A note on life from the brother of Jesus (Part 5)

As noted recently on this page, from time to time over the next several weeks I intend to "dig into" the letter that James, the brother of Jesus, wrote to first century Christians. 

Thought to be among the earliest, extant Christian writings, the brief letter addresses the challenges facing Jewish believers located primarily in the area around Jerusalem.  Clearly, these early devotees of Jesus experienced suffering, systemic economic oppression and some forms of persecution--possibly because of their opinions about the identity of Jesus and certainly due to the social and status implications of those strongly held opinions and life perspectives. These ideas, drawing on the social context and economic constructs, may lead us to read this familiar material in quite a new way. 

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James 1:19-21
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁹ You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. ²¹ Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

It turns out that self-control doesn't come all that easy.  Have you noticed?

Mix in a measure or two be feeling disrespected, powerless or taken advantage of and you have  a recipe for civil unrest both personal and communal.

At times, oppressed persons who seek to resist and to improve their life prospects through organized, community action can turn their frustrations on their friends.  All too often those who suffer lose patience, seek to gain control where they have a chance to do so.  For the community James addresses the necessary message was clear:  don't get angry.  Listen.  Not so fast on the analysis and criticism.  Prove your solidarity by the manner of your communications with each other, as well as to those outside, even your oppressors.

The person who, in the face of suffering and mistreatment and dispute, can listen first and intentionally--resisting the natural temptation to get out ahead of an argument--that person will almost always deliver powerful, positive impact and needed perspective in any relationship. 

The default position of effective community leaders involves a fundamental commitment to listen first and foremost.  The commitment to really hear others changes everything.  If I am eager or "quick" to listen--that is, I come to every encounter already "there" in terms of my decision to hear another person out, I can more easily become a factor in promoting understanding and defusing counter-productive tension and conflict. 

Being "slow to speak," not feeling the need to be heard first or foremost, disarms enemies and softens critics who possibly make assumptions about you that are unfounded.  A determination to listen carefully while refraining from "having your say," is a powerful tool in repairing or building trust and genuine communication. 

This skill-set is essential in overcoming misunderstandings so that genuine community can be realized, and even organized to stand against the threats that come from the outside and from those in power. 

In the same way, a commitment to be just as "slow to anger" as we are quick to listen, changes everything about a confrontational context.  Let anger be the last resort, and make sure that its genesis emerges from injustice or some real harm to another and not just a defensive tact to guard your own self-interest in a dispute or relationship. Anger channeled in surprising non-violent resistance against harm and unjust structures and circumstances changes things over the long haul for the better. 

All of us have experienced the deep emotions of "righteous indignation."  The trouble is we often rush there before listening, which leads us to anger prematurely and without clear understanding.  My claim to be "angry about those things that anger God," seems foolhardy in calm retrospect!  Most importantly, all the anger that I can muster does not lead to an experience of God's righteousness or justice.  God brings those things to pass in cooperation with a faithful, organized community, not because of my unchecked rage.  God is God and I am not!  Understanding my anger as an extension of God's values and God's anger is not a sustainable notion intellectually, spiritually or emotionally.  In fact such assumptions are downright dangerous.

I need to lay my anger down as I pick up the pain of my community and work for change.

At the same time, the witness of the oppressed and marginalized must not be compromised by lives that are "sordid."  The word here literally means "filthy" or impure.  When used of clothing, it often means "shabby."  Clearly, a moral stain on a life compromises one's ability to command an audience or move an argument in the right direction. 

Furthermore, community builders who seek respect from those they lead must set aside all wickedness, a word that carries with it connotations of hateful feelings, trouble and worry or anxiety.

Instead of such responses to oppression or the stress of unfair poverty, James urges us to practice meekness or humility and teach-ability as we welcome the truth of God and our better selves.  As we invite a higher power to join us in our struggles, we will find the salvation of our very lives.   The victory that we seek over the forces that oppress will be empowered by this word from beyond our lives that promises to give us the very life we seek.

Much to ponder as community workers.

Tell me your ZIP, I'll tell you about your health

Just in from the Colorado Health Foundation.  Move evidence of the interrelated complexity of poverty.  This poverty is destroying our neighborhoods. 

