Larry James' Urban Daily

Jose in Mexico

2012-03-06T06:44:00.000-06:00

If you've been reading here for very long, you've "met" Jose. If you've been around for several years, you'll remember how Jose and his cousin, Monica, while high school students, were picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to be deported to Mexico. Jose and Monica have been through a lot. Their status and situation call for passage of the DREAM Act. Brought to the United States by their parents as minors, they, and countless other young persons, face deportation every day.

Several weeks ago, my friend Jose journeyed back to Mexico by order of the immigration court here in Dallas.

Jose knew no one really when he left home here in the U. S. He managed to arrange for housing in the home of a relative he doesn't really know. The small town where he "lives" offers no employment options, no higher education, no real community life that he feels apart of.

What is very present every day in this find young man's life is danger.

Here's an email message that I received just last week from Jose:

Good morning Mr James, I was only contacting you to let you know that yesterday March 1st I got beat up when I was on my way to one of my uncles house I had only been driving less than 5 minutes away from home and I got stopped by a truck and four guys started hitting me and warn me not to mess with them and that I didn't know who they where. The good thing is that I'm fine and at home thank God. Ill keep you updated of my situation. Jose

Jose sent me these two photos documenting the assault that he described in his message to me.

I'm not understanding the policy of our nation when it comes to fine young people like my good friend, Jose.

Pray for Jose.

Research the DREAM Act.

Contact your congressional leaders and the President.

Speak up for passage of the DREAM Act, as well as comprehensive immigration reform. I don't think the average American understands what is going on around these important issues.

[To read more on this site about Jose and his struggle over the past several years use the search tool on the page or for starters read the entries for these dates: 3/11/07, 3/13/07, 4/13/07,7/16/07, 7/19/07, 10/25/07, 1/4/08, 3/3/08, 4/21/09, 8/19/11, 8/21/11, 8/23/11, 10,17,11.]

Child poverty growing. . .Texas a leading state

2012-03-05T06:00:00.003-06:00

Child Poverty Jumps In Poor Areas By A Quarter Over Last Decade
by Saki Knafo

In the last decade, the number of children living in areas of concentrated poverty grew by 1.6 million, according to a new study released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

In 2000, 6.3 million children lived in high poverty areas in the United States, according to the report. By 2010, the number had climbed to 8 million, at a growth rate of about 25 percent.

The increase erases gains made in the 1990s, when the number of children living in high-poverty areas declined.

The study defined areas of concentrated poverty as census tracts where 30 percent of residents or more live below the government's poverty threshold, defined as an income of $22,000 or less for a family of four.

"We chose to look at this data because we know that regardless of the family's income, children who grow up in high-poverty communities are more likely to have their long-term outcomes be hampered by the community that they live in," said Laura Speer, the foundation's associate director for policy reform and data. "They have difficulty finding a good school, they're more like to struggle with getting access to good healthcare providers, they're more likely to be exposed to high levels of stress, and they're more likely to have social and behavioral problems because of that."

The study shows that certain children are more likely to live in areas of high poverty than others. They include children in cities or rural areas, as opposed to the suburbs, and children of color. African-American, American Indian and Latino children are six to nine times more likely than white children to live in high poverty areas.

The city with the highest rates of children living in areas of concentrated poverty is Detroit at 67 percent, followed by Cleveland and Miami. Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona rank highest among states in this category.

The study also notes that three-quarters of children living in these neighborhoods have at least one employed parent.

As the federal government prepares a new budget for 2013, the report arguably has important implications for those deciding where to direct resources. Patricia Cole, the director of government relations for Zero To Three, an organization that advocates for policies that benefit young children and their families, said that neighborhood poverty is "of great concern" and could affect the country's future workforce.

"The developing brain is vulnerable to the damaging influences that you'd find in a poverty situation," she said. "The more deprived the neighborhood is, the less access to services, to parent health care, and to early childhood programs. Plus it's more likely to be a dangerous neighborhood, so there's more likely to be greater stress. Anything that increases the stress of young children and decrease their access to resources is going to be detrimental."

We need stuff!

2012-03-04T06:00:00.002-06:00

Sing it, Mr. President!

2012-03-03T06:02:00.002-06:00

The power of action and nerve. . .

2012-03-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

Often, simply seeing, noticing and then organizing for action changes the world, or at least your own part of it!

The high cost of "success"

2012-03-01T06:00:00.012-06:00

I've been aware of the reality for quite awhile now.

And, that fact doesn't make it easier or more comfortable to write about it!

You see, the truth is in my world, the non-profit sector in a city like Dallas, the more success you enjoy the higher the stakes for survival! Yes, that's right, survival.

Most entrepreneurial leaders and endeavors understand the risk and the necessity of what I call "strategic over-extension." You take risks to achieve significant gains. You decide not to "play it safe." In my case, the needs of hurting people fuel the risk taking, at least in part. I'll grant that some portion of the approach is defined and shaped by who we are as individuals. Personality types, strengths and weaknesses, psychological makeup, experience in life, all play a part in one's leadership style and pace.

Over-extension leads to more funding. More funding leads to more people engaged both in terms of meeting needs, strengthening communities and organizing low-income folks for action and growth in confidence and self and collective efficacy. More impact in these areas leads to more attention from other non-profit organizations and leaders and more place in local media.

Success leads to options for partnerships. All these factors combine to push growth. As the growth track continues, you find yourself pushed up and out even more. In due course, the process repeats itself in something of a dynamic swirl, but with even higher risks and stakes. The cycle upward can repeat itself again and again, depending on how much risk a leader is willing to take, as well as how much stamina he or she draws upon.

Outsiders who observe the growth part of the process begin to make assumptions about organizations that grow, innovate and expand. At the top of this list of assumptions is the notion that the growing, "successful" organization has everything under control, needs very little to continue and can be regarded as established and without need.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth!

The more an organization grows, increasingly taking on higher stakes risks, the more that organization needs entrepreneurial investors, supporters and partners. Rather than seeing "successful" organizations as the most logical place for continuing investments, many folks turn to smaller organizations or to "start up" efforts, I suppose in the hope that such groups offer new solutions or easier access for personal engagement. Closer investigation of the older, larger organization will dispel such myths.

Other observers lead their own non-profits. The smaller nonprofit organizations approach often to investigate the prospects of receiving assistance from larger organizations in one form or the other. At CitySquare we like to remain open to such collective efforts, but the assumption that we are "flush" with readily available resources is far from the truth!

We encounter these realities again and again. As a result, we continue to adjust our approach to resource development. We keep trying to find new venues for telling our story. At the same time, we reach out to trusted, long term partners to keep them posted on our successes, but even more on our struggles.

An example of our dilemma can be seen in our current efforts to develop a new community, one-stop-shop resource center in historic South Dallas-Fair Park. Located at the southeast corner of I-30 and Malcolm X, we call it the Opportunity Center. We are in the midst of a $13 million capital campaign. At the same time, we are attempting to fund an annual budget of even more than that!

Forget our success to date. We find ourselves in an updraft of real risk: we need help!

Sure, we've enjoyed some success and we've touch and lifted thousands of people since our beginnings in 1988. But, still, we don't have everything figured out! Not by a long shot.

We continue to need loyal, long term investors. We need partners. We need new sources of funding. We need help building viable, conservative cash reserves--an unheard of luxury in many anti-poverty organizations.

So, don't be fooled by our appearance or our supposed milestones.

The game is not over.

The deal is not done.

And, most of all, we need the help of people just like you.

Lyle

2012-02-29T06:00:00.002-06:00

Whenever I hear Lyle Lovett, I always feel as if I'm hearing "country blues." Certainly true of this selection.

Stay tuned. You may be hearing more from him here at CitySquare in the future!

From the air. . .

2012-02-28T06:00:00.006-06:00

So, here's a "bird's eye view" of the goings on at CitySquare's new Opportunity Center at the corner of I-30 and Malcolm X Boulevard!

The blue trucks are drilling rigs brought in to drill 109 wells that extend 250 feet into the earth as a part of our very "green" geothermal H/VAC system.

Progress is fun to watch.

Want a piece of the action?

Lots of great naming opportunities at all fund levels.

Just give me a call or shoot me a note here!

100,000 Homes Campaign update

2012-02-27T06:00:00.003-06:00

Last year CitySquare signed on to be the sponsoring organization in Dallas for the 100,000 Homes Campaign to end homelessness in our community and, in partnership with hundreds of other organizations, to end homelessness in the United States.

Recently, I received the update presented in the video below. I believe you'll find it interesting.

In Dallas, we will conduct a registry process the week of March 25-30. After a day of training, we will be on the streets from 4:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. interviewing and registering the most vulnerable of our homeless neighbors with a goal of seeing as many housed as quickly as possible.

If you live in Dallas, we need your help! You may volunteer by sending an email to me at ljames@CitySquare.org.

Now, check out the video that describes the national plan.

"Knowing" God

2012-02-26T12:19:00.000-06:00

The Old Testament is clear regarding the close relationship between God and the neighbor. This relationship is a distinguishing characteristic of the God the Bible. To despise one's neighbor (Prov. 14:21), to exploit the humble and the poor worker, and to delay the payment of wages, is to offend God. . .(Deut. 24:14-15; Exod. 22:21-23). This explains why "a man who sneers at the poor insults his maker: (Prov. 17:5).

Inversely, to know, that is to say, to love Yahweh, is to do justice to the poor and oppressed. When Jeremiah proclaimed the New Covenant, after asserting that Yahweh would inscribe the law in the hearts of human beings, Jeremiah said: "No longer need they teach one another to know the Lord; all of them, high and low alike, shall know me (31:34). But Jeremiah advises us exactly on what knowing God entails: "Shame on the man who builds his house by unjust means, and completes its roof-chambers by fraud, making his countrymen work without payment, giving them no wage for their labor! Shame on the man who says, 'I will build a spacious house with airy roof-chambers, let windows in it, panel it with cedar, and paint it with vermilion'! If your cedar is more splendid, does that prove you are a king? Think of your father: he ate and drank, dealt justly and fairly; all went well with him. He dispensed justice to the cause of the lowly and poor; did this not show he knew me? says the Lord" (22:13-16). Where there is justice and righteousness, there is knowledge of Yahweh; when these are lacking, it is absent. . . .To know Yahweh, which in Biblical language is equivalent to saying to love Yahweh, is to establish just relationships among persons, it is to recognize the rights of the poor. . . .When justice does not exist, God is not known; God is absent (pages 110-111).

A Theology of Liberation

Gustavo Gutierrez

Patrick

2012-02-24T07:28:00.001-06:00

What follows is an email exchange between Janet Morrison, Director of the Community Life Team at CityWalk and one of our residents whom we'll call "Patrick." The honesty and the struggle are very clear. The difficulty of recovery and the opportunity to achieve it continue on display every day here inside the housing community offered at 511 N. Akard Street in Downtown Dallas.

