We call it "reciprocity"!

Running across a statement of one of the fundamental principles/values of our organization always pulls me up short.  Here is a great restatement of our belief in and insistence upon "reciprocity."  

BreakingBarriers

Breaking down the barriers between the givers and the receivers of aid, between those who have and those who have not, is an essential expression of the solidarity that liberates the privileged from their blindness and the marginalized from their invisibility.

Theodore W. Jennings

Good News to the Poor

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

"Poor folk" don't mind paying

A standard operating procedure and possibly a little known fact:  CitySquare asks "customers," those who come to us seeking relief and assistance, to make a financial investment in the services and processes that contribute to their own life-improvement. 

For example, our health services division requires a modest co-pay/application fee to receive medical and pharmacy services.  Our public interest law firm asks for an application fee and a modest client fee when cases are accepted.  In our resource center, social work services asks for a very small application fee as well, in this case just $5.  The same policy is now extending across the organization. 

Our neighbors have been making significant contributions to our overall work for years.  And, it is important to note just here, our low-income friends are almost universally eager to do their part to support our work because of its proven benefit in the community.

For us, it is a matter of principle. 

We believe that charity limits people. 

Community involvement and investment is the beginning of liberation and an important aspect in the realization of personal empowerment.  Expectations that lead us to shared resources can transform communities. 

Here's an interesting statistic:  for several years now low-income neighbors have contributed twice as much to our work as have churches from their operating budgets!  Don't look down on "the poor," as if they are doing nothing to change their circumstances!  Poor folks don't mind paying for value added to life. 

People who bad mouth the poor, claiming they live life with a sense of selfish entitlement, don't have an accurate understanding of just how much those at the bottom of our national economy actually do in an effort to improve their own lives. 

So, why do we charge these fees? 

We do it because we need help from those closest to us to continue our mission.

We ask for an investment because the "buy in" from the poor makes all of our efforts and services more effective.  It is a fact:  "skin in the game" produces much better outcomes.  Investors feel free to comment, critique and lend a helping hand to us to see our performance improve. 
We engage our neighbors by asking them to contribute something to support our work because we know that such investments transforms them from "charity cases" into customers with all the rights and duties inherent in such a reciprocal relationship.  I often tell our staff that if folks don't feel as if they can complain about our services and performance, then something is wrong. 

We are in the city for good.  And we are asking our neighbors to invest in their own future and that of the entire community.  Change costs us all.  We make no apologies for believing that the poorest among us have something to offer and invest, including their money.

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!