So, if I could make the rules, these would definitely be etched in stone!
1) Don't make assumptions about people because of how they look or what they are going through.
2) Always at least try to be kind.
3) Realize that "property rights" or "ownership" of a house or land or anything else doesn't entitle me to diminish in any way the human rights of others, especially those with virtually nothing.
4) Don't hate.
5) Especially, don't hate people because of what they don't have.
6) Live with basic humility.
7) Resist manipulation and manipulating.
8) Don't exclude others.
9) Support the weak with kindness and genuine friendship.
10) Work together.
11) Don't judge.
12) Partner with those who don't agree with you.
13) Never give up.
14) Never quit.
15) Remain open to learning and truth.
16) When dealing with the weak, replace pity with genuine respect.
17) Invite a "panhandler" out for coffee or a meal involving conversation.
18) Look for the real God in every human encounter--only way to reach Her/Him.
[Krystal Lotspeich, Director of Housing & Homeless Services at CitySquare, sent me the following report on recent housing progress for some of our wonderful neighbors.]
I'm
so excited! We moved another 4 neighbor's into housing this week. In the last 2
weeks we have placed 10 neighbor's into housing at Tierra Linda Apartments
through our HCC grant and with all the hard work from our Homeless Outreach
team! This is crazy awesome.
One
neighbor was in tears while signing her lease and thankful she will get to
sleep inside with her dog in her own apartment. She couldn't believe it was
actually happening. She said now she'll be able to sleep through the night and
not have to worry about being beat up or harassed. Days like that make
everything worth it!
Thank you Edd [Eason] for making all this happen and all your hard
work to secure the funding for this new HCC program. Without the HCC funding
these 10 neighbor's would still be sleeping outside on the streets.
Krystal Lotspeich
Director of Housing & Homeless Services
Neighbor Support Services CitySquare 1610 S. Malcolm X Blvd. Dallas, TX 75226
P: 469.904.7033 klotspeich@CitySquare.org www.CitySquare.org
The Dallas Commission
on Homelessness Community Engagement Committee will be
hosting public meetings, over the next few weeks, to educate, engage and gather
feedback from the community on how to address and overcome challenges related
to homelessness.
Join us for these two public meetings next week (click on each meeting title
for full details):
Monday,
June 20, 2016, 6-8pm - Sheltering the Homeless
This meeting will feature: Rev. Bob Sweeney,
Executive Director, Dallas Life Daniel Roby,
Executive Director, Austin Street Center Wayne Walker,
Executive Director, OurCalling Blake Fetterman,
Executive Director, Salvation Army Carr P. Collins Social Service Center
Dallas City Hall - L1FN Auditorium
1500 Marilla St., Dallas, TX 75201
You can print off this flyer to share with your network: June
20th Meeting Flyer
Tuesday,
June 21, 2016, 6-8pm - Homeless in East Dallas
This meeting will feature: Mark Clayton,
Councilmember, District 9 Larry James,
Chief Executive Officer, CitySquare Ikenna Mogbo,
Housing Outpatient Operations Manager, Metrocare Services Jesse Moreno,
Community Leader
Harry Stone Recreation Center
2403 Millmar Drive, Dallas, TX 75228
If anyone calls me Tell them I'm out.
Out of patience Out of line Out of my element Out of my mind
Out in the street Preparing the feast The bread and the wine For lost and for least
Out of my bubble In to the flow Out of myself Finding my whole
They'll know where to find me I'm out.
On Friday, a team of researchers led by Stanford economist Raj Chetty released a paper on how growing up in poverty affects boys and girls differently. Their core finding: Boys who grow up in poor families fare substantially worse in adulthood, in terms of employment and earnings, than girls who grow up in the same circumstances. (The Washington Post has a good write-up of the paper and its implications.)
But beyond its immediate conclusions, the paper, like much of Chetty’s recent work as part of his Equality of Opportunity Project, points to a deeper truth: In the U.S., where you come from — where you grow up, how much your parents earn, whether your parents were married — plays a major role in determining where you will end up later in life.