After all that has gone on at CitySquare, emails like the one I'm about to share with you are awesome to receive. Patrick is a CityWalk resident who moved in a few months ago. When I did his initial Outcomes Star, I had a feeling he would have some challenges. I had asked George to try to work closely with him.

Patrick first agreed to meet with George, then started sending angry emails to me saying it was wrong that we force him to meet. He said he knew he had struggled in the past but he had his life under control and didn't need someone telling him what to do. He demanded to meet with Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) staff and myself. I went ahead and tried to set that up with DHA.

While that was happening, I saw him on the elevator. He, evidently, didn't remember who I was and was asking others in the elevator if they had to meet with this "Community Life team," to which one of the residents smiled and eagerly said, "Yes! I do...and she (pointing at me) is the one who met with me!"

Patrick asked who I was. When I told him, he put the name with the person he had been emailing and looked a little surprised, then got off the elevator. I talked to George and I imagine he talked with Patrick again.

I got this email about a week later:

Janet,

I have decided to cancel the meeting with you and DHA. I will meet with George on 1/18/12 to discuss my goals. Sorry about all the confusion I have created. What you are witnessing is my self-destruct mode that I resort to and for what reason I don't know. I guess I feel that I can always live on the streets when something isn't going the way I think it should. I've learned how to make it on the streets and have a tendency to resort back to those ways. Is this insanity or what? I need to accept success and change my homeless ways of thinking.

Also, when I allow someone to counsel me or talk to me about my goals, is like saying I don't know how to manage my own life. I do know how to manage my own life. I grant you that in the past I haven't done a very good job of it, but that has been because I didn't care to manage my own life, I just wanted to continue with my addiction. I must learn to humble myself and allow someone else into my life. Am I making any sense with all this? Do you understand what I am relating to you?

Again, cancel the meeting and I will meet with George on the date I mentioned above. My sincere apologies to you and George.

Patrick

I periodically see Patrick on the elevator and ask how he is doing. He periodically responds to different opportunities I send out via email. Here is the latest:

Hello Janet,

During my time of addiction and homelessness, I was never truly a happy person. Help came in many forms and fashions. Most of them I cared nothing about. Today, I have the best help I could ever ask for in my arrangement with CityWalk. It is what I looked for for a long time. I found out about CityWalk from a Lady at The Heights Church in Richardson. I admit though that what works for me might not be right for the next person. Since I have been at CityWalk I have accomplished some things, but could have done more. That's my fault. Did you know that attempting to bring an addict or homeless person into recovery or such is almost like trying to cage a wild tiger in alot of cases. The tiger is "stuck" (Outcome Star: User Guide) and wants to scratch anybody that comes close. In a way I still fit this model. I'm working on becoming more of a civilized tiger though! I know what's going on in the mind of an addict and/or a homeless person since I can very much relate. In some instances when I come in contact with an addict or homeless person I see the way I have been and actually don't like what I see in that person. I want to see in me and that person what God ordained before the foundation of the world in that person and myself. This requires relinquishing (surrender) control of myself and giving it to God. This can be scary since I have always wanted to be in control. It's kind of like losing me. But, I know that is best to lose the old self and give God a chance.

Regarding the Action Plan, I am making progress. I have a plan for getting a job, but I have to do this in the right order so as not to compromise what I now have. I have started attending Celebrate Recovery and have a plan for the senior center. If you have a prayer list, please put me on there. I thank God for bringing you, George and CityWalk into my life. Thanks for your friendship and the same to George!!

It helps me just to talk with you via email, so hope you don't mind me rambling on about all this stuff.

See you in the elevator! LOL

Blessings,

Patrick

These are the things that help me know that the struggles and frustrations have an end result. Our job is a roller coaster. We may run into something else with Patrick tomorrow that takes us back a couple of steps...but receiving emails like these every once in a while help us know we are making progress and moving forward.

409

2012-02-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Place is important.

History and memory lead us back toward significant places where things occurred, were planned and executed.

Such a place is 409 N. Haskell Avenue (409) here in Dallas, Texas.

In 1994, thanks to the commitment of Jim and Betsy Sowell, along with the support of many of their friends at the Preston Road Church of Christ and from other churches, Central Dallas Food Pantry purchased the property at 409 to accommodate the expansion and growth of the organization. The property had been purchased from the Resolution Trust Corporation at a very good price.

I arrived at Central Dallas Food Pantry just as the remodel began on this new facility. Previously, the organization ran everything from the much smaller building located at 801 N. Peak Street in the same neighborhood (and that is another story to be told at another time!). The new property signaled a new beginning for what soon would be tagged "Central Dallas Ministries."

With the current development of CitySquare's Opportunity Center, the 409 property is now for sale.

As we move on to the next chapter in our history, it seems appropriate to reflect on all that transpired in this special, unique corner here in inner city, Old East Dallas. So, over the next several months (most likely it will take that long!), I'll be telling stories on this page about the events at 409 that have shaped us all and that have led to the transformation of so many lives.

Thinking about this little memory project brings to mind so many key words and tags. Here are a few just for starters. . .

Church and Food Pantry
Seasoned, burned out volunteers from outside the community
Changes in staff leadership and choice
Learning the ropes of day-to-day food distribution
Memorable trips to the North Texas Food Pantry
A truck without brakes
Josefina Ortiz
Conflict and change
Janet Morrison and contemporaries
Volunteers who got it
Theology of urban renewal
Cocaine campground
Crack house at the corner
Pay phone at Crutcher and Haskell
Getting out a newsletter. . .seriously?
Jeffie Massey
Beyond charity
The Christmas Store
Dallas Morning News Charities
Project Access Dallas
The first Kids Kamp

And, the list goes on and on!

Stay tuned for short stories and vignettes from our past at this very sacred place where community has been breaking out for years now!

Street Sweeper

2012-02-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

Street Sweeper

Up and out, way before sun up,
I prepare my "cart"--pushed along first by a middle-class mother or better,
Her child seated securely when these wheels never wobbled,
But rolled into the day with confidence, security--a baby buggy
Customized for hauling cans, glass or plastic bottles, other discards of my, yes my
Society defined by wealth and throw away treasures, like those I find to call mine.

People turn their faces away from me as our paths cross,
Wish they knew how safe and helpful I intend,
Picking up what most call trash,
My trade, my craft is all about clean streets, about
Picking up cans with a view to meals, maybe a bed,
No harm, no trouble, just trying to be free and cared for by only me.

I sweep the streets of my hometown, all around near Downtown,
I just wish they could see me for what I aim to be.
Sweeping the streets, gutters, walkways, I seek a place
Where I can do my thing, ply my trade, breathe the same
Fresh air, maybe smile and wave, not to be seen, but
Just known, understood and valued like the work I do for us.

Attacking the income disparity gap

2012-02-20T06:00:00.008-06:00

Here's a fascinating essay comparing how the U. S. handled its income gap between the well-to-do and the bottom early in the 20th Century when William Howard Taft served as President. The analysis quickly reveals how so much more conservative our nation has become, a trend that appears to be growing.

Read the article and tell me what you think.

Radical Solutions to Economic Inequality

If only Americans today were as open-minded about leveling the playing field as we were 100 years ago.

By Beverly Gage|Posted Wednesday, Feb. 15, 201

In one of his last acts of office, President William Howard Taft attempted to solve the problem of inequality in America. In August 1912, on the cusp of a brutal third-place finish in the presidential election, he created a Commission on Industrial Relations to investigate “the general condition of labor in the principal industries.” Despite its fusty charge, the commission turned out to be one of the most sensational sideshows of the Progressive Era, a cross-country journey through the wilds of American class conflict. For three years, government commissioners traipsed from city to city asking capitalists, union organizers, and reformers what it was like to work in America, and whether the spoils of industry seemed to be distributed fairly among the rich and poor.

The commission’s answer, released in a 1916 report, speaks volumes about the persistent dilemma of inequality in the United States, and about the intellectual timidity of today’s political responses. “Have the workers received a fair share of the enormous increase in wealth which has taken place in this country…?” the report demanded. “The answer is emphatically—No!”

Their numbers bore this out. According to the commission, the “Rich”—or top 2 percent—owned 60 percent of the nation’s wealth. By contrast, the “Poor”—or bottom 60 percent—owned just 5 percent of the wealth.

Today, after a century of ups and down, we’ve landed back at those extremes, give or take a few percentage points. But what’s striking about the commission’s report, read from a 21^st-century perspective, is how limited our own debate about inequality seems by comparison. For the commission, inequality was a fundamental problem that threatened the entire fabric of American democracy. Today, by contrast, we’re busy debating whether a multimillionaire like Mitt Romney ought to pay a few more percentage points in federal taxes.

To read the entire article click here.

Beverly Gage, a Yale history professor, is the author of The Day Wall Street Exploded.

Look closely!

2012-02-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

Fun cartoon from my friend, Rev. Eric Folkerth, Senior Minister at Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas!

New study reveals startling picture of Dallas’ financial insecurity Assets & Opportunity Profile

2012-02-18T06:00:00.002-06:00

A new report paints a tough, but realistic picture of life in Dallas at the lower levels of the economy. It turns out that the numbers of people struggling with "asset poverty" are startling.

Read the entire report on here.

More on this soon.

Workforce Training and CitySquare

2012-02-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Here are scenes from the DFW Education Center where CitySquare partners with Northlake College and the Construction Education Foundation to offer our WorkPaths training program. The 16-week instruction exposes students to every aspect of construction trades, including framing, floor and roof systems, H/VAC, plumbing, electrical, welding, OSHA, forklift operations, and much more!

A very high percentage of our students graduate, and over 70% find employment and remain employed 6 months out from course completion. Currently, 20 students are working through this very beneficial course! We're extremely proud of each of them!

What a phenomenal resource we have in the DFW Education Center. The multi-million dollar facility provides amazing options and opportunities for the students we recruit to the program and with whom we work on a daily basis.

Texas Connector is here!!!

2012-02-16T06:00:00.017-06:00

See information below on one of the most amazing community assessment and development tools that I've ever seen. Plan to attend the Dallas area roll out next Tuesday, February 21 at 9:00 a.m. at the Richardson East Church of Christ (1504 E. Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas 75081).

U. S. Poverty and Our International Peers

2012-02-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

Zakaria: Mitt, you need to worry about the very poor
By Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Remember Mitt Romney's infamous "poor" comment? If not, here it is again:

"I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich; they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95% of Americans who right now are struggling."

Well, it got me thinking: Romney was actually being honest about Americans in general. We don't - none of us - spend much time thinking about the very poor.

But we should, because we have a real problem in this area, an economic, political and moral problem.

By Romney's calculations, if 95% of Americans fall in the middle class, then there must be less than 5% of Americans who qualify as poor.

Well, no.

The number from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the association of the world's developed economies, is actually 17.3%.

And how do we compare with other rich countries?