Health by ZIP Code

Where You Live Determines Your Health – for Good or Ill

By Sandy Graham

Opportunities for good health bypass far too many people, in Colorado and nationwide.

If you live in a poor neighborhood, chances are that you are not as healthy as someone who resides in a more affluent neighborhood. Your address reflects your health – and more.

"There's a lot of information in an address," says Anthony B. Iton, MD, JD, MPH, senior vice president of healthy communities for The California Endowment. "It tells me about your income, your education, the health amenities you have access to and employment opportunities you can access. I can pretty much predict your life expectancy by where you live."

Iton has data to back his point. Mapping life expectancy in major metro areas by census track or ZIP code finds wide ranges even a few miles apart. In Philadelphia, for example, those in the city's center live 6.4 years less on average than neighbors 21 miles away in Chester County. Life expectancy in Oakland, Calif., is less than 74.3 years compared with more than 80 years in much of the rest of the county.

Assuring the highest level of health for all Americans is a goal that many experts believe makes both humanitarian and economic sense. But achieving what some call "health equity" requires tackling social determinants of health such as income, education, nutritious food, safe housing, affordable and reliable public transit, culturally sensitive health care professionals, health insurance, and clean water and air.

A Complex Problem
"That's why health equity is so elusive," says Len Nichols, PhD, director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University. "You can't push one button. You have to think about the totality of the social fabric of the community."

Read more here.

Social media and isolation

I remember well the first time I rode a New York City subway train. 


The scene looked about like this photo. 

No cell phones. 

No iPads. 

No electronic notebooks of any kind.

Just a sea of newspapers attended to by intent, silent, isolated readers apparently lost in worlds of their own as they tried to make sense of the news of the day. 

Lots of people criticize the new forms of media available to us today.  Often we hear that community suffers thanks to the constant availability of information and our connection to it.  We're told that Facebook, Twitter, email and the rest compromise our connections to one another. 

I expect there is some truth in such observations. 

But, then again, the real challenge remains as to how we use media.  We can connect or disconnect.  We can decide to engage our fellows via new and amazingly fast forms of media that actually advance the interests of community, or we can turn away into our own worlds defined by isolation of our own making. We've witnessed the youth of the world unite, organize and bring radical change to society and culture very, very quickly. 

"Poor people" find themselves cut off from many of the advantages of new media, but that is changing, thankfully.  Maybe one of the best investments we could make would be to bring everyone into the new and rapidly changing world of digital connection. 

Before making that first trip to New York City, I recall being coached by veterans to the experience to avoid direct eye contact with people on the streets and in the subway system.  I was sort of set up for not connecting. 


You know what I did, don't you? 


I bought The New York Times and blended in!

Attack poverty for real!

Here's a note I picked up from "Attack Poverty."  It is right on!

Want to help the poor? 

Abandon old donor-recipient model.

Embrace partnership model that values God-given creative capacity in everyone!

Reflections on "As Goes Janesville"

[I prepared the following paper for The Christian Scholars' Conference convened at David Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, June 5-8, 2013.  This particular panel (including a representative from the United Auto Workers, GM, academics and the film maker himself) discussed Brad Lichtenstein's film, "As Goes Janesville."]

As Goes Janesville”—Reflections on the erosion of the American Middle Class

            Brad Lichtenstein’s powerful film, “As Goes Janesville,” displays the most recent results of an American economic policy now over 30 years old and continuing to evolve with devastating effect on our shrinking middle class.  By focusing on a group of select and representative persons, the film teases out the attitudes, struggles, losses, uprootedness, philosophies and policy agenda of those spotlighted. 

After 85 years of operations, at the close of the last Bush Administration and in the throes of the economic meltdown of 2008, the closing of the Janesville General Motors plant signaled a major shift in middle class options and opportunities previously afforded by employment in jobs that paid living wages.  Eleven thousand jobs were lost to a city of about 63,000 persons. 

The impact of the film emerges from the personal stories of laboring people and their families on the one hand, and business and political leaders on the other who see in the community and economic implosion “an opportunity” to reign in out-of-control labor costs, while attracting new companies and new jobs.  Ironically, but predictably, the group charged with "re-inventing" a local economy does not include representatives from the local workforce. 