Take, for example, the chart below. . .read more here.
As many of you know, CitySquare, along the United Way
of Metropolitan Dallas, Jewish Community Relations Council and Catholic Charities,
has played a major role in curbing the abuses of payday and auto title lenders.
Because of our efforts, the Dallas City Council unanimously adopted the most
stringent ordinances in the country to regulate this industry. That ordinance
has now been adopted by more than 33 different cities throughout Texas,
including El Paso, Austin, Garland, Houston, San Antonio and Grand Prairie and
there are other municipalities considering the Dallas ordinance. While we and
our allies have not been quite as successful at the state level, we did get
legislation requiring disclosure and reporting of these businesses which allows
more opportunity to tell of the impact they are having on Texas families. Now we have the opportunity to substantially impact
the small dollar loan industry on a national level… The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal
agency which provides oversight over abuses in the financial industry, is
taking comments from citizens throughout the country regarding their dealings
with payday and auto title loans. These comments will be considered as the CFPB
recommends to Congress federal legislation that will save the people we care
about across the nation, from the debt trap caused by this type of predatory
lending. What can you do? If you, or anyone you know, have been victimized by
payday or auto title lenders, tell your story! Write it down on this
form and send it to United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
Attn: Stephanie Mace 1800 N. Lamar St Dallas, TX 75202, or attach as PDF
document and send it to DallasStopTheDebtTrap@gmail.com. Check out this Payday
Lending Alternative sheet, which is a resource
provided by the Anti-Poverty Coalition with counsel for those may be going
through hard financial times, along with a list of legitimate lenders who may
be able to help. Also, ask your neighbors, co-workers, or fellow
community members if they have ever been ensnared in debt because of taking out
a payday or auto title loan. If they haven’t, do they have a close relative or
friend who may be in debt because of one of these loans. Payday lenders are one of those businesses that help
keep poor neighborhoods poor. People who take out these loans are not stupid,
they aren’t lazy, they aren’t trying to get something for nothing. People who
take out these loans are in desperate situations and get in trouble attempting
to pay them back. For so long, we were told that there was nothing that
could be done. Now we have a chance to fight for those in poverty, our friends,
and our families! In this fight together! Rev. Gerald Britt Jr. Vice-President of External Affairs CitySquare
It is always a terrible thing to come back
to Mott Street [where she lived]. To come back in a driving rain to men
crouched on the stairs, huddled in doorways, without overcoats because they
sold their overcoats—perhaps the week before when it was warm, to satisfy their
hunger or thirst, who knows. Those without love would say, ‘It serves them
right, drinking up their clothes, selling their clothes to buy booze, it serves
them right.’ But God help us if we got what we deserve!
To offer hospitality to a stranger is to
welcome something new, unfamiliar and unknown into our life-world…. Strangers
have stories to tell which we have never heard before, stories which can
redirect our seeing and stimulate our imaginations. The stories invite us to
view the world from a novel perspective.
One of the biggest fallacies of philanthropy is the expectation that money will solve everything and that more money equals greater results. Trillions of dollars are spent globally on social and environmental issues, and very few problems have been solved. Why is that?
We’ve been focused on the wrong things. Our assumptions, traditions, and self-interest have made us lose sight of what it means to do philanthropy in the true sense of the word. Philanthropy should be about serving humanity and giving people what they need — not what we think they need or what feels good to give, like putting our names on buildings or giving to institutions that are already rich.
To truly change the world, we need to make significant adjustments — to our mind-sets, our motivations, our attitudes, our ways of thinking, and even our business models. Like several other billionaires, I have pledged to give most of my wealth away. As I do it, I am trying to follow these principles:
Value and success should be based on results, not dollars.
Philanthropy today is judged almost entirely. . .Read more here.
[Michael Guinn works at CitySquare as a life coach to youth who age out of the Texas foster care system. He is extremely effective at what he does. What follows reveals just what's behind his fierce dedication to his work and to the young people he touches.] I Fight! Do you know what it’s like to want and can’t have?
