Declaring war on poverty

Fifty years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a "war on poverty" as a key component of his Great Society strategy.

Johnson was a poor Texas boy who understood poverty.  He emerged as the most powerful arm-twister in the Congress!

His results on poverty were actually impressive, if you look at the numbers (efforts drove national poverty rate down 19% in the very short-lived effort thanks to the waste and escalation of the Vietnam conflict).

Naturally, lots of people are remembering, analyzing and commenting on Johnson's approach to poverty, both pro and con, at the anniversary (for a good example that gets at the complexities of poverty read here).

The discussion is also  in large measure due to the fact that the U. S. continues to struggle with the challenge of poverty in a land of amazing wealth.

So, what steps could be taken to wage a war on poverty, 21st century style?

Here's a beginning list of notions and strategies:

1)  Make universal national service  a requirement for every U. S. young person before the age of 24.  Deploy these young people in community service focusing on health improvement, education, public works, gerontology, nutrition and community development, among other possible disciplines.  Pay a sliding scale stipend with housing plan and educational credit upon completion of 2-year tour.

2)  Raise the minimum wage to livable range for everyone who works:  $13-15 an hour.  Such a move would virtually guarantee that all who worked would escape poverty.

3)  Regulate hourly work week practices of American corporations so that part-time job options were no longer forced on American workers simply to ensure that benefit packages were reduced or eliminated. Reward companies that evidenced a commitment to fair work plans for their employees and penalize those who did not..

4)  Re-energize urban and rural school districts by offering state-of-the-art trade school training to students seeking such trades labor options.

5)  Fully fund and adequately promote the Earned Income Tax Credit program.

6)  Fully fund and adequately promote the child credit deduction.

7)  Provide pre-K and kindergarten for all American children.

8)  Reform/restore funding for Pell grants and other programs that make it possible for all U. S. students who desire it to attend colleges.  Incentivize universities that accommodate low-income students and that provide creative options for low-income students.

9)  Create national strategies to "bring jobs back to the U. S."  Reward U. S. companies who actually return jobs to the U. S. using tax credits and other rewards.

10)  Create federal "investment zones" in pulverized urban and rural areas of the U. S., like Detroit.  Reward companies who relocate to and invest in such communities.

11)  Make the reduction of poverty a genuine national priority.  

12)  Require every faith community in the U. S. to "adopt" and provide whatever is needed  for at least one (1) homeless person continually in order to maintain a tax exempt status.  

Consumer press. . .

A friend sent me the following from the Daily Kos from last Monday, July 14, 2008. Seems to point up the fact that our national press just can't stay on the story that is the story in the moment of the events that they cover. I wonder how much press is shaped by consumer evaluations, rather than by a commitment to report what is actually happening in our culture? Cory, who posts to The Daily Kos here, asks a very good question: When it comes to subjects like poverty, is anyone listening?

One additional note: please don't read this as a partisan, political statement from me or this blog site. Poverty should not be regarded as a partisan political issue. Rather, to me and many readers here, poverty is a "value issue." And, there was a day in this nation when both sides of the partisan political divide seemed to care about its resolution. Anyone remember Senator Mark Hatfield, as just one example? A hero of mine.

Can We Talk About Poverty?
by coryDMI
Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 11:24:42 AM PDT

Last Wednesday, I saw John Edwards speak at the Yorkville Common Pantry, a food pantry and soup kitchen in Harlem. After walking into the building, I found myself in the back of a small press conference, just a few feet from Edwards.

The beginning of the press conference started out as expected -- he talked about Half in Ten, his anti-poverty campaign to reduce poverty in America by half within the next ten years, and praised the food pantry for their work in New York City. But after his five minute speech, when it was time for questions from the press, the subject quickly turned away from poverty.

Although Edwards tried his best to talk about poverty, the press just didn't seem to care. Instead, their questions focused almost exclusively on the presidential campaign. If Obama offers you a position as attorney general, will you take it? Is it mere coincidence that you're in New York City within 48 hours of Obama and Clinton's joint appearance here? Do you think that Obama is moving towards the center, and do you support that?

In other words, the press was there to see John Edwards. Poverty? You wouldn't have even guessed that's what the event was about.

But despite the mainstream media's indifference, poverty matters.

According to the Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty, one in eight Americans currently lives in poverty. That's using the federal definition of the poverty line -- less than $19,971 per year for a family of four. About 31% of Americans live below 200% of the poverty line.

Inequality is at record levels, and the U.S. has higher poverty levels than other developed countries.

CAP's report, "From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half," offers a variety of suggestions to decrease poverty. The suggestions run from increasing the minimum wage to passing the Employee Free Choice Act. They suggest increasing federal support for childcare assistance, increasing Pell Grants, and promoting equitable development of cities. The cost of the plan -- they estimate $90 billion -- would be paid for by rolling back Bush's tax cuts on people who make over $200,000 a year.

If the reporters at the Yorkville Common Pantry event had been listening, they might have heard Edwards say that when people are lifted out of poverty and into the middle class America becomes stronger. They might have heard him talk about plans for making food stamp information available over the Internet, making work and education an important part of getting rid of poverty, and importance of integrating affordable housing into the infrastructure of cities and urban areas.

But they weren't really listening.

Biking home from the event, I got stuck at a long traffic light. I glanced at the enormous Hybird Chevy Tahoe just a foot to the right of my bike and peered through the dark tinted windows. Edwards sat inside, looking thoughtful and ponderous. I almost felt bad for the guy. Can you really effect change if you can't get the mainstream media to care? Edwards had called poverty "the cause of my life," but can he really start that conversation if nobody's listening?