The role of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the citizens’ recall movement sparked by his policies and attitude toward organized public employees, especially teachers, plays an important part in the story line.  The juxtaposition of the opposing sides, interests and voices seem to confirm the opinion of one of the unemployed who concludes that “we are two different countries now.” 

The route to sustainable recovery in a city like Janesville is not self-evident and the journey promises to be difficult, and one filled with danger and surprise.  It does seem very clear that three decades shaped by the promotion and pursuit of “supply side” economic theory, with its attendant “trickle down” tax policy, in the face of an rapidly expanding underclass and the rise of an under-educated, younger workforce presents a rather daunting list of social and economic challenges. 

Driven by an investor culture in which more people than ever before find themselves financially entangled in the stock market via 401 k and mutual fund accounts, the primacy of “bottom line” corporate considerations tends to devour the expectations of working people.  The weakening influence and outright decline of organized labor and collective bargaining drive both membership and wages down below acceptable levels.  Hard-nosed labor negotiations between management and workers usually end with labor in a compromised or weakened position.  Out-sourcing and off-shoring jobs to serve the ever-present bottom line work against American workers. 

Tax policy, offered up with the promise of attracting new companies and new employment opportunities, has not worked well in Janesville.  According to the film, Governor Walker’s claim that “Wisconsin is open for business” has remained just that, a claim with few substantive results, except possibly a more favorable tax policy benefiting existing corporate interests in the beleaguered state.  The latest job creation numbers rank Wisconsin 47th in the nation.   

So, what may we conclude or suggest in view of the message of this provocative film? 

First, the loci of public and private investment need to shift.  Rather than continuing in our current default position when it comes to where we choose to invest capital, i. e. failing financial institutions and investment banks; the time has arrived where we might reasonably expect a larger ROI by investing in our people and their inherent wealth potential. 

For example, home foreclosures in the aftermath of the plant closing in Janesville reached into the thousands.  More aggressive investment in those homeowners, rather than in their bankers, seems indicated to this observer.  Rather than pouring capital in at the top, it needs to be worked into the soil of the local community.  Rather than cutting funding for public education, pre-school to higher education, as well as trades training and skill set retooling; our leaders should find creative ways to invest in our people, our greatest asset as a nation. 

Second, the nation needs to revitalize a public movement to recover and expand the middle class.  Already I am redundant, but the point here is to reimagine the purpose of collective efficacy and political functionality.  Tax policy must change.  At even the mention of progressive tax reform critics begin to decry the folly, read “horror” just here, of the “redistribution of wealth,” as if the recent, historic redistribution of wealth upward should not call for a countervailing point of view complete with its own version of horror! 

Existing tax loop holes, including off-shore, tax shelters and asset relocation strategies, must be closed and the newly captured funds re-directed to strategic initiatives to benefit middle income Americans, including our social and material infrastructure. 

For instance, funding community-based, public health initiatives that deliver better national wellness outcomes will open more options for employment in the allied health care industry for even unskilled workers while enabling the nation to consume a smaller percentage of GNP on illness care.  This is just one area in which useful and productive synergies could be achieved. 

Public school facilities should be re-purposed after hours for adult education and small business incubation.  Extension courses from local community colleges could be brought nearer consumers by locating in public school buildings after normal hours.  College and skills re-training classes should be matched with a new college/education loan and grant program to assist students in their efforts to re-tool for the current and coming American economy.  Grants for education should be devised, especially for hardest hit areas of economic decline. 

Companies employing unemployed or underemployed workers should be rewarded with larger hiring stipends or royalties. These rewards should be lengthened over 3-5 years to encourage employee stability and increased tenure.   

Local public works projects, such as the S. M. Wright Freeway redesign project, should include requirements to train and hire unemployed persons from the neighborhoods and communities benefiting from such projects, as is the case with this urban renewal effort in Dallas, Texas.

Third, financial incentives need to be deepened as part of a national recovery campaign that rewards producers and consumers of American goods.  American companies need to be assisted in their desire to locate production facilities in places like Janesville.  Giving American companies a leg up in targeted “hot spots” or national enterprise zones for economic investment and innovation should become a part of our recovery strategy. 

