Cities
Keep Poverty on the Agenda
Published August 30, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
With the death of Sen. Kennedy and the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina both happening this week, the topic of poverty was fresh in the public's mind. In eulogizing Kennedy, most of us could take pride in remembering his service to "working people" everywhere, his commitment to poverty reduction over the life of his career. With Katrina, it is also about a job unfinished, but with a much less nostalgic, sweet glow - the enduring problems of blight, housing insecurity, racial inequality and poverty are glaring, graphic, and depressing.
Whether you're motivated to action by the inspiring good works of folks like Senator Kennedy, or fueled by a sense of outrage over injustice, this past week offered plenty of reminders that poverty is a persistent, entrenched, political problem for which solutions exist. Investments in early childhood education pay lifetime dividends. Economic boycotts and union movements highlight workers' rights and benefits. Providing childcare, fair pay, and extensive family leave policies give mothers better opportunities to compete economically and earn enough to care for their families. And universal health care bankrupts neither households nor the entire medical system.
Change.org is just one platform where you can commit (and re-commit) to fighting poverty in the U.S. To start, let's begin by keeping poverty on the public agenda - as a problem we can and must solve. Let's not let it slip away as our weekend tributes wrap up. As Uncle Teddy and 15k volunteers in New Orleans remind us, the cause endures and the work goes on.
("Not Everyone in SF is Rich..." by Son of Groucho)
Half a Million Volunteer Hours Rebuild New Orleans
Published August 29, 2009 @ 08:43AM PT
In 2007, pollster John Zogby ventured that Hurricane Katrina would be the defining moment of our generation, signalling American hunger for a renewed, proactive government that led by example and empowered civic engagement. One positive outcome of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on the Gulf Coast is the number of volunteers who have participated in the recovery. Now I see from HandsOn New Orleans that more than 15,000 volunteers have contributed over 500,000 volunteer hours to the revitalization of New Orleans alone.
HandsOn New Orleans is leading a volunteer service day today on this fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is only one of countless recovery efforts still underway across the Gulf Coast. Preacher Jim Walllis in witnessing church groups visit the Gulf Coast repeatedly to participate in the rebuilding, has called the region is a '“converting ground' for a generation of 'new abolitionists' committed to eradicating global poverty, which they believe is the 'new slavery.'" I remember passing such groups praying near the river in my own work in NOLA.
As someone who believes passionately in government leadership to provide and care for all its residents, I am sometimes frustrated by the reality that so many of these volunteers have filled a critical void by our elected leaders. Yet I frequently comfort myself when thinking of Katrina by imaginging the number of Americans who will have personally contributed to recovery efforts; routinely when I describe my work or research, a listener will describe for me how they spent a week rebuilding homes, cleaning out a neighborhood or painting a school. And the beauty of our country is revealed when we mobilize government resources alongside civic participation.
On this fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, let's not forget that the work remains and the need endures - from Texas to Alabama. And let's say thanks to the thousands of residents, volunteers and non-profits who have given so much to restore an original American region.
(Volunteers repainting a house in New Orleans, 2008; by Editor B)
Medicaid versus the Kindness of Strangers
Published August 28, 2009 @ 08:48AM PT
In the wake of Ted Kennedy's death, healthcare reform is getting another look. That look may or may not mean a renewed sense of progress come September, when Congress resumes what is sure to be a contentious debate. But it's clear that the kind of government role Kennedy believed in, on healthcare and other issues, will not be forgotten soon.
Acting on that vision, and getting meaningful reform for the consitencies Kennedy advocated for most, will not be easy, and in some ways got much harder with Kennedy's deterioration and death.
Katrina Reflections 4 Years Out
Published August 26, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
At field hearings of the Congressional Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity in New Orleans last week, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO) contrasted the polite behavior of the audience with the recent inflammatory behavior of participants in town hall sessions across the country regarding health care reform. Congressman Cleaver stated that this difference was curious to him, because as he saw it, Gulf Coast residents have so much to legitimately be angry about. But local advocates and residents can easily explain away the difference—we are exhausted.
Saturday will mark the four-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on the Gulf Coast back in 2005. It is a little daunting to try to write a post that incorporates the meaning imbued in this anniversary, and I’ve been pondering about what to write for several weeks now. In doing so, I have been confronted with how differently I felt about the date in years past than I do this year.
Evacuteers Put Poor on High Ground
Published August 25, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
A terrific volunteer organization has emerged in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I'd love to hear about similar efforts in disaster-prone areas around the U.S.
Evacuteer.org is a new non-profit in the Crescent City that mobilizes volunteers in preparation for a natural disaster to help the vulnerable evacuate. They serve as translators for non-English speakers; they help the disabled, elderly or households without cars reach evacuation points where they can be transported to safety. They will help with pets, carry bags, and provide food and water for evacuees.
An estimated 100,000 New Orleanians were stranded during the voluntary evacuation of New Orleans pre-Katrina because they lacked access to a vehicle. Evacuteer.org ties into a mobilized effort on the part of the city, state and region to be better prepared for future disasters. It enshrines the strength of collective action, in its vision that "like-minded organizations with volunteer manpower as well as unaffiliated citizen volunteers can coordinate their efforts at a level of effectiveness higher than any could do acting independently."
Sounds familiar to those of us at Change.org, no? Evacuteer.org is looking for new evacuteers. Follow them on Twitter - @evacuteer - and consider becoming an emergency coordinator in your own community! You might even get a cool hardhat and construction vest in the process!
(Photo of evacuees leaving NOLA prior to Hurricane Gustav in August 2008 by Simminch)
25% NOLA Public Housing Residents Lost
Published August 25, 2009 @ 08:53AM PT
Saturday August 29 marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destruction of the US Gulf Coast. The pre-storm problem of deep poverty and racial inequality has worsened, and gone largely unreported. Those of us at Change.org have an opportunity to reverse that trend. It begins by educating ourselves on the enduring struggles down there to provide a safe, affordable place to live for all those who lost their homes due to a lethal combination of a natural disaster and wrongheaded public policy. To start: HUD cannot locate over 25% of public housing residents who were living in the now-demolished "Big Four" projects prior to the storm.
More, including what you can do, after the jump.
1 in 5 Americans are Poor
Published August 22, 2009 @ 11:34AM PT
As summer melts away and non-profit organizations gear up for a difficult fall, anti-poverty activists need an accurate picture of just how tough it is out there. Following up on Greg's great post from Thursday that captured the growth of hunger nationwide, we offer now a quick summary of the latest recessionary figures:
- 37.3M people were living below the official poverty line in 2007; 2008 should see another 1.5M added, for a statistically significant growth to 12.7% of the population. Experts anticipate an even worse result by the end of '09, and estimate we could hover around 15% of the population officially considered living in poverty. Even acknowledging how outdated this poverty measure is, we have not counted 1 in 7 people living in poverty since the recession of the early 1990s. And if historical census figures that include the "near poor" are anything to go by, we can expect 1 in 5 people, or 20% of Americans, to be living in or near poverty by the end of this year.