To be so hungry that you eat dirt so you don’t feel so…empty!Do you know what it’s like to not have running water, to do homework by
candlelight. To steal and lie and hustle to help out your family?
I do.
And some nights skinny then reminds bigger now of
the times when he brought home food found at the landfill, fished for
compliments and crawdads, sold squirrel and black birds to pay for school
clothes.
And yesterday I wondered! What good is my master’s degree
if I can’t even master me?
See I fight …for the father who desperately wants to
provide. But in shame he cries in the shadows of his own pride.
I fight… for the mother who stands in welfare lines,
wanting more, defined by less knowing that this is not her best.
I fight.. . for the son whose hunger pangs are so loud
that he can’t focus on his lesson so he sits embarrassed by his stomach’s angry
confession.
I fight…for the daughter wearing hand me down
smiles and borrowed blues forced to wear too tight shoes.
I fight ...for grandparents on fixed incomes feeding
mama’s children when baby’s daddy runs.
I fight, I live and I learn to shape dreams from the
fist of poverty’s grip as I fuse the light in their eyes with mine and pray to
God to help them find hope inside.
And this ain’t easy! It is hard to
lift self-esteem when dreams have been assaulted and peppered with despair so much so that they’ve forgotten
to breathe freedom’s air.
And it’s not their
fault that they were born verbs in past tense, unwilling subjects in sentences
that kept on running. Fractured by the manner in which the wind whistled and
blew down their future, I fight because I don’t want their existence to be
another statistic on the back page of history.I don’t want their lives to end up camouflaged chalk lines, lost in the
shaded silhouette of a lonely bulls-eye searching for another target!
I didn’t choose this fight, this fight chose me. And I want my example to foster a deep desire for survival no
matter how loudly suicide speaks of rivers. Because I believe that
if they see my love and feel my soul reaching out to them that this simple act
of kindness will change their lives forever.
And now that I’ve made peace with this section 8
hate, now that I’ve overcome the demons of then... I know that every time I find
a new resource, service, home I am reconnecting the dots of frowns and turning
them into smiles. People ask why do I fight poverty with so much energy and
passion? And I tell them it’s because I know that I am still fighting for that little
boy inside of me!
When someone ages out of the foster care system, they often have very few things and have to start anew. My Own Bed helps by providing beds for our TRAC youth who have moved into their own apartments. Today, two of our TRAC youth received beds and bedding!
You can help provide beds too. Simply make a donation at CitySquare.org, select "other" and type in "My Own Bed"!
NBC 5 and CitySquare would like to invite you to get your tickets today to enjoy A Night to Remember featuring the legendary comedian, Jerry Seinfeld. Tickets are on sale now, and this Winspear Opera House performance will take place on Saturday evening, September 10.
Help CitySquare celebrate over 25 years of fighting poverty by partnering with those in need. Since 2002, A Night to Remember, CitySquare’s annual fundraising event, has generated over $3 million to assist programs and services such as:
· A Food Pantry that distributes nearly two million pounds of food to over 20,000 individuals each year. · A Health Clinic that provides primary, preventive and pediatric health care to the low-income and uninsured who would otherwise seek medical attention in emergency rooms or go without care. · The Permanent Supportive Housing that provides housing for over 250 formerly homeless and near-homeless neighbors. · Pre-Employment Training that equips the unemployed with “ready to work” skills. · Life Skills, Mentoring and Case Management that supports over 800 youth who grow out of the foster care system each year. Support the mission and get your tickets today at www.Seinfeld4CitySquare.org!!! A Night to Remember 2016 Featuring Jerry Seinfeld for CitySquare Saturday evening, September 10 AT&T Performing Arts Center Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House 2403 Flora Street Dallas, TX 75201 Tickets on Sale Now www.seinfeld4citysquare.org 214-303-2138
The "native Texas" plant (read here "weed") in full bloom appeared on our makeshift communion table/altar at Church at the Square last Sunday. It had been carefully prepared for the occasion of Mother's Day by one of the fairly regular members of the church.