In the same manner that large agri-business companies are hedged in every farm bill by federally funded insurance programs against crop loss, so should struggling communities be hedged against the departure of companies.  Or, just as research and development funds are provided to large Pharm companies, so R/D funding should be made available to communities and small entrepreneurs.  Further, small business creation should be assisted, nurtured and funded more adequately and with more creativity. 

Finally, our nation’s safety net programs, designed to assist low moderate and very low-income folks avoid a complete collapse into poverty, must be strengthened.  Utilizing the capacity of current and emerging technologies, persons at the bottom of the nation’s socio-economic continuum should be able to receive an integrated, coordinated map out of poverty and into the possibilities of self-sufficiency, adequate education and full employment.  An honest assessment of the impact of these invested funds on local, state and national economies should be developed and appreciated.  In short, every dollar invested at or near the bottom of the economy is a dollar that is spent quickly and results in an important “churn” in the local economy. 

The complexity and the pain of our current situation require new solutions and the reworking of older, tired, worn remedies and responses.  Sadly, scalable solutions continue to elude us and may be nearly impossible to catch hold of given the public policy and political divide at work in Wisconsin, and not just in Wisconsin, but across the nation. 

Organizing a community

On Thursday, May 16, the CityWalk@Akard community enjoyed a full-on crime watch organizing event on the 3rd floor patio.

Master of all things BBQue, Edd Eason, provided the foundation for a great meal, and many CitySquare team members pitched in to help with the rest of the meal, serving the meal and making everything inviting and conducive to real progress on safety in the building.

Dallas police officers helped with the meeting.  They left very impressed with the participation, the planning and the program.  The residents of CityWalk are taking responsibility for the viability of their own community.

Way to go to everyone involved, and especially the residents who were so interested and involved!

This is a signal that a healthy community is emerging at 511 N. Akard in Downtown Dallas!

What people are saying about "The Wealth of the Poor"

I'm back from vacation and finished your wonderful book. . . . To me your book was all about taking risks, especially taking the risk of really getting to know people as individuals and uniting with them as neighbors.  I also loved how you took risks - like being honest that what you need most is financial support versus well-intentioned gifts of volunteerism that don't involve true personal investment. . . . I love how you say, again and again, that we are really all the same and that it is the simple things that people often need the most like the freedom of privacy. My favorite part of the book was Principle 5 and I agree completely with you!  Some times you just have to hold hands and jump.  And of course I completely agree with you that it is time to move beyond the concept of charity.

Michelle Corson, CEO

Champion Impact Capital

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Your book is already as dogeared as a college freshman recycled textbook. The wisdom, insight, humility, and acknowledgement that we all need to remain both student and teacher, is highly respected and deeply appreciated. 

Michael Samuelson

The Health and Wellness Alliance for Children

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If you haven't got a copy of Larry's book, you need to!  

Dr. Bob Biard

Texas A & M Adjunct Professor

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This book should be read by anyone interested in urban ministry in America today.

 Dr. Jerry Jones

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It is a good read--I learned a great deal about your early efforts that I didn't know.

John McStay

Dallas business leader

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Simply put, this is the best, most readable, and most powerful book on the social implications of the Christian religion that I have read.

Richard T. Hughes

Distinguished Professor of Religion at Messiah College

Director of the Sider Institute for Anabaptist, Pietist, and Wesleyan Studies

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Larry James is an inspiration to my life.  Each time he speaks, I learn something.  May God use this book to do for many what Larry has done for me:  to remind us of the value of every single human being.

Max Lucado

Bestselling author

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Thank you for sending me your book--a testimony in the most profound sense. You lived and wrote in the open, which opened up space for others to find their own way. I love your idea of a business card with an asterisk. And I love that the credo of CitySquare on the next to the last page could be true.

I would have left out a lot of the running argument with the parts of the church that still want to ask about evangelism. And there was more bible than needed. I looked for your honest statement once that you said "I believe more and more in less and less." The church--at least the part of it that has a heartbeat--is emerging there, I think. So I argue less and less with the old church, hanging with people who believe deeply, but simply. So I wonder if you, like me, are still waiting for the moment to write an honest theology.