[To read the post with live links, simply click on the title line above.]

Sad growth

Common knowledge informs us that approximately one million Americans each year over the past five out of six years have fallen below the poverty line in terms of their household earnings.

That is a staggering number.

We encounter the personal plunge on a daily basis. It is undeniable.

For the latest evidence, consider the numbers we've collected here at Central Dallas Ministries during the first two months of 2008 in our Resource Center on Haskell Avenue. We distribute food products and provide our own version of "neighborhood case management" from this high-traffic community center.

During January-February 2007, we provided services, friendship and hope to 6,202 individuals representing 3,783 families. We did so thanks to the volunteers who provided us 2,564 hours of service time.

Compare the same January-February period this year and you discover that we engaged 8,315 individuals from 4,832 family units--an increase of thirty-four (34) and twenty-eight (28) percent respectively. Our volunteers logged 3,052 hours in providing for these dramatically increasing needs.

I'm glad we are here.

I appreciate our volunteers--the vast majority being great folks with few material resources who receive our services themselves.

But, I see this as very, very sad growth.

We should be doing better as a people and as a nation. Sadly, in my view, no one in the current presidential campaign addresses this pressing national problem.

.

A chance to work and make a life. . .

Last Friday, I attended the graduation of our current WorkPaths class.

Teachers, family members and friends gathered to honor and to celebrate the accomplishments of twenty-two dedicated students who completed the arduous 12-week course that provided training in a full range of basic construction skills with an emphasis on hazardous waste and Brownfield remediation.

The training was challenging, rewarding and promising. Thanks to Andrea Bills, our program director, to Gerald Britt who provides leadership and vision for all of our Community Development Programs and to numerous staff members from several departments who are continually supportive of this part of our work.

As each of the students walked forward to receive their hard-won certificates, we could not contain our applause. What a celebration!

This week the students will return to the training center to meet with a number of contracting companies to interview for jobs that will pay them a livable wage and set them on a path for personal growth and the realization of better lives for themselves and their families.

The eagerness and excitement over their new found opportunity could not be contained. As I watched and listened, I realized I was observing a process that needs to be repeated thousands of times across the nation. Skill set development provides a pathway out of poverty. As communities, we must find ways to fund and deliver this sort of training to every man and woman who wants to do better with work and earning.

CDM provides this training (this was our second class to complete the course) thanks to funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science. Our other partners were OAI, North Lake College/Dallas County Community College District, Construction Education Foundation of North Texas, and JPMorganChase.

The class members formed an amazing group.

Most were very young men.

One was a middle aged woman that everyone referred to as "Momma" by the end of class.

Many had been incarcerated in Texas prisons in a past life--ex-offenders.

One was homeless, recruited to the class while attending one of our Urban Engagement Book Club meetings!


All had learned the benefit and the necessity of helping each other as a team or community in the learning process.

The graduation celebration spoke volumes about hope, achievement and visions for better tomorrows!

I was more than honored to be in the room.

Churches, Poverty and the Inner City

Church leaders often remark to me, "What can we do to really be involved in the work you are doing? We don't want to just write a check."

I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind the question, at least I think I do.

Of course, there are some clear facts to consider in this discussion.

First, churches don't write many checks to support our work here in Dallas. We project, based on past experience, that contributions by churches to Central Dallas Ministries during 2007 will total a good bit less than 5% of our operations budget. So, you will understand that from our perspective, in view of the needs and opportunities we face every day, it is not a bad thing for a church to simply write us a check, or better yet, a check a month!

Second, getting churches involved in inner city neighborhoods can be a little tricky. For one thing, lots of church folks want to lavish lots of stuff on poor people. This can be useful at times, if we are talking about the right stuff, delivered in the proper manner. But for the most part, free stuff is not what is needed or even best for our communities.

For example, putting low-income persons in a position to control the process of, say, hunger relief or clothing distribution, may be much better than having church folks from outside the community deliver the goods directly to the poor.

If your goal is community and human development, you look for ways to avoid the creation of dependence or a neo-colonial approach to relief and compassion efforts. If the community senses that it is being assisted by its own members, things seem to work better and lead somewhere beyond the venue and limitations of charity. Churches that are mature enough to entrust resources to inner city leaders and community organizers without the demand to be involved in the delivery process usually are doing much more than they realize to promote health in distressed communities.

Third, churches from outside the inner city can make a big difference if they are willing to simply work on developing authentic friendships. Churches may want to "adopt" a neighborhood, not to shower it with material gifts, but to come to know it, the environment, the challenges and its residents. As relationships form around various projects and meetings, friendship will lead naturally to joint action.

Such an approach takes time and commitment that includes and goes beyond check writing.

One of our best supporting churches is in the process of adopting the community formed by one of our apartment complexes. Church members have spent weekends painting and repairing apartments. They have had picnics and they have erected a much-needed fence around the front yard to protect the children who play outside from their rather busy street. I know his group plans to stay with it and get to know the people who live there.

Such an approach is key to really being involved in a way that goes beyond checks to friendships and community connections. The benefits are mutual and reciprocal. Both groups benefit from one another. This is key.

If an action does not result in reciprocal benefit for both groups and everyone involved, it likely should be reconsidered or redesigned. Including neighborhood folks in any planning for such activities will be a step in the right direction from the get-go.

Not every church is ready for such a commitment. That's okay.

Checks placed in the hands of community and ministry leaders are crucial to our continued progress. If more follows on from the financial commitment, well and good.

Please though, don't underestimate the importance and power of simply writing a check!