Planted in a disposable coffee cup, wrapped carefully in tin foil, with pieces of bark and black earth, the gentleman placed it carefully among the symbols of our faith arrayed on the table of the Lord.
"I brought this for Mother's Day," he declared with a smile on his face and a compelling twinkle in his eye. "I wanted us to remember our moms on this special day."
After the morning service concluded, the church enjoyed breakfast brunch prepared by culinary arts students from CitySquare.
When the morning concluded, the man retrieved his plant and went on his way--back out on to the streets of Dallas, his only option. No doubt, he intended to enjoy the beauty of his and God's creation for a while longer.
A sweet gift offered in appreciation for mothers, including his and mine. A respect for what's good in life and the world.
I'm thankful for my brother who brought new meaning to the day and to our communion together.
God of many names and of all people,
We pause to reflect in gratitude for the gift of,
As our very poor neighbor have taught us,
"Another day we weren't promised."
We are grateful for this meeting,
For the anticipated experience of the event.
We give thanks for the fellowship of our tables and the goodness of friendship.
We give thanks for he gift, the science, the art of healing
And for those who have given themselves to the grand Mystery of it all.
As we express gratitude for the day and its wonder,
We remember those in our community who struggle this morning;
Those who call tents "home," and even now are on the move in our city.
May we be sensitive to the concerns and the harsh realities facing
The poor, the sick, the wounded, the addicted and the broken.
In a world of complexity, strife and fear on the one hand,
And a life of joy, discovery and promise on the other,
May we take the path between,
A path that lead to just solutions, resilient hope and new promise.
The empires of the world, as Napoleon said
in a moment of candor, depend on force. They have come and gone; and the ones
that now exist will follow in their turn. They make fear and death their
weapons, and they themselves die when the fear they have generated turns into
violent rebellion. Jesus, at his ascension, was given by the creator God an
empire built on love. As we ourselves open our lives to the warmth of that
love, we begin to lose our fear; and as we begin to lose our fear, we begin to
become people through whom the power of that love can flow out into the world
around that so badly needs it…. And as the power of that love replaces the love
of power, so in a measure, anticipating the last great day, God’s kingdom
comes, and God’s will is done, on earth as it is in heaven.
This is a special day across the United States and Mexico.
Numerous neighborhoods across Dallas are celebrating the famous Battle of Puebla, Mexico on May 5, 1862, the day on which Mexican General Ignacio ZaragozaSeguÃn, outnumbered 2 to 1, routed the French army.
So, why Cincode Mayo?
Under Emperor Napoleon III, the French invaded Mexico with designs of staying in order to challenge the United States, at the time involved in its own Civil War.
Napoleon's Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City about 100 miles to the west. The French believed that if the Mexican Capitol fell, the nation would be theirs.
Under the innovative and daring leadership of Zaragoza, the Mexican army more than prevailed. The outcome of the battle on United States history is often overlooked. The victory prevented the French from supplying the Confederate rebels in the U. S. for another year.
As the American Civil War wound down, following the Union victory at Gettysburg, U. S. General Phillip Sheridan traveled to the Mexican border to bring materials needed to expel the French completely. At this time American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.
Almost 100 years later, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.
Cincode Mayo is a community party! It is a day to celebrate liberty and freedom. It is a celebration bringing together the United States and Mexico. It is a day for remembering our common heritage and our connection as people. It is a day and an event that I remember almost every morning as I drive by Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary School in my neighborhood!
It seems to me that it's a party we all need to join, now as never before.
God of many names and of all people,
Cinco de Mayo is a community party! It is a day to celebrate liberty and freedom. It is a celebration bringing together the United States and Mexico. It is a day for remembering our common heritage and our connection as people. It is a day and an event that I remember almost every morning as I drive by Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary School in my neighborhood!