Your book does make me long for time together.

In the meantime, you'll see the book sales leap by at least a dozen or more copies as I recommend it. 

 

You've done a good thing.

Gary Gunderson

VP Faith and Health Ministries

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

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Call today, toll free  1-877-816-4455 to order your copy of The Wealth of the Poor:  How Valuing Every Neighbor Restores Hope in Our Cities by Larry M. James.

 

Ain't got no home. . .

A song about my daddy and his people. . .

Romero

A Gospel That Unsettles

A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed--what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don't bother anyone, that's the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.

--Oscar Romero

Radical

Being Radical

 The radical is that unique person who actually believes what he says. He is that person to whom the common good is the greatest personal value. He is that person who genuinely and completely believes in humankind. The radical is so completely identified with humankind that he personally shares the pain, the injustices, and the sufferings of all his fellow humans. For the radical, the bell tolls unceasingly, and every man's struggle is his fight.

--Saul Alinsky

Rules for Radicals

Subversive Scripture?

POWER AND POWERLESSNESS

RIGHT AND LEFT

The point that must be remembered is that most of political and church history has been controlled and written by people on the Right because they are normally the people in control. One of the few subversive texts in history, believe it or not, is the Bible. The Bible is a most extraordinary text because again and again it legitimates not the people on the top, but invariably the people on the bottom—from Abraham to Moses to Jeremiah to Job to John the Baptist to Jesus.

After a while you might get tired of the rejected son, the younger son, the barren woman, the sinner, the outsider always being the chosen one of God! It is the biblical pattern—which we prefer not to see. It takes away our power to exclude “the least of the brothers and sisters” because that is precisely where Jesus says he is to be found (Matthew 25:40)! If indeed women, blacks, other religions, gays, and other “outsiders” Lare “least” in our definition, it seems that gives them in fact a privileged and revelatory position! They are not to be excluded, but honored. Jesus takes away from us any possibility of creating any class system or any punitive notion of religion. Unfortunately, thus far, it has not worked very well.

from Richard Rohr

A Lever and a Place to Stand: The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer

pp. 98-99

A new "Gathering"

Following our recently completed registry project as a part of the national 100,000 Homes Campaign, I began thinking about what my on-going response should be to what I observed/experienced among some of the most "shelter resistant" of our neighbors. 

As I mulled my question over, an image began to emerge.  I know that credit for my new idea must go in part to my friend in Waco, Texas, Jimmy Dorrell.  This year marks the 20th anniversary for "Church Under the Bridge."  Jimmy's congregation is exactly what it sounds like:  his church meets under the I-35 freeway that runs through his town. 

My time with the registry project took me under a stretch of the I-45 overpass near Downtown Dallas.  What came to me was a vision of a new gathering of folks in or near that same location.  My idea was to simply show up for a couple of hours each week at the same time, at the same place.  There would be no agenda.  The commitment would be to meet folks, to listen to their ideas/struggles/reports and to see where a growing relationship might lead us all. 

So, last Wednesday we began.  We showed up with ice cold bottled water and time marked out to spend on and with whoever crossed the common space. 

It turned out that the location was just across the street from the location of our new Opportunity Center at Malcolm X and I-30.  We discovered a "corridor" of sorts running from the Austin Street Centre back under the overpasses of the highway system that forms a latticework of concrete and rushing vehicles just above what is "home" for far too many people. 

What follows are simple notes I entered in my journal after the first two hours spent at this forgotten spot in our city:

