported on the 10th floor.  We evacuated the building.  I rode up to 10 to check it out.  One of our tenants, a wonderful gentleman who lives in a wheelchair, had burned his breakfast a bit.  When he opened his door to air out his apartment, the smoke filled the hallway and set off the alarm.  He was fine.  No harm done.  But, we are ready for a fire!

10:00 a.m. A bus load (Dallas Cowboys' bus, in fact!) of bright, young high school students being honored by Bank of America as recipients of its student leaders award in the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative.  They came to see CitySquare and to tour the CityWalk building Downtown.  Delightful, amazing, smart, concerned group of kids! 

11:34 a.m. Team member shared a bit of "core meltdown" with me about certain aspects of our work!  Painful.  Grieving.  Honest.  Tearful.  Hopeful.  Hard.  Processing.  Growing.  Tough, but important. 

1:00 p.m. Meeting with "Food on the Move" team:  White, Vicknair, Smith--Nurture, Knowledge, Nutrition; AmeriCorps; PepsiCo.  Great people.  Creative beyond belief.  Committed to the extreme!  Lots of meals going out to community; leaders seeing room for improvement.  Lots of energy.

3:00 p.m. Met with a brilliant entrepreneur who owns an on-line sales company that is growing rapidly and adding customers and employees.  Opened discussion about his business taking space in the new "Opportunity Center" on Malcolm X!  Looks very favorable.  Bringing scores of jobs to this very depressed area would be an answer to many prayers! 

5:20 p.m. On my way to workout at the Y across the street, ran into a young man who lives in our building.  He greeted me warmly, honored me with a handshake reserved only for friends and those he respects.  As we talked for a moment, I recalled how he seemed when we first met many months ago:  closed, guarded, rather eccentric and depressed.  Now he's engaged, happy and part of the community.  Seems to have found home. 

Who knows what today will bring!  I hope I can take the time to be more "into my moments" and just reflect.

A great year. . .

Rev. Gerald Britt, VP of Public Policy and Community Program Development at CitySquare, posted the following message on his blog last Friday.  It is such a good summary of the past year.  I wanted readers here to see it.  Note:  I've edited it a bit to provide a couple of additional details. 

Friday, December 3, 2010


It's Been a Great Year!

I ran into an acquaintance earlier today who asked, 'So, where have you been hiding?!' I wanted to scream out, "You have got to be kidding?!"

But I also know that there are scores of people who don't know about the work we do here at CitySquare, so for them it may seem that we fly under the radar.

Let's just say 2010 has been eventful...

We started off the year with the move of our administrative offices, public interest law firm, HR, finance, IT and Community Development Department into 511 N. Akard or CityWalk. As soon as we moved in, we realized not only did we bring work with us, new work was waiting for us!

Along with everyone getting set up, there was a flurry of tours taking place while renovation was continuing, apartments to be leased - solidifying our relationship and roles with the management company, security issues and parking issues.

We worried that neighbors who needed CitySquare LAW Center counsel would have a difficult time finding us at our new location.

Boy, were we ever WRONG. The total cases closed by end of October (198) nearly equaled the total number of cases closed for all of 2009!

Our food pantry has served more than 47,000 people nearly 2 million pounds of food, as of the third quarter.

The summer food program served 701,000 meals to over 16,000 children in collaboration with PepsiCo, our AmeriiCorps team and the Texas Department of Agriculture.  Our new, innovative program called Food on the Move enabled us to serve almost twice as many meals and children as in past summer seasons.These numbers don't include the thousands of children served in our after school meal delivery program. 

Our Permanent Supportive Housing Program, "Destination Home" has now moved more than 100 homeless citizens off of the street and into their own apartments. The program will expand in 2011.

WorkPaths, our job training program, has graduated more than 75 people from soft skills and hard skills living wage employment training. More than 70% of the program participants moved on to living wage employment.

Our Education Outreach at Roseland Homes expanded its reach to provide technology based enrichment to not only traditional age after school students, but now includes programming for mid-teens and youth preparing for college.

And this year, in formalizing our public policy work, we've made our monthly Urban Engagement Book Club a tool for advocacy and public awareness. We've sponsored two documentary screenings, focused on public education and immigration (Waiting for Superman and 9500 Liberty, respectively). We've also had public awareness education initiatives, both within the organization and the community around for profit schools. We've led voter education, voter registration and GOTV efforts in our community of focus, Roseland Homes...including getting gubernatorial candidate Bill White to come visit with the residents there.  We invited Governor Perry as well, but his schedule would not allow him to visit us. 

All of this, while at the same time, we continued preparations for our Opportunity Center, which will house our employment, health care, food programs and economic development initiatives. 

Add in the fact that we moved successfully through a professional rebranding process for our organization.

We've done more and program directors around here might be upset because I'm not including some other great things that have happened across this organization. But believe me, I've only scratched the surface!

What does all this mean (aside from the fact that there are some tired soldiers at CitySquare)?

It means that CitySquare is a great investment for those who believe that as community, we can actually do something about poverty and injustice. It means that money invested in CitySquare changes the trajectory of the lives of people and gives hope to those who simply need the resources and the relationships that will make their lives better.

It means it’s been a great year!

Branding. . .

Today, just about an hour ago actually, we "rolled out" a new name and brand identity for our organization to our team. 

The "internal roll out" and celebration today comes before the public roll out on Monday, an activity that will last all day.  We'll begin with an interesting advocacy action in Downtown Dallas on Monday at 7 a.m. and we'll end with a celebration at "A Night to Remember 2010" at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center during the Kirk Franklin concert.  

I can't reveal the new name or logo. . .not until next week. 

But, today was a precious moment in the history of our evolving and growing team of community builders.  We've been working on this project for 18 months with The Richards Group here in Dallas.  And now, the time for birth arrives!  It's been a fascinating project. 

Our staff showed up in full force and we had a celebration!  Everyone loved the new colors, the bold concept and the captivating logo. 

Our work, our values, our faith and our commitment to compassion and justice in the face of growing poverty has not changed.  Our new brand simply provides us a more accurate and effective tool for communicating our story. 

Stay tuned.  More to come!