We rank 31st of the 34 countries that make up the OECD in terms of the percentage of our population that qualifies as poor. Of the 34 member states, only Mexico, Chile and Israel are worse off than we are. The UK (at 11%), Germany (8.9%) and France (7.2%) are all much lower. The OECD average is 11%.

In case you're wondering how the OECD defines poverty, it calculates the number as the percentage of people who earn less than half of the country's median wage. It's an easy way to compare data across countries.

In the video above, look at the chart that shows the percentage of children in poverty. At 20.6%, we again come off far worse than other rich countries.

Japan, Australia, the UK, Germany and France all have much better numbers.

Romney spoke about how he would fix the safety net for poor people "if it needs repair.”

Let me suggest one place to fix things: end child poverty.

Whatever the causes of poverty, when children grow up in desperate circumstances - circumstances that they had no role in creating - studies show that they will be more likely to drop out of high school, be unemployed, use drugs, have children out of wedlock and get ill.

In other words, they will be unproductive members of society and cost taxpayers huge amounts of money over the course of their lives.

We know that we have an education problem with the poor. Seventy-seven percent of our kids who entered high school graduated. Compare that with other rich countries: 90% in Switzerland, 91% in the UK, 93% in Finland and 97% in Germany. Studies show that dropouts are twice as likely to slip into poverty than high school graduates.

Children in extreme poverty do badly even when they are smart. A recent U.S. study tracked a group of eighth-graders in 1988. It found that students who did very well on a standardized test but were poor were less likely to get through college than their peers who tested poorly but were well-off.

Look at health care. A key indicator of the level of health in a country is its infant mortality rate; that's when a child dies within the first year of life. Let's compare again. We're at about six deaths for every 1,000 live births.

Again, the UK, Australia, Germany, France and Japan all fare much better. Japan's rate is less than half ours. This is simply because many mothers don't have access to prenatal care. Malnutrition and poor childhood health care set in motion a lifetime of poor health - and huge costs to the system.

On indicator after indicator, the U.S. compares badly with other rich nations on not only how impoverished it is but on the facilities and opportunities it is giving the poor. That's why social mobility has stalled in America. Compared with other rich countries, poor Americans are more likely to stay poor. More than 40% of American men whose fathers had earnings in the bottom fifth end up in the same bracket. Britain, Denmark, Finland and Norway all perform much better.

The sad part is, these statistics are reversible. Compare child poverty rates in America and the UK. You'll see that the UK's rates were halved within a decade from the mid-1990s. The U.S. has actually risen since then.

There's no secret sauce. Tony Blair's Labour government simply made reducing child poverty a priority through various programs.

So, Romney: Yes, the media took your comments out of context. But you do need to be concerned about the very poor. We all do.

If I were the next Superintendent of the Dallas Public Schools

2012-02-14T06:00:00.003-06:00

Can you imagine the enormity of such a challenge? To move into our school district, so riddled by poverty, economic and educational disparity, high drop out rates and very low outcomes on producing college-ready graduates--talk about a challenge.

I agree with those who identify poverty as the biggest challenge facing our district, its students and our next district leader.

What would I do if I were the next superintendent of DISD? Here's my short list of action items to plant in the school culture over the first 5 years.

1. Identify "master teachers" already at work in the schools. Every school has them. Everyone knows who they are. But how do we leverage their success to benefit other faculty members, as well as students who will never benefit from the experience of their classrooms? There is a way to infiltrate and inject the attitude, methods and commitment of master teachers through and into the rest of the teaching team. Call leading teachers into the leadership mix of each campus. Then, keep track of outcomes.

2. Establish an on-the-ground, at-the-campus, working relationship with the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, as well as other public agencies. In short, move the offices of public benefits to the schools, or at least establish certification or enrollment days for parents from low income families to be able to register for various benefits that can help stabilize poor families for the benefits of students. Make things easier to access and more customer friendly. If poverty is our biggest challenge, then let's decide together to attack it systematically! Why should eligible parents have to go to an office located somewhere else, to deal with strangers regarding CHIP registration, or Food Stamp enrollment, or assistance with childcare, or housing, or EITC filings? Those at the top benefit from financial counselors. Why shouldn't those at the bottom enjoy similar services from benefits counselors. The key to this campus transformation would be to let parents know that enrollment in benefits is not only for them and their children, but also for the entire school and its success.

3. Position principals to function as campus leaders with clear expectations linked to individual student improvement and progress, rather than to the next standardized test. Each student learns at a different pace and in a different way. Measure student improvement and index school leaders' performance to the creation of a culture of excellence that encourages students to grow and excel in their own styles over a longer course of evaluation.

4. Don't shortchange the extra-curricular. One of the reasons low-income students don't achieve more readily has to do with what I call "experience disparity" when compared to more affluent students. Learning must take place outside the classroom, as well as inside. Vocabulary is developed in a process of discovering life both in books and in the laboratory that is our world. Poor kids need more experienced-based educational opportunities. Let's provide them what they need. Then, let's tie what is discovered "out there" to what we are doing "in here." Restore music, art, theater and PE in every school no matter what it takes to fund excellence in these important developmental areas of study, expression, performance and curiosity.

5. Incentivize learning performance and parent involvement with some sort of value added benefit. Parent involvement with PTA or volunteering at school should be rewarded with something of immediate value, like discount coupons to local stores or gift cards that can be used to buy books, groceries or school clothes. We make a grave error if we take our eye off the wicked curve ball called poverty. Reward performance by returning something of real value.

6. Form a closer working relationship with the City of Dallas, Dallas County, surrounding ISDs, businesses, corporations and universities. Find ways to engage these other, huge institutions for the immediate benefit of our students today.

7. Develop a clear communications strategy for challenging students again and again regarding the importance DISD's mission and vision. Repeatedly invite every student into the battle. Rehearse and re-imagine the success that awaits us all if we learn to work together.

8. Initiate a comprehensive evaluation of middle level administrators to the end that more resources find their way to the classrooms, the teachers and the students. Schools should not settle for being a job factory for adults. Streamlining away ineffective efforts, programs and departments should be top of the list for any new leader. This means our new leader must be tough, proven and ready for battle!

9. Partner with community based non-profits like Avance and The Concilio here in Dallas to organize, train and equip parents to become the primary advocates for their children and for the education of their children. Community organizing to ensure quality public education should never be considered a threat, but rather an expression of partnership and cooperation. Getting parents and other community leaders involved will be a key component of any successful administration.

I suppose my ideas are too simple. And, I admit I enjoy the luxury of not being in the position of leadership. But, I care about these children, and I understand the powerful negative impact of poverty on families and school systems.

DISD and poverty

2012-02-13T06:00:00.008-06:00

Several years ago, a candidate for the Dallas School board dropped by my office to chat about his campaign efforts. In the course of our conversation he asked me, "Larry, what do you consider the greatest challenge facing the DISD?"

I remember exactly what I told him: "That is easy to answer and very, very difficult to overcome. In a word, the biggest challenge facing our public schools is poverty."

I'm not sure he liked my answer or agreed with my assessment, but I believe I was right then, and things have only grown more difficult. So, I read with gratitude the editorial page comment from The Dallas Morning News on Sunday, February 12, 2012. What follows is one part in the paper's series dubbed "Tactics for Turnaround project" dealing wtih the important enormous work that faces everyone who cares about urban, public education here in Dallas. I hope you'll take the time to read the entire essay.

Editorial: Poverty’s role in DISD reform

There’s no way to sugarcoat the serious challenges ahead for DISD’s next superintendent. One of the biggest is that Dallas public schools are overwhelmed by a worsening cycle of poverty. Less than a decade ago, 73 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches at school. Last year, that number had grown to 88 percent, and the trend shows no sign of reversing.

Poverty is by no means a pathway to failure. In fact, despite the growing number of poor children in DISD, dropout rates are declining, four-year graduation rates are up and some standardized test scores are improving. Poverty doesn’t have to be the insurmountable obstacle to success that some might assume.

Still, students living in poverty are far less likely to get the shot at success that all kids deserve. Studies show that, from birth through high school, children growing up in poor households tend to lack crucial developmental skills, proper health and nutrition, and the crucial component of parental involvement in their academic pursuits.

Even before they enter school, kids in poverty are more likely to have stunted vocabularies and be on track to develop debilitating health problems such as obesity. By kindergarten, if a child hasn’t developed a vocabulary of roughly 2,200 words, he or she is already behind, both in literacy and speaking ability. The problem is even worse for those children who don’t speak English; nearly 70 percent of the Dallas district’s student population is Hispanic.

To read the entire opinion click here.

Meeting the First Lady!

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Last Friday, I had the amazing honor of meeting and greeting the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.

Mrs. Obama visited Dallas to celebrate the great progress of so many Texas schools in preparing and serving more healthy foods to public school students and to promote and extend her "Let's Move" initiative as a remedy for youth obesity. You may link to a video report about her visit by The Dallas Morning News below.

City Council Member, Pauline Medrano (actually my council member) took the photo of our brief chat about CitySquare's Food on the Move program that delivered thousands of meals to low-income children last summer in partnership with PepsiCo and our AmeriCorps team.

No surprise, I found the First Lady to be down-to-earth, interested in our work and delightful!

What a great moment.

To watch the DMN video click here.

Wyatt at the line

2012-02-11T06:00:00.003-06:00

Being a grandfather puts you in a number of fun and unforgettable situaitons.

Take the clip below.

The man at the freethrow line is my oldest grandson, Wyatt Toombs.

His team, the Seahawks, won this game 15-8. So, scoring is somewhat limited in the back and forth frenzy of the games in this league. I suppose that's part of what makes this video clip so good. . .or, maybe it's just a granddad's pride.

CityWalk@Akard. . .it's what we do

2012-02-09T06:00:00.006-06:00

My office is located in a 15-story building first built in 1958 to house offices for the Southern Baptist Convention's Annuity Board.

Between 2006 and 2010, after sitting vacant for over 20 years, the building was transformed via a complete "gut rehab."

The finished product? A mixed income, mixed use multifamily/retail-office development on the Arts District side of Downtown Dallas. Frankly, the building, the financial strategy that made its renewal possible, the partners who office with us and the approximately 240 men, women and children who call the place home make CityWalk@ Akard an amazing place to say the very least.

Of course, the people make the place tick, better, hum!

Artists, musicians, formerly homeless, persons on the verge of becoming homeless, dishwashers, waiters, construction workers, the disabled and the discarded all call this place home.

7-11 provides energy on the ground floor. Enterprise Partners occupy about half of the second floor. The administrative, development, and law offices of CitySquare, along with the owner/developer of the building, the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation, fill the third floor. Other tenants are discussing occupying the open spaces on levels one and two.

Floors four through fourteen offer 200 units of affordable housing for our residents. Half of the units are set aside for the formerly homeless (when you get a home you are no longer in the category!) and those in danger of becoming homeless. Half of the units are "means tested" by the tax credit rules, meaning that a person may earn up to about $27,000 and still live in the building. Those earning above that ceiling are not eligible to live with us.