• Movement among the trees on the west end of the property where a plan is working to build 50 single-family homes for the poorest homeless persons among us. . .
• A woman far away in the bushes likely relieving herself thanks to the absence of any accessible rest room facilities. . .
• During the first few minutes, provided water for half-a-dozen folks (Ben, my friend from MetroCare had advised that we bring water!)  "A cup of cold water given in my name" came to mind; now I realize that those words were not intended to be literary, but simply practical for the poor.
• Dallas police stopped by to check out what we were up to. . .had pleasant visit before watching squad car equipped with bull horn roust people out and away from a fence row where they were trying to enjoy a fast food meal. . ."Keep on moving!" was the order. . .
• . . . "Where will we eat?" is a far different question for these people than for me and my friends!
• A man and a woman with a dog on a bright pink leash walked by and accepted the offer of water; the dog wore a shirt!
• Cocaine sales transpire on far side of the property. . .prostitutes walked the area. . .
• Amazing number of private jets flew over as we talked to the homeless--bright white, trimmed in mainly blue; speeding toward or away from Love Field, coming or going on some adventure or another, oblivious to what played out below.
• Moved up to an old, abandoned house by the one business in this part of town, an old filling station.  Visited with several people who sat on the porch, passing out more water.
• Joe, just out of prison two days; still wearing prison shoes and clothes, needing to get to family in Ft. Worth. . .asking for a hug. . .
• Holy week. . .
• Ran into Jeff, an old friend from East Dallas and the Food Pantry--asked about lots of people we both knew--big cities can be broken down into very small segments, neighborhoods, friendships. . .
• Talked to several people about Opportunity Center and work--one man called me the next day to follow up, may land a job on the construction site. . . wanted "reference". . .
• Every time I've been to this corner long enough to have a conversation, every time, the subject of "finding a job" comes up. . .
• Some people chose not to engage. . .
• Lots of folks were clean, "together" and ordinary, if anyone can be simply that. . .

Next week:  same place, Thursday afternoon from 2:00-4:00 p.m. No agenda.  Just hanging out for a visit. 

A new "Gathering" in S. Dallas/Fair Park.

Time

It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills.  Actually time is neutral.  It can be used wither destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will.  We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.  We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability.  It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the fores of social stagnation.  We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.  Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.  Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham City Jail

Cowboys and Aliens--a parable?

The just-released movie, Cowboys and Aliens presents the most fanciful, unlikely storyline imaginable. 

Here's how the entertainment website, Monsters and Critics sees the new film: 

The Old West.. where a lone cowboy, Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). It's a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation.

As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

I saw and enjoyed the movie.  I know, I know.  Call me superficial and prone to the enjoyment of a thriller of an action flick--boy, I can tell you this guy Jake Lonergan knows how to handle an opponent!  Tough, fast, direct and endlessly! 

But, in reflecting on this really weird film, a strange realization caused me to think more deeply about the plot. 

The monsters from another galaxy/world show up with a two-dimensional mission.  One is to study earthlings to discover their weaknesses so that attacks can be more efficient and effective.  More important to the invaders is gold.  That's right.  They love gold.  They came to get gold.  They set up an elaborate station for extracting gold from the ground outside the town. 

As I watched the locals respond to the challenge presented by their horrible guests and as I observed the aliens' gold mining operations, the realization of my possibly being in the midst of a parable of sorts hit me. 

I mean, the folks from earth who battle the outside menace aren't exactly prepared for the challenge.  Beyond their obvious technological and physical disadvantages, they lack any sense of community.  To say the least they are completely divided, hopelessly, hatefully divided.

Presented with the threat of certain death, they get their collective act together right before viewers' eyes! 

The newly formed community's mission?  To unite to destroy their enemies before they are destroyed. 

Not exactly the highest of motives, or is it? 

People, previously divided now coming together to overcome old differences for the sake of embracing a higher, common concern:  that is always right and usually produces magical results.  And, it's important to note, the hero of the story is a tough, no nonsense "community organizer," to use contemporary vocabulary. 

Watching the "invasion" of the gold mining operation that doubles as an escape ship equipped with giant propulsion rockets and all, I came face-to-face with the all too common lure of gold (wealth) and the power of greed. 

I left the movie satisfied by an unusual story, but also convinced that greed contains the power to destroy.  Community presents the right antidote to the poisonous threat.

But then, maybe I've been working on the problems associated with poverty far too long.

Reasonable expectations. . .

So, I innocently appear at our local, neighborhood Post Office a couple of weeks ago.  My mission, super simple:  I needed to purchase Christmas stamps for cards we planned to mail--you know, the kind that shamelessly picture and brag about your grandchildren! 

After waiting my turn in line, I approach the postal clerk and declare my need for 100 stamps. 

"Sorry sir, we don't have any stamps today," the woman behind the counter declared with a touch of sadness in her voice. I get that part!

"Did I hear you correctly?  You are a post office and you have no postage stamps?"  I asked incredulously. 

"Yes sir, I'm afraid so," she replied.  "We hope to have some by Tuesday." 

"Hope" to have stamps at a post office? 

Hmmm.  Something about "I'll gladly repay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" drifts into my mind out of my cartoon-shaped mind/soul. 

So, being a lifelong supporter of the U. S. Postal Service and of the tireless men and women who deliver my mail on a daily basis, I accept the disappointing news and retreat to my car, vowing to return on Tuesday.

I don't make it back until Thursday. 

Again, I present myself with my simple request when my turn comes:  "Yes, I need 100 Christmas stamps," I declare with the confidence of a man eager to show off his grandchildren to a few dozen friends. 

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we have no stamps today.  We expect a delivery by Friday," the postal clerk wearily explained. 

I bet she was tired! 

Can you image the thought of a Post Office without stamps!

By now I am beside myself. 

I didn't take out my frustration on the depressed clerk, but I did call the local Postmaster's office.  I got connected, after a rather long wait, to a gentleman who doubtless had received calls from frustrated patrons such as me possibly all day long! 

"You know, sir, the stamps have to come from Kansas City," he explained. 

Is this really my problem? 

I started to explain what UPS could do for the USPS, but thought cynicism might send the gent over the edge, so I resisted the temptation.

"I think I have discovered the basic problem with the USPS," I told the rather short-tempered man on the other end of the line.  "You can't even address the basics of your core business--selling stamps!"

"Selling stamps is not our 'core business' any longer," he explained.  "What with on-line payments, etc., we just aren't in the same business as before." 

Still, a P. O. with no stamps?  This isn't sounding good for my Christmas cards, and the photos of my 4 adorable grandchildren are so great this year! 

This entire experience has set me thinking again about life in poorer neighborhoods that marginalized folks call "home." 

Frankly, just about everything is like a P. O. with no stamps!

No grocery stores, and the corner convenience stores don't have what a person needs and what is there is overpriced and unhealthy. 

Little code enforcement, especially on slum landlords. Try to bring a legal case against an unscrupulous landlord and see how far you get.

Inadequate housing.

Streets surely in cahoots with front-end shops given the number and the depth of the potholes.

Schools in disrepair both physically and academically.

Safety and crime prevention statistics downright depressing. 

Post offices without stamps?

What do you think? 

I think its time we expected more and better. 

I know one thing, I never wanted for postage when I lived in Richardson!

Advocacy and Non-Proifts

Interesting report from Philanthropy News Digest and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy on non-profit organizations and advocacy in the public sector.  Important topic. 

For sure, business as usual approaches no longer work. 

As always, I'd love your feedback.

LA Nonprofits Involved in Advocacy Provide Significant Community Benefits, Report Finds

Between 2004 and 2008, Los Angeles County nonprofits engaged in advocacy and organizing generated nearly $7 billion in benefits for local residents, a new report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy finds.

Based on a study of fifteen nonprofits in the county, the report, Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organizing and Civic Engagement in Los Angeles County (76 pages, PDF), found that every dollar foundations and other donors provided to community organizations engaged in advocacy and organizing generated $91 in benefits for the communities they serve. Over the five-year study period, those benefits included $2.6 billion in higher wages, $2.2 billion in healthcare savings, and more than $2 billion from the increased use of public transit, construction of new schools, and expanded affordable housing. The report also looked at non-monetized benefits provided by the groups, including the protection of voting rights, improved working conditions, and expanded service delivery to marginalized populations.

Based on the findings, the report recommends that foundations increase their support for advocacy and organizing, help educate donors about the benefits of advocacy funding, support effective collaboration among community organizations, collaborate with other grantmakers to leverage resources, and invest in the infrastructure and organizational capacity of grassroots organizations over sustained periods of time.

"While high-profile commentators decry 'community organizing,' this report clearly demonstrates that such activity delivers enormous benefits to communities," said NCRP executive director Aaron Dorfman. "On every issue of concern to residents of Los Angeles County, from clean air to immigration, from equality to education, foundation support for community-based activist organizations yields positive results. Foundation support turns indifference into democracy, and the benefits of a thriving democracy are indeed substantial."