The top floor is divided into 6 condo spaces that are for sale at market rates to more affluent residents. Two units have sold. Four remain on the market.

The place is a "real trip." People find themselves in various states of weakness, vulnerability and distress. Folks are glad to be there. Folks battled addiction, memories and wounds from tough lives on the streets.

We are present to direct the much broader, overall work of CitySquare, but also to love the people, to organize the people and to work at building a viable community of health and redemption.

It is hard.

It is joyous.

It is what we do.

Unique Special Event at The Nest

2012-02-09T05:53:00.000-06:00

Be Our Guest!

You're Invited to a Special Reception to Celebrate a Fundraiser and Food Drive Benefiting CitySquare

Nest, a unique gifts and home accents store in mid-town Dallas, is hosting a fundraiser for CitySquare. Visit Nest and bring in non-perishable food items during the month of February and save on your purchases! A portion of sales will benefit CitySquare's programs and food items collected will be donated to our Food Pantry.

We would like to invite you, a strong supporter and friend of CitySquare, to a special event for the promotion on February 9th from 6 to 8 pm at the Nest store. We hope to see you there so please confirm your attendance with RSVP@NESTDALLAS.COM

See full details below.

Malcolm X and Richard Holbrooke

2012-02-08T06:00:00.003-06:00

Malcolm X's lost speech from 50 years ago found at Brown University.

Listen to portions of the speech and the details of the original setting and discovery here. Thanks to NPR's program, "All Things Considered."

Disparity

2012-02-07T06:00:00.002-06:00

Black Americans Given 60% Longer Sentences than White Americans for Same Crimes
submitted by Amanda Lang

A new academic study of 58,000 federal criminal cases has found significant disparities in sentencing for blacks and whites arrested for the same crimes. The research led to the conclusion that African-Americans' jail time was almost 60% longer than white sentences... The report concludes that sentence disparities 'can be almost completely explained by three factors: the original arrest offense, the defendant's criminal history, and the prosecutor's initial choice of charges.'

Read the entire report here.

Rugged, surprising faith

2012-02-06T06:00:00.002-06:00

Faith seldom shows up wrapped in sweetness or ease.

Faith emerges from life twisted, out of balance, torn and scarred.

Faith turns out to grow stronger in darkness. Disappointment, loss, and defeat fertilize the budding sprouts pushing out blooms of hope and fruitfulness at just the right moment, when the future appears impossible.

Faith calls forth smirking laughter, even from supposed friends.

Faith takes it.

Faith endures no matter what the cutting, heartbreaking disappointment.

Faith expects to be rejected.

Faith prompts tears in battle and, at times, pure agony in the face of lonely abandonment and judgment often by friends.

Faith acts out of deep reservoirs of patient love.

Faith knows what others cannot know or see or imagine.

Faith challenges rules, legalism and law. Faith transcends safe, ordinary, lifeless constructs designed and passed along to ensure social control. Faith refuses to be hedged, blocked or deterred. Faith refuses to be defined by what's possible, normal or acceptable.

Faith finds comfort in truth, wherever truth can be discovered, no matter how unexpected or unorthodox the location.

Faith knows fear right well, but never embraces it or asks it to dance.

Faith enjoys beauty. Faith creates beauty. Faith supports the discovery of beauty, not matter what limits must be overcome, stuck down or simply ignored.

Faith roots itself in a community.

Faith goes beyond the moment.

It outdistances any individual concern.

Faith arises from the center space of life, a place not all reach. Once on it's feet, faith races to the margins to do it's work, performing miracles as if ordinary events of daily life.

Nothing replaces faith.

Faith joins, invites, remains, provokes, loves...forever. . . no matter what.

Hebrew Wisdom

2012-02-05T09:56:00.000-06:00

"Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. . . .

Honest scales and balances are from the Lord; all the weights in the bag are of his making. . . .

Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud."

Proverbs 16:8, 11, 19

Laugh to keep from cryin'. . .

2012-02-04T16:16:00.013-06:00

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The path to ending poverty. . .

2012-02-04T06:00:00.002-06:00

Pictured below is the new sign identifying our new Opportunity Center site at the south east corner of I-30 and Malcolm X Boulevard in South Dallas/Fair Park! The two-sided sign announces our arrival!

[By the way: check out the great, new company that Janet Morrison is creating at Believography. Thanks to Janet for the photo!]

Thank you, Gov. Romney!

2012-02-03T06:00:00.010-06:00

Day before yesterday, Mitt Romney made it very clear that he's "not concerned about the very poor." Actually, as news agencies made clear in the aftermath of the GOP candidate for President's relatively shocking statement, Romney has been saying this or something much like it for months.

I'm grateful to Mr. Romney for being so clear. But even more, I'm so thankful that at last someone brought the issue of poverty and extreme poverty into the national conversation. No one else has been talking about the poor much at all. Over the last two days that has changed. Thank goodness!

Romney said that the focus of his campaign was not the extremely poor or the extremely rich, but the 95% of Americans who are middle class.

Now there are a few glaring problems with his analysis.

First, he explained that the extremely poor had a "safety net" to provide for them. He even went so far as to promise that if he found the safety net in need of repair, he would fix it. I immediately wanted to call him up and invite him down to Texas because our "safety net" is in a world of hurt these days! Name the issue or need and Texas under performs terribly.

Food security and hunger.

Uninsured citizens.

Childhood poverty.

Decent and affordable housing for our workforce and the homeless.

Public education.

Loans/grants for higher education.

Public health.

Workforce training.

Living wages.

Mental health funding.

Dental services for the poor.

Child care and early childhood development.

Public transportation.

The list could go on and on.

The wealth gap grows in our state and in our urban centers, but the net doesn't hold. Besides, we need a platform for folks to stand on and find traction and stability, not a net into which to fall helplessly.

So, come on out to Texas, Governor!

Second, there's the problem of the Governor's math: the 95% in the middle. With 1 in 5 Americans, 1 in 4 children, conservatively estimated, to be living in poverty, there is no 95% to be concerned about! The bottom 30-plus % of our fellow citizens live impoverished lives and things are not improving for them as their numbers swell. But, the Governor says he's not concerned about the poor. I guess not, he doesn't even know how many poor folks there are in the U. S. today. Not good for a President, I'd say.

Still, he brought the subject to the top of our minds. For that I remain grateful.

[Editorial note: This morning reports have the Governor saying that he "misspoke" when he said he "didn't care about the extremely poor." Wonder how that could ever happen?]

Join CitySquare AmeriCorps Team for Summer 2012

2012-02-02T06:00:00.002-06:00

It’s that time of year again – we’re recruiting for summer!

The N2 Texas Corps is actively recruiting nearly 230 summer positions in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston!

The application is also available online at www.CitySquare.org/BecomeAMember.

How to refer someone to our program:

1. Simply direct your friends, peers, neighbors, family, etc to the CitySquare website at www.CitySquare.org/BecomeAMember.

2. Direct potential applicants to us via email at AmeriCorps@CitySquare.org.

How to help us spread the word:

1. Pass this on via email to friends, family, peers, church groups, civic groups, PTAs, neighborhood associations, any group you have access to via email.

2. Invite us to speak at a relevant networking event, organizational meeting, college class, etc.

3. Word of mouth – share this opportunity with your friends and family over dinner, at church, and other social gatherings!

4. Post a Flyer--request one by email at AmeriCorps@CitySquare.org.

5. Social Media – blog, tweet, or facebook us, you name it! – spread the word about this opportunity through your social networks!

All the information any applicant will need to know may be found on our website.

As always, feel free to contact me with your questions or ideas.

In service,

Jennifer A. Rajkumar
Associate Director
N2 Texas Corps
CitySquare
409 N. Haskell Ave.
Dallas, TX 75246
P: 214 828 1085 ext 122
F: 214 828 6392
jrajkumar@CitySquare.org
http://www.citysquare.org/

Ready to serve? www.CitySquare.org/BecomeAMember

American divorce?

2012-02-01T06:00:00.001-06:00

The following op-ed essay from David Brooks concerning the growing divide among the American people and Charles Murray's important book, Coming Apart, is worth your time.

After you've read it, tell me what you think.

The Great Divorce
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: January 30, 2012

I’ll be shocked if there’s another book this year as important as Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart.” I’ll be shocked if there’s another book that so compellingly describes the most important trends in American society.

Murray’s basic argument is not new, that America is dividing into a two-caste society. What’s impressive is the incredible data he produces to illustrate that trend and deepen our understanding of it.

His story starts in 1963. There was a gap between rich and poor then, but it wasn’t that big. A house in an upper-crust suburb cost only twice as much as the average new American home. The tippy-top luxury car, the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, cost about $47,000 in 2010 dollars. That’s pricy, but nowhere near the price of the top luxury cars today.

More important, the income gaps did not lead to big behavior gaps. Roughly 98 percent of men between the ages of 30 and 49 were in the labor force, upper class and lower class alike. Only about 3 percent of white kids were born outside of marriage. The rates were similar, upper class and lower class.

Since then, America has polarized. The word “class” doesn’t even capture the divide Murray describes. You might say the country has bifurcated into different social tribes, with a tenuous common culture linking them.

The upper tribe is now segregated from the lower tribe. In 1963, rich people who lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan lived close to members of the middle class. Most adult Manhattanites who lived south of 96th Street back then hadn’t even completed high school. Today, almost all of Manhattan south of 96th Street is an upper-tribe enclave.

Today, Murray demonstrates, there is an archipelago of affluent enclaves clustered around the coastal cities, Chicago, Dallas and so on. If you’re born into one of them, you will probably go to college with people from one of the enclaves; you’ll marry someone from one of the enclaves; you’ll go off and live in one of the enclaves.

To read the entire essay click here.

More than a month. . .

2012-01-31T07:56:00.000-06:00

Should there be a Black History Month in the U.S.?

Some would answer "No."

Filmmaker Shukree Tilghman among them, sets out to end Black History Month with his film, More Than A Month. The film will be seen on PBS in February during Black History Month.

View the video below. Read the backstory on Tilghman's work here. Tell me what you think.

100,000 Homes Campaign

2012-01-30T07:13:00.000-06:00

Over the past couple of years, 100 communities across the country have joined a collaborative effort, led by Community Solutions, to find permanent housing for 100,000 of the most medically vulnerable homeless Americans by July of 2013.

Together, these communities, including over 3,000 volunteers, are part of a growing movement known as the "100,000 Homes Campaign," and have helped 11,751 homeless people into permanent homes already available in the communities.

CitySquare is leading the effort here in Dallas. Later this year, likely in March, a large team of trained volunteers will fan out across the central business district to meet and to "register" as many of these very poor and typically medically weakened neighbors. The goal: to get to know who they are, document the health status of each, and to assist them in securing permanent housing along with the stability that having a place to call home provides.

Our partners in this effort include Downtown Dallas, Inc., Hamilton Properties, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and many other individuals and groups.

More information will be coming soon.

Interested in joining the team? Email me at ljames@CitySquare.org.

Watch an informative video here.

Rain not slowing us down!

2012-01-29T06:00:00.001-06:00

This video was shot last Thursday morning after the all night rain. Sun reappeared and the guys from ConReal hit it again with water pumps and big Cats!

Oh, and congratulations Dan Hopkins and Happy Birthday! You are now officially as old as rocks!

NBC Channel 5's "Tell Me Something Good" features Opportunity Center!

2012-01-28T06:00:00.009-06:00

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com/?__source=embedCode.

Funding

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

Frankly, too much of my time gets spent trying to raise money, balance tight budgets and squeeze efficiences out of every cent and process.

There. I feel better now!

Actually, there is a very warm, human side to fund development. Those who fund our work, be they foundation leaders, government decision makers, churches and faith communities on mission, individuals who care, businesses wanting to engage the community, all come to the process as human beings. Often, and when things align as they should, funders come seeking significant relationships, sometimes even friendship.

So, a big part of my life is a true blast.

But, back to numbers. You can't escape numbers, I've learned.

In looking over 2011, I discovered more data that confirms a consistent trend in our funding at CitySquare.

Get this.

"Poor folks," those who come to us seeking service, assistance and friendship contribute in gifts and/or fees 56% as much as the individuals who contribute dollars as donations only. I find that fairly amazing.

Translation: in 2011 individual donors contributed $1,087,758.59 to support our efforts in the inner city. During the same period, our neighbors/customers contributed $605,916.18.

Consider this.

During 2011, churches donated $214,740.31 to our efforts. Again, "poor folks" provided almost three (2.8) times as much from their income.

Funding remains a challenge. But working at it exposes me to some amazing folks, rich and poor. And, the numbers continually instruct.

Dallas Business Journal spotlights new "Opportunity Center"

2012-01-25T18:00:00.000-06:00

CitySquare celebrates construction launch
Dallas Business Journal by Bill Hethcock, Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 1:31pm CST

Construction is under way on the $12.5 million CitySquare Opportunity Center at the southeast corner of Interstate 30 and Malcolm X Blvd. in Dallas.

Public officials including Mayor Mike Rawlings and other project supporters will get a bus tour of the site at a breakfast Thursday to celebrate the start of construction.

The 52,000-square-foot campus will include a food distribution center; a teaching and production kitchen; a wellness center; and a large employment training center that will house new offices for Workforce Solutions of Greater Dallas and CitySquare’s WorkPaths employment training department. The center also will house the AmeriCorps headquarters/offices and a staging area for a summer and after-school lunch program funded by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
The services are all under one roof with easy access by Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

The opportunity center, scheduled to open in 2013, will serve low-income residents of East and South Dallas. The center has been a dream of CitySquare’s President and CEO Larry James, a longtime leader in efforts to end poverty in the heart of Dallas.

"The opportunity center will create both enhanced synergy among a vital group of nonprofit partners and convenience of access for the neighbors who come to us seeking to take positive, proactive steps toward a better, more stable life for themselves and their families," James said.

About half of the $12.5 million in development funds for the facility has already been raised, and a public fund-raising campaign is under way.

Omniplan provided the architectural design and Con-Real serves as general contractor for the Opportunity Center.

Bill covers health care, law, education and nonprofits.

Lord of the Dance

2012-01-25T09:58:00.001-06:00

This old Shaker hymn moves me. There's just "something" about dancing! Be sure that you view all the way to the end. . .there is a pause before the "resurrection" verse!

What do you think?

Working, but still poor. . .

2012-01-24T06:00:00.007-06:00

Here at CitySquare, we've known the hard truth for a very long time. Most of the low-income people with whom we work also work at a job, often more than one job.

The problem is not work.

The problem is pay and earning power.

Consider the analysis of Bill Quigley that follows. Take time to go to the complete text of the report. Then, tell me what you think.

Is it realistic to think that everyone who works should be able to sustain themselves by that work?

Working and Poor in the USA
Sunday 22 January 2012
By: Bill Quigley, The Center for Constitutional Rights

"Our nation, so richly endowed with natural resources and with a capable and industrious population, should be able to devise ways and means of insuring to all our able-bodied men and women, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” -Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1937

Millions of people in the US work and are still poor. Here are eight points that show why the US needs to dedicate itself to making work pay.

To read the entire report click here.

Irony in juxtaposition!

2012-01-22T06:00:00.009-06:00

POTUS sings Al Green!!!

2012-01-21T06:00:00.005-06:00

Forget partisan issues and perspectives. Just enjoy the fun and the humanity!

Opportunity disparity

2012-01-20T06:00:00.004-06:00

The following article appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The author, Margaret C. Simms is a senior fellow and director of the Low-Income Working Families project at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.

Opportunity still has racial hue

At the march on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these now famous words: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

While King made the statement about racial equality and racial justice, at some level, it is a sentiment to which all parents can relate. All parents want their children to reach their potential and not be held back by anything other than their willingness to work hard.

Children are more likely to succeed if they have a stable home environment, adequate nutrition and the opportunity to get a good education. Unfortunately, nearly 50 years after the march on Washington, opportunity still has a racial dimension. That is not to say that progress hasn’t been made in breaking racial barriers. Advancement can be seen in every dimension of American life — education, politics and economic achievement. The percentage of African-Americans that have a college education has gone up from 3.5 percent to 18 percent. The number holding political office, including the presidency, has risen from about 1,400 to more than 10,500. Black men and women have held corporate CEO positions.

Yet in many areas, African-Americans have made little progress relative to their white counterparts. Median household income for African-Americans is only 58 percent of the median white household income, little different from the ratio in the late 1960s. This disparity reflects the fact that African-Americans are more likely to be unemployed regardless of how the economy is faring and that African-American families are more likely to be headed by women. Even when you compare households with the same family structure and educational level, African-Americans aren’t as well off.

A recent Pew Research Center study showed the recession and housing market crash hit African-Americans hard, as those with any assets at all were most likely to have them in the form of homeownership. The Pew report shows that between 2005 and 2009, African-American wealth fell by 53 percent compared with a 19 percent drop for white households. As a result, the typical white household had 20 times the net worth of the typical black household in 2009, up from 11 times in 2005. This is the biggest gap seen in the 25 years that the data have been collected.

To read the entire article click here.

As always, reactions invited.

Beyond charity, building justice into systems

2012-01-19T08:55:00.002-06:00

“On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

From a sermon entitled "A Time to Break Silence," at Riverside Church”

― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Toxic Stress," children and poverty

2012-01-18T06:00:00.004-06:00

We've known it for years here at CitySquare. Our young children live in a noisy, stress-filled world, even chaotic at times. We are now learning what this means in very practical and often frightening terms. The article from Nicholas Kristof that follows challenges me. What it calls for, in my view, is a national covenant, something much more serious than a media campagin. Rather, we need to step up, sign up and show up when it comes to providing for the well-being of our children. That means all of us: rich and poor, educated nad undereducated, parents and teachers, ministers and politicians, right and left and all the in between! We've got to do better.

Read on and see if you don't agree. LJ

A Poverty Solution That Starts With a Hug

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
January 7, 2012

PERHAPS the most widespread peril children face isn’t guns, swimming pools or speeding cars. Rather, scientists are suggesting that it may be “toxic stress” early in life, or even before birth.

This month, the American Academy of Pediatrics is issuing a landmark warning that this toxic stress can harm children for life. I’m as skeptical as anyone of headlines from new medical studies (Coffee is good for you! Coffee is bad for you!), but that’s not what this is.

Rather, this is a “policy statement” from the premier association of pediatricians, based on two decades of scientific research. This has revolutionary implications for medicine and for how we can more effectively chip away at poverty and crime.

Toxic stress might arise from parental abuse of alcohol or drugs. It could occur in a home where children are threatened and beaten. It might derive from chronic neglect — a child cries without being cuddled. Affection seems to defuse toxic stress — keep those hugs and lullabies coming! — suggesting that the stress emerges when a child senses persistent threats but no protector.

Cues of a hostile or indifferent environment flood an infant, or even a fetus, with stress hormones like cortisol in ways that can disrupt the body’s metabolism or the architecture of the brain.

The upshot is that children are sometimes permanently undermined. Even many years later, as adults, they are more likely to suffer heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other physical ailments. They are also more likely to struggle in school, have short tempers and tangle with the law.

The crucial period seems to be from conception through early childhood. After that, the brain is less pliable and has trouble being remolded.

“You can modify behavior later, but you can’t rewire disrupted brain circuits,” notes Jack P. Shonkoff, a Harvard pediatrician who has been a leader in this field. “We’re beginning to get a pretty compelling biological model of why kids who have experienced adversity have trouble learning.”

This new research addresses an uncomfortable truth: Poverty is difficult to overcome partly because of self-destructive behaviors. Children from poor homes often shine, but others may skip school, abuse narcotics, break the law, and have trouble settling down in a marriage and a job. Then their children may replicate this pattern.

Liberals sometimes ignore these self-destructive pathologies. Conservatives sometimes rely on them to blame poverty on the poor.

The research suggests that the roots of impairment and underachievement are biologically embedded, but preventable. “This is the biology of social class disparities,” Dr. Shonkoff said. “Early experiences are literally built into our bodies.”

The implication is that the most cost-effective window to bring about change isn’t high school or even kindergarten — although much greater efforts are needed in schools as well — but in the early years of life, or even before birth.

“Protecting young children from adversity is a promising, science-based strategy to address many of the most persistent and costly problems facing contemporary society, including limited educational achievement, diminished economic productivity, criminality, and disparities in health,” the pediatrics academy said in its policy statement.

One successful example of early intervention is home visitation by childcare experts, like those from the Nurse-Family Partnership. This organization sends nurses to visit poor, vulnerable women who are pregnant for the first time. The nurse warns against smoking and alcohol and drug abuse, and later encourages breast-feeding and good nutrition, while coaxing mothers to cuddle their children and read to them. This program continues until the child is 2.

At age 6, studies have found, these children are only one-third as likely to have behavioral or intellectual problems as others who weren’t enrolled. At age 15, the children are less than half as likely to have been arrested.

Evidence of the importance of early experiences has been mounting like snowflakes in a blizzard. For example, several studies examined Dutch men and women who had been in utero during a brief famine at the end of World War II. Decades later, those “famine babies” had more trouble concentrating and more heart disease than those born before or after.

Other scholars examined children who had been badly neglected in Romanian orphanages. Those who spent more time in the orphanages had shorter telomeres, a change in chromosomes that’s a marker of accelerated aging. Their brain scans also looked different.

The science is still accumulating. But a compelling message from biology is that if we want to chip away at poverty and improve educational and health outcomes, we have to start earlier. For many children, damage has been suffered before the first day of school.

As Frederick Douglass noted, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

2012-01-17T17:03:00.000-06:00

Pictured below are two options for signage on a large, ClearChannel billboard located at the edge of our property where we are constructing the new CitySquare "Opportunity Center."