“Nonprofits Bring Tremendous Benefits to Communities Through Citizen Involvement in Politics.” National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy Press Release 3/02/10.

Urban Connection--San Antonio making progress!

Central Dallas Ministries planted a sister organization in San Antonio, Texas almost 8 years ago.  We fly under the banner Urban Connection--San Antonio.  Under the able direction of Leslie Grubbs, UC-SA is really making a huge difference in the Westside community where it is located. 

To check out more evidence of real progress, click here.

Census 2010 and Dallas, Texas

Recently, Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Pauline Medrano was named Vice Chair to the National 2010 Census Committee.

Please take a look at this link.

In Dallas, and in every other city, town, hamlet and rural location, taking part in the census is critical to our democracy and to the well-being of our communities.

Consider just how census data is used:

--Decision making at all levels of government.

--Drawing federal, state, and local legislative districts.

--Attracting new businesses to state and local areas.

--Distributing billions in federal funds and even more in state funds.

--Forecasting future transportation needs for all segments of the population.

--Planning for hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and the location of other health services.

--Forecasting future housing needs for all segments of the population.

--Directing funds for services for people in poverty.

--Designing public safety strategies.

--Development of rural areas.

--Analyzing local trends.

--Estimating the number of people displaced by natural disasters.

--Developing assistance programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

--Creating maps to speed emergency services to households in need of assistance.

--Delivering goods and services to local markets.

--Designing facilities for people with disabilities, the elderly, or children.

--Planning future government services.

--Planning investments and evaluating financial risk.

--Publishing economic and statistical reports about the United States and its people.

--Facilitating scientific research.

--Developing “intelligent” maps for government and business.

--Providing proof of age, relationship, or residence certificates provided by the Census Bureau.

--Distributing medical research.

--Reapportioning seats in the House of Representatives.

--Planning and researching for media as backup for news stories.

--Providing evidence in litigation involving land use, voting rights, and equal opportunity.

--Drawing school district boundaries.

--Planning budgets for government at all levels.

--Spotting trends in the economic well-being of the nation.

--Planning for public transportation services.

--Planning health and educational services for people with disabilities.

--Establishing fair market rents and enforcing fair lending practices.

--Directing services to children and adults with limited English language proficiency.

--Planning urban land use.

--Planning outreach strategies.

--Understanding labor supply.

--Assessing the potential for spread of communicable diseases.

--Analyzing military potential.

--Making business decisions.

--Understanding consumer needs.

--Planning for congregations.

--Locating factory sites and distribution centers.

--Distributing catalogs and developing direct mail pieces.

--Setting a standard for creating both public and private sector surveys.

--Evaluating programs in different geographic areas.

--Providing genealogical research.

--Planning for school projects.

--Developing adult education programs.

--Researching historical subject areas.

--Determining areas eligible for housing assistance and rehabilitation loans.

Plan now to get involved by promoting the census in your sphere of influence.

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Grassroots Democracy

We live at a time when the dominant culture, including the media, elected officials, and corporate advertisers, herald individualism. The stories we hear in school focus on the heroes and heroines of history, rarely on the collective power of organized groups. Although it is true that good stories rely on strong characters, promoting individuals helps those in power to play down the stories of how mass movements, collective struggle, and community-based campaigns have moved resources, shifted power, and improved the lives of many people. (p. xiv).

When you set out to build the power of a community – particularly a politically marginalized community – you are explicit. You propose that the community can build power in addition to winning on issues, and you are strategic about establishing a team of community leaders who can drive the process of doing so on their own behalf. You include training and political education and get agreements on fundamental goals and principles for how the community will use collective action as a way of achieving solutions to its problems. … You take action. You do not wait for people to come to you. You find partners, go out, listen, learn, and build a network of public relationships. (p. 1).

From Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community by Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos (foreword by Peter Edelman). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Josey-Bass: A Wiley Imprint--2007).

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Non-profit vs. For-profit. . .interesting ideas

Click here to check out Randy Mayeux's blog synopsis of Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine their Potential by Dan Pallotta.

Reactions?

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