The billboards have been provided at a great price and point to our new development.

Here's the question: which one do you like the best and why? Your responses will help us make our selection!

Snow. . .

2012-01-17T06:00:00.004-06:00

What is it about snow?

I don't know about you, but I'm fascinated by it every time it comes!

I suppose it goes back to my childhood. Nothing was better than an unexpected, "snow day" in Texas that put an end to school and turned everyone out into the white wonderland.

I also expect that somehow I'm "hard-wired" to appreciate the white stuff. I'm told that the afternoon I was born, Spokane, Washington took the assault of the worst snow storm the city had seen in about 25 years! So, I got here in the snow, and I've always loved it. The more the better.

As I've grown older though, snow has pushed me down and along a more contemplative path every time it shows up. Over the past few years my experience with snow prompted more time with a camera in hand, as if the magic and mystery of the snow would somehow escape me before I could savor it adequately.

And the amazing, deep, unexpected snows of the last 2-3 years have brought amazing experiences of appreciation, celebration and self-reflection, as if snow signals my way farther down a very important pathway I'm meant to take.

Call me crazy, but there is something about the snow.

I caught the image above earlier this month when I was in Colorado speaking to and working with about 150 business majors from Abilene Christian University and Lubbock Christian University. The corner post on the porch of the cabin where I slept found itself adorned with the beautiful stuff on the morning my trip came to a close. Dare I say a special blessing to point me in the right direction once again?

Remembering to never forget

2012-01-16T06:00:00.003-06:00

The complications of prayer. . .

2012-01-15T09:34:00.000-06:00

Prayer can be complicated.

Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow sees the NFL as a platform for witness in the form of an "in your face" display of religious action at the end of most successful touchdown drives and games. The popular young player even displays biblical passages etched on his no glare, black eye strips.

Hey, to each his own, I suppose.

Still, Jesus did say on one occasion, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (see Matthew 6:5-8 for statement and context).

Even thanking God for the blessings of life can get complicated. Don't you think?

It seems important to be very thoughtful about how we pray and about those things for which we pray. Prayer should be a time of deep reflection, a private alignment of human life with the values of faith as we come to understand the agenda of God. What do you think?

A prayer. . .

2012-01-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

Oh, God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work, help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home,
help me to remember the homeless;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember whose who suffer;
And, remembering, help me
to destroy my complacency
and bestir my compassion.
Make me concerned enough
to help, by word and deed,
those who cry out.

(Printed on a card from Salesian Missions, New Rochelle, NY.)
for what we take for granted.

First Church--out in the Arkansas woods. . .

2012-01-11T21:01:00.002-06:00

My experience with "pastoral ministry" began in the backwoods of central Arkansas. My members emerged from the woods on Sunday mornings.

We had no town, just a small, white building.

Composed of Pooles and Barnetts for the most part, the members farmed soy beans, hunted in the woods and fished in the streams. They were solid, lovely, sweet people.

Best of all, they put up with me.

They taught me a lot about friendship.

They were warm, gracious people. And, they loved humor! I could tell stories about things that happened among these folks, all hilarious!

I remember leaving this church as one of the hard things of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that, ironically, these sweet people prepared me for life and ministry in an urban context.

I loved them.

They loved me.

Does anything else really matter?

"The journey" as the point. . .

2012-01-10T06:19:00.000-06:00

"But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?"

Walt Whitman

(quoted by Chris Johns, Editor, National Geographic, December 2011)

Could it be that the point is not "finding," but the search, the journey?

Just wondering.

High impact, human need, great hope

2012-01-09T07:09:00.001-06:00

From time to time in the New Year I intend to share the stories of the real people we encounter every day here at CitySquare. What follows here is the first:

A 36-year-old single mother with a 7- year- old daughter came to CitySquare in January 2011 in need of rental assistance. The woman and her daughter were previously homeless before moving into their apartment in September 2010.

In November 2010, she lost her job and fell behind on her rent. CitySquare provided rental and utility assistance through the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) that we administer for the City of Dallas. The woman remained in the program and received intensive case management and financial assistance for 9 months.

During this time, the woman gained full time, permanent employment. She applied for and received childcare services and transportation vouchers). She also attended CitySquare’s Money Management Class and Employment Workshops. She opened a checking account and is now able to budget her money. In addition, we were able to change her electric provider to TXU (who waived her deposit) and enrolled her in Light-Up Texas. More recently, she moved into a cheaper and safer apartment.

She completed the HPRP program and is now stably housed. Last October she paid her rent on her own and still had over $400 in her bank account! As of December 2011, she continues to be employed and stably housed.

This woman worked hard and made significant achievements in becoming self-sufficient. She continues to meet with her case manager here at CitySquare, Krystal Lotspeich, to work and strive to meet her future goals.

My favorite artist. . .

2012-01-07T06:00:00.002-06:00

My favorite artist, Gracie Bea Toombs is headed to the state art competition with her latest masterpiece!

The fact that she is my granddaughter has absolutely nothing to do with my objective assessment of her wonderful work!

I'm thinking Picasso.

How about you?

Apparel for the New Year!

2012-01-06T06:00:00.002-06:00

Need some casual apparel as we head into the New Year?

Visit the CitySquare Store here.

You'll be able to pick up some nice items and support CitySquare's work in the inner city in the process!

Happy New Year from CitySquare!

2012 image provoking reflection

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Reflections on Poverty: A Photograph of a Desolate Man in Casablanca

Posted on December 27, 2011

By The Activists Photography Collective

Outside of the medina in central Casablanca, Morocco, a man rested shamefully with his back turned to the public whilst shoppers went about their daily duties, bags in hand, ignoring this man’s existence. His face was hidden, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if it wasn’t: globally, we have become so desensitized to the suffering of our fellow human beings that we walk past those perched on street corners, laying in the gutters, begging for money, or bundled up during fridgid weather without giving them a second thought. If they do something that catches our attention in any particular way, annoyed looks or words of disdain are usually cast in their direction. They are just like you and I and deserve to be treated as such, regardless of the amount of money in their bank account, the clothes on their back, or whether or not they have roofs over their heads. From Casablanca to Kalamazoo and everywhere in between, the revolution of compassion must start today. Be a revolutionary by honouring human dignity.

A simple thought for a new year

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

Poverty provides context for much/most of Chrisitan "revelation." Embracing the struggle versus poverty is a faithful option that connects us to God.

Employment Training in Construction from CitySquare!

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

Embracing poverty?

2012-01-02T06:00:00.003-06:00

Reading the Gospel of St. Luke challenges me every time I open myself to its message. Again and again Luke shows just how much Jesus said about poverty and the suffering of the impoverished. He calls those who want to follow him to take poverty seriously and to respond to it with generosity, compassion and seriousness. He challenges followers to divest themselves of their wealth and "lay up treasure in heaven," seeming to indicate that assisting those trapped in poverty will result in some eternal return on investment. On at least one occasion he counseled a very rich many to sell all he had, give his assets to the poor and then come and follow.

Luke's second volume, Acts of the Apostles, reveals that the earliest Christian community got Jesus' message as members sold possessions and gave to the communal fund that wiped poverty out among his early followers.

Most of the time though, I don't embrace poverty as a spiritual discipline that both assists the poor more completely and witnesses to the evil of impoverishment. Few contemporary expressions or understandings of the Christian faith call followers to intentionally embrace poverty as a style of lfie.

Consider the following thoughts:

Poverty is an act of love and liberation. It has a redemptive values. If the ultimate cause of human exploitation and alienation is selfishness, the deepest reason for voluntary poverty is love of neighbor. Christian poverty has meaning only as a commitment of solidarity with the poor, with those who suffer misery and injustice. The commitment is to witness to the evil which has resulted from sin and is a breach of communion. It is not a question of idealizing poverty, but rather of taking it on as it is--an evil--to protest against it and to struggle to abolish it. As Ricoeur says, you cannot really be with the poor unless you are struggling against poverty. Because of this solidarity--which must manifest itself in specific action, a style of life, a break with one's social class--one can also help the poor and exploitated to become aware of their exploitation and seek liberation from it. Christian poverty, an expression of love, is solidarity with the poor and is a protest against poverty. This is the concrete, contemporary meaning of the witness of poverty. It is a poverty lived not for its own sake, but rather as an authentic imitation of Christ; it is a poverty which means taking on the sinful human condition to liberate humankind from sin and all its consequences. (page 172)

Gustavo Gutierrez

Theology of Liberation

Ring out the old, ring in the new!

2012-01-01T06:00:00.007-06:00

Ring Out , Wild Bells

Alfred Lord Tennyson

1850

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Human mediation to loving God

2011-12-31T06:05:00.004-06:00

It is not enough to say that love of God is inseparable from the love of one's neighbor. It must be added that love for God is unavoidably expressed through love of one's neighbor. Moreover, God is loved in the neighbor: "But if a man says, 'I love God,' while hating his brother, he is a liar. If he does not love the brother whom he has seen, it cannot be that he loves God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). To love one's brother, to love all persons, is a necessary and indispensable mediation of the love of God; it is to love God: "You did it for me, . . .you did not do it for me."

We find the Lord in our encounters with others, especially the poor, marginated, and exploited ones. An act of love towards them is an act of love towards God. This is why Congar speaks of "the sacrament of our neighbor," who as a visible reality reveals to us and allows us to welcome the Lord: "But there is one thing that is privileged to be a paradoxical sign of God, in relation to which men are able to manifest their deepest commitment--our Neighbor. The sacrament of our Neighbor!" (pages 114, 115)

Gustavo Gutierrez

A Theology of Liberation

Opportunity Center Update. . .

2011-12-30T06:00:00.002-06:00

Photos taken this week at the site of CitySquare's new Opportunity Center located at the southeast corner of I-30 and Malcolm X Boulevard, an important gateway to South Dallas Fair Park. Great views of the Downtown skyline and easy access from all directions make the property very attractive for its purpose.

Early in 2012, we will launch the public phase of a capital campaign to fully fund the new development that will include a health creation center, workforce training and job placement, nutrition education, food distribution and literacy instruction.

More details coming very soon about our partners and our plans.

Stay tuned!

Destination Islands

2011-12-29T06:00:00.002-06:00

Inner city neighborhoods are not all blight and despair, to be sure. Amazingly, wealth co-exists with grave poverty in every inner city community with hopes for renewal.

Here in Old East Dallas "Jimmy's" is a prime example of a "destination island." People from all over Dallas make the trek to Jimmy's for fine food and the wonderful experience of simply shopping in this amazing store!

I feel so very blessed that Jimmy just won't leave our neighborhood!

If you live in the Dallas area, you've got to check it out. If you live outside Dallas, Jimmy's is reason enough to plan a trip!
Great food.

Great atmosphere.

Great experience. Great people!

You can help TODAY!

2011-12-28T15:14:00.000-06:00

CitySquare needs your help before January 1!

You can help TODAY!

Take a look here to find out how you can make a huge difference!

Theology of the neighbor

2011-12-28T06:00:00.002-06:00

The idea of "neighbor" occupies an extremely important place in the world and work of CitySquare. Such has been the case since at least 1994 when we began to talk in terms of the primacy of the neighbor in determining our course of work in inner city communities in Dallas, Texas. We didn't discover written documentation for the ideas that emerged from our relationships with "the poor" until many years later. And, we're still finding experienced-based evidence and argument that the approach is valid and essential.

Consider the following explanation of a "theology of the neighbor."

Our encounter with the Lord occurs in our encounter with others, especially in the encounter with those whose human features have been disfigured by oppression, despoliation, and alienation and who have "no beauty, no majesty" but are the things "from which men turn away their eyes" (Isa. 53:2-3). These are the marginal groups, who have fashioned a true culture for themselves and whose values one must understand if one wishes to reach them. The salvation of humanity passes through them; they are the bearers of the meaning of history and "inherit the Kingdom" (James 2:5). Our attitude towards them, or rather our commitment to them, will indicate whether or not we are directing our existence in conformity with the will of the Father. This is what Christ reveals to us by identifying himself with the poor in the text of Matthew. A theology of the neighbor, which has yet to be worked out, would have to be structured on this basis. (page 116)

A Theology of Liberation

Gustavo Gutierrez

East Dallas bones and underbelly

2011-12-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

Living in Old East Dallas provides lots of interesting sights, sounds and situations!

Since 1999, it's been home.

There are many old, interesting, turn-of-the last century homes that double as "money pits" to those who purchase them. At the same time, remodeling these homes has played a part in the renewal of this inner city neighborhood. Still, the area is populated by low-income working families, many homeless persons and lots of renters who make their homes in under-serviced, often substandard rental properties.

The community is extremely diverse in every respect--ethnically, racially, economically, educationally, religiously.

Interesting place.

I shot these photos some time ago, and ran across them while cleaning out other old photographs. Posted here with love, respect and continuing amazement, as well as a healthy sense of mystery and wonder.

Gutierrez on Christmas

2011-12-26T06:00:00.004-06:00

The Irruption of God

By Gustavo Gutierrez on 12-29-2010

It is often said at Christmas that Jesus is born into every family and every heart. But these "births" must not make us forget the primordial, massive fact that Jesus was born of Mary among a people that at the time were dominated by the greatest empire of the age. If we forget that fact, the birth of Jesus becomes an abstraction, a symbol, a cipher. Apart from its historical coordinates the event loses its meaning. To the eyes of Christians the incarnation is the irruption of God into human history: an incarnation into littleness and service in the midst of overbearing power exercised by the mighty of this world; an irruption that smells of the stable.

Source: The God of Life

When God dropped in. . .

2011-12-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

For most Christians, today occupies a very special place not only on the calendar, but also in an understanding of how God operates in and with the world.

I say "most" because I grew up in a tradition that prided itself in not celebrating the birth of Christ. The justification for this strange, "non-practice" had something to do with the idea that no one really knew when Jesus was born and that the early church didn't seem to pay much attention to the birth story. Neither idea made much sense to me from the time I was just a boy. Who cared about the exact date? And, it seemed to me that the early church cared enough about the event to include it in two of the gospel narratives.

But, this is not my point on this gray Christmas morning.

Reading the Gospel narratives about the birth of Jesus turns out to be an exciting, surprising, powerful, informative and formative experience every year.

Consider, for Christians this story's major themes include the following:

poor, very young parents
unlikely explanations as to why a baby is on the way
a teenage pregnancy
hardship
humility and humiliation
misunderstandings
faith and deep trust
great danger and violence
oppression
poverty
obedience
surprising events
political intrigue
divine intervention
refugee status
flight /migration
understanding of God's work on behalf of the poor and oppressed
housing need
danger of infant mortality
providence
darkness
great Light
miracles in the midst of "the ordinary"
formation of new, very unique community

Clearly, this narrative sets the stage and establishes the tone and texture for the rest of the story of Jesus. Note: when the gift of God's life shows up for all humanity, we discover it among the poor and outcast. This unlikely incarnation powerfully communicates God's message of hope and eliminates any doubt about whose side God takes in the human struggle for life and love and justice.

God drops in among the "lowly" to bring great, good news! In doing so God marks out the pathway for all who claim to follow this child.

Infant Impact

2011-12-24T09:30:00.000-06:00

Luke 1:46-55

46 And Marysaid,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
⁴⁸ for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
⁵² He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Minor League Christmas Greeting. . .

2011-12-23T06:00:00.003-06:00

Childhood hunger, a national disgrace

2011-12-22T06:00:00.002-06:00

CitySquare works throughout the year on issues related to hunger.

A large part of what we do relates directly to childhood hunger. During the last two summers, we've distributed over 1MM meals to children who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program during the school year. Getting to know these children and their families has been a great experience. Observing the challenges facing these same families motivates us to continue the battle against hunger and food insecurity in Dallas and beyond. (FYI: Exciting news will be coming soon relative to our plans to do even more, and in other cities.)

A national, partner organization, Share Our Strength produced the video you can access below that deals with childhood hunger and allows the voices of children to convey the sobering message.

I invite you to join CitySquare TODAY in the fight against hunger in our community!

The evidence mounts on income inequality and the growing national gap. . .

2011-12-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

23 Mind-Blowing Facts About Income Inequality In America

Gus Lubin
Nov. 7, 2011, 9:29 AM
From Business Insider

Once again the rich are getting richer as the poor get poorer in America.

Although rich people took a hit in the financial crisis, the stock market has recovered strongly.

Main Street has not: Median household income has fallen 10% since the beginning of the recession and unemployment has increased by nearly 5 percentage points.

Populist movements among Democrats and Republicans have finally put this issue in the spotlight. If you haven't seen these charts, then prepare to have your mind blown.

To read on click here. Take the time to view the remarkable charts and graphs that simply report the facts established by the data. The current trends appear frighteningly like the period immediately prior to the Great Depression.

All the while, the poor suffer most.

CityWalk in Sports Illustrated

2011-12-20T06:00:00.044-06:00

The World Series last season turned out to be really fun for folks in Dallas.

Even though our team did not prevail, everyone had lots of fun watching the series and cheering on the Texas Rangers!

Below you'll see the cover of Sports Illustrated the week of the series between the Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

On the back of the cover page you can see 511 N. Akard, CityWalk at Akard, the headquarters building for CitySquare and the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation!

We show up in the background of a Fruit of the Loom ad, but we are there!

Look high up in the background of the ad page and you'll see our distinctive 511 sign!

Fun and very cool! Don't you think?

Santa 1952

2011-12-19T06:00:00.003-06:00

Light

2011-12-18T06:00:00.004-06:00

Isaiah 9
¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
² The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Half of Americans poor & low income

2011-12-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income

by HOPE YEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too 'rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."

Full report found here.

Big win for low income families, public health and Dallas Farmers Market

2011-12-16T06:00:00.002-06:00

Read the good news here!

Thanks to Rev. Gerald Britt, his public policy team and our many community partners!

Healthy food choices make our community stronger.

Movin' dirt at Opportunity Center. . .FINALLY!

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

A Voice from Business on Creating Jobs

2011-12-14T06:00:00.005-06:00

[This just in from Bloomberg Business Week! Read it all before you react. I think some will find this surprising and informative.]

Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators

By Nick Hanauer
December 07, 2011 10:22 AM EST

Trouble is, sometimes the things that we know to be true are dead wrong. For the larger part of human history, for example, people were sure that the sun circles the Earth and that we are at the center of the universe. It doesn’t, and we aren’t. The conventional wisdom that the rich and businesses are our nation’s “job creators” is every bit as false.

I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software. I founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2007 for $6.4 billion. I was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc.

Even so, I’ve never been a “job creator.” I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.

That’s why I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is the feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion a virtuous cycle that allows companies to survive and thrive and business owners to hire. An ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than I ever have been or ever will be.

Theory of Evolution

When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around.

It is unquestionably true that without entrepreneurs and investors, you can’t have a dynamic and growing capitalist economy. But it’s equally true that without consumers, you can’t have entrepreneurs and investors. And the more we have happy customers with lots of disposable income, the better our businesses will do.

That’s why our current policies are so upside down. When the American middle class defends a tax system in which the lion’s share of benefits accrues to the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer.

And that’s what has been happening in the U.S. for the last 30 years.

Take time to read on here.

Occupy Jerusalem

2011-12-13T06:00:00.003-06:00

James W. McCarty, III posted this to Twitter from his blog not long ago. I thought it was brilliant. What do you think?

Jesus was an Occupier

December 8, 2011

Yesterday I wrote a piece responding to Tony Perkins’s piece at CNN in which he claims that Jesus was not an occupier, but was “a free-marketer.” Well, his piece upset me so much I’ve decided to write another response to that ludicrous claim. So, here you go:

Theologically speaking, Christians have a variety of answers to the question of why Jesus was killed: to appease God’s anger for human sin, to bear the just punishment owed to God by a sinful humanity, as a moral example of suffering love for God that future Christians should follow, as a sacrifice offered to God for the forgiveness of human sin, as the ultimate example of God’s unending love for humanity, and several other formulations. Historically speaking, however, there is a nearly universally accepted answer among scholars as to why he was killed: Because Jesus occupied the temple.

During Jesus’ life the temple in Jerusalem was the symbolic center of Jewish religious, political, legal, and economic power. It was, in the words of one of my former Bible professors, the White House, Supreme Court, and Federal Reserve combined. During the time of Jesus’ life the temple had a practice of using “moneychangers.” Moneychangers had the task of exchanging Roman and other money for ‘temple money,’ and charged an exorbitantly high exchange rate to do so. So, the poor, in order to pay their temple taxes or for the animals needed to go through with their religious sacrifices, had to pay more than real value for this necessity. This practice was especially unjust in light of the fact that God allowed for different animals to be sacrificed by people of different socio-economic classes to avoid placing too great a burden on the poor. This temple practice, in spirit if not letter, was a direct violation of God’s law which was constructed with an eye toward helping the poor.

Jesus, within the week that he was killed, became quite angry about this practice. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and chased the animals and those selling them out of the temple courtyard where this was practiced. He even made a whip and drove people out condemning the powerful for their perversion of holy space and exploitation of the poor and accusing them of turning the house of God, a house of prayer, into a “den of robbers.” Jesus occupied the temple. And they quickly killed him for it.

The Gospel of Mark informs us that it is after this incident that the religious leaders began plotting about how to kill Jesus (Mark 11:18). No longer was Jesus only someone who challenged their religious traditions and authority; now he was messing with their money. Jesus chose to occupy the temple and those he offended chose to have him occupy the cross instead.

Historically speaking, Jesus was a religious leader put to death by the Roman Empire for being a political threat. What was that threat? Jesus challenged the reigning political-economic system (which was also tied to religion) by taking over the space those in power claimed to hold a monopoly over. He shut-down, even if only for a very short-time, the reigning economic system that contributed to reifying the positions of the rich and poor in ancient Israel. He was killed for being an occupier.

I do not share this story to claim that Jesus’ actions in the temple naturally lead to the actions of those occupying Wall Street. Rather, I tell this story because there are some who are claiming that Jesus was not an occupier, and implying that those who are currently occupying Wall Street and other streets are in some way unchristian. This sort of claim is historically inaccurate. In fact, Jesus’ life makes no sense, historically speaking, without the decisive moment leading to his death being that he actually was an occupier.

What does this mean for us today?

It means that we cannot dismiss out of hand the actions of the occupy movement as inherently unchristian or anti-Jesus. Rather, it seems that people engaging in such activity should receive the benefit of the doubt that they are, in fact, being quite faithful to at least one of the key moments in Jesus’ life. Those who oppose such actions and defend the reigning economic system are the ones who bear the burden of proof that they are, in fact, remaining faithful to the example and teachings of Jesus the occupier.

I am not claiming that the occupy movement is, in fact, representative of what Jesus would do today or that it is a new form of church. Rather, I am simply stating that those who claim such actions can have nothing to do with the way of Jesus have seemingly missed a historical fact: Jesus was, perhaps the first, occupier.

To visit the blog click here.

Mapping poverty in the U. S.

2011-12-12T06:00:00.003-06:00

Check out the source for this instructive map here and here.

No surprise on Texas for us. Lots of work to do.

Santa's hearing different kinds of Christmas wish lists in 2011

2011-12-11T06:00:00.003-06:00

Santa finds kids giving shorter lists in recession

By MARTHA WAGGONER
AP – Tue, Dec 6,

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A job for their mom or dad. Money for the heating bill. Food or a place to live. Maybe gloves or boots.

More and more, Santas say the children on their laps are asking for less for themselves — and Santa is promising less as well.

With unemployment stubbornly high, more homes in foreclosure and the economic outlook dim, many children who visit Santa are all too aware of the struggle to make ends meet.

"These children understand the conditions around the home when they ask for stuff," said Richard Holden, a 69-year-old Santa from Gastonia, N.C. "They understand when there are other children in the family, they need to be cautious or thoughtful of them as well and not ask for 10 to 12 items."

Cliff Snider, who's been playing Santa since he was a teenager, agrees.

"I think the parents are saying, 'It's an economic thing. Just list two to three things you really want to have,'" he said. "Parents are trying to encourage the children to be thrifty."

And the 64-year-old Snider does his best to help out. When he gets a big-ticket request, he typically responds: "There's an awful lot of children asking for that this year. What else do you want?"

At the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School, Santas learn lines like, "Wow, that's a big gift. Is there anything else you might like?"

These days, though, Santas are having to use it less and less.

"I think it's becoming more popular not to have that long list," said Tom Valent, dean of the Howard Santa school in Midland, Mich., which gets more than 3,000 letters to Santa a year and just graduated its 75th class. "Families are teaching their children to be as much of a giver as a receiver."

Starlight Fonseca has been teaching her five children, ages 5 to 14, "that we're not the only ones who have to cut things back. We're not the only ones struggling."

The 31-year-old mother and her husband Jose had been relying on a stipend from the University of Texas law school that Fonseca lost when an illness made it impossible for her to keep her grades up. She'd hoped to graduate in May but was unable to attend school this semester and can't get student loans due to poor credit.

Fonseca tells her kids that "to make it fair for everyone, Santa has to cut back for everyone. ... We paint it in a way that Santa is doing the best he can to make everybody happy at Christmas."

It's especially hard for the oldest children.

They were two little kids who used to be excited about Christmas, and now they know every gift under the tree should have gone to the utility company," she said. "It shouldn't be that way, but that's where we are now."

Of course, Santas still see some kids like the 9-year-old who pulled out a BlackBerry and showed Snider photos of all the things he wanted. "It cracked me up," he said.

Holden's response to a long list is to say something like, "Why don't you narrow this down just a little bit and choose two or three items you would really like?" Sometimes he'll even mention prices, and say, "With things like they are, Santa Claus will do what he can to help you get what you like. But we can't make you any promises."

Tim Connaghan, who runs the International University for Santa Claus in Riverside, Calif., conducts an annual survey among the 500 Santas he employs. The economy has become such a big issue that Connaghan asked them for advice on how to handle some of the questions kids were asking about unemployed parents or having to move.

"Let's all hope your dad will find a new job, or you will get into a new home," is one recommended response.

"Acknowledge the problem, give them a positive response and say, 'Santa loves you, too. Maybe I could get something special for you,'" said Connaghan. "It's that quick, usually. But the hope is that when the child leaves, he feels a little better."

Connaghan recalled the night he and other Santas took some needy children shopping. One boy wanted to buy toilet paper because his mother was taking napkins and paper towels from a fast food restaurant for toilet paper.

"He wanted to buy her real toilet paper — a common, everyday item that we all take for granted," Connaghan said. "And this child is thinking this is a Christmas gift."

Holden has had children ask for things like heat at home. He'll tell the child Santa will do what he can, then try to let the parents know about agencies that might help.

One child returned a year later and "said she wanted to thank Santa for getting her some help when they didn't have food or a place to stay." Someone had overheard the conversation with Santa and helped the family.

"There's more to being a Santa Claus than you think there is," Holden said. "You don't just go 'ho, ho, ho,' pat them on the back of the head and send them on their way. You get involved with them. ... You just make sure they feel loved and they feel special when they leave your lap.

Holiday Alcohol Limit Test: Smile and Useful Remedy to Abuse!

2011-12-10T06:00:00.005-06:00

1. Click on the man's nose.

2. A new window will open - click on the man's nose again.

3. For each time you click on his nose, you can drink another glass of wine or beer!

Holiday Project to Consider!

2011-12-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

You, your family or your group looking for a Christmas project to benefit struggling neighbors in our city?

Here's an idea for you: consider a CitySquare Clothing Drive...for your neighborhood, church, organization, office or club!

We will supply all materials you'll need to get started and organized!

Our trucks will even pick up the clothing your collect! The picture above shows our crew and truck at the ready just for you, as well as employees from Flexpress, after the printing company held a company-wide and neighborhood-wide drive for us last month.

Why this suggestion now? The CitySquare Thrift Store now offers a big "50% Off All Clothing Sale" after wich we will start hustling to restock.

Any and all help greatly needed and appreciated!

For details contact Will Goldman at 214.887.8800 or 214.202.6578!

You have to make an effort to ignore!

2011-12-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

The Importance/Necessity of Guides

2011-12-06T06:00:00.006-06:00

I expect that most of us have heard the popular notion "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

Across the years several of us have appended the common wisdom with an additional statement, "But best of all is pond ownership, or at least a key to the gate that lets you in so you can fish!" Access to opportunity is essential no matter what one's skill set.

My experience last Friday reminded me of another important component to success in any life-sustaining endeavor that involves skill development: all of us need a guide. Mentors who teach us the ropes beyond just the raw skills are absolutely essential to success and progress as individuals and as communities.

My oldest grandson, Wyatt, his dad and I went to Lake Texoma to fish for small mouth bass, commonly known as Stripers.

We met Roger, our guide for the day.

All of us had experience fishing.

We all knew how to cast a line, to use a rod and reel. We'd baited many a hook prior to this trip.

Roger instructed us in a few of the fine points of the particulars of fishing for Stripers, but he did much more than that.

Roger showed us where the fish were!

He went right to them because he knew the vast lake that stretched out for miles before us like the back of his hand. He knew when they would bite. He had it all figured out.

So, all three of us got busy with what we knew--fishing. But we put our weight down on what he showed us as our guide. He navigated the waters, prepared us for the cold wind and spray and led us to the treasure! By the time our day was over we all considered Roger not only the expert, but more importantly, our good friend!

The city is full of people with great potential, many skills and great desire.

What's needed in every case is a trusted guide or guides to walk alongside for just a ways until everyone can find the path to what they need most. It is a self-deluding myth to believe that we can somehow make it in life all on our own. There is really no such thing as a self-made man or woman. We all need help. Those of us who are doing relatively well have enjoyed plenty of it.

Oh, and I apologize for shamelessly displaying our catch. But pictures seem to make my point best of all.

I assure you, without the guide, we have no photos, to say nothing of a completely different set of memories!

Food Deserts

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dr. Mark DeHaven is a member of CitySquare Board of Directors!

Sunday Meditation

2011-12-04T06:00:00.003-06:00

Amos 5:11-24

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
¹² For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
¹³ Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
¹⁴ Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
¹⁵ Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.
¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says:
“There will be wailing in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
¹⁷ There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through your midst,”
says the LORD.

The Day of the LORD

¹⁸ Woe to you who long
for the day of the LORD!
Why do you long for the day of the LORD?
That day will be darkness, not light.
¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
²⁰ Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? ²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Heroic Leadership

2011-12-03T09:18:00.001-06:00

Each month CitySquare hosts two sessions of our "Urban Engagement Book Club." Meeting each month on the first Thursday (Highland Park United Methodist Church) and the third Thursday (First United Methodist Church Dallas) from noon until 1:15 p.m., the groups enjoy a book synopsis and follow on discussion of books relating to urban issues, inner city ministry, public policy, leadership and history. Randy Mayeux provides an innovative, comprehensive overview of each volume. Participants receive a couple of pages of key quotes and an outline of the book being considered. The goal of each session is to make people leave feeling as if they have read the book, whether they have or not! So, no advanced reading is required.

Here's a quote from Chris Lowney's great book on leadership drawn from the history of the Jesuits:

…the abilities to innovate, to remain flexible and adapt constantly, to set ambitious goals, to think globally, to move quickly, to take risks. ...I became convinced that their approach to molding innovative, risk-taking, ambitious, flexible global thinkers worked.

Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World
Chicago: Loyola Press (2003)
by Chris Lowney

The amazing rise of the rich

2011-12-01T16:07:00.001-06:00

Recently, I ran across Tim Dickinson's essay in Rolling Stone describing the intentional, dramatic and unjust strategy that has been imposed on us all over the past 25 years (see below). The facts of the case make me angry. The ugly truth about our culture, our economy and our political reality would enrage the Hebrew prophets, you know, guys like Amos, Jeremiah, Micah, Isaiah, to say nothing of Jesus and his brother, James.

Please take the time to read the entire report. Then, tell me what you think. I hope some of you who seldom comment will make the special effort to do so on this post. I can anticipate the predictable reactions of some of my regular readers. What I need on this post is a response from you who see the truth here. I'd love a conversation about what we can do. Or, if you disagree with the article, comment on its substance.

How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich
The inside story of how the Republicans abandoned the poor and the middle class to pursue their relentless agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent

By Tim Dickinson

November 9, 2011 7:00 AM ET

The nation is still recovering from a crushing recession that sent unemployment hovering above nine percent for two straight years. The president, mindful of soaring deficits, is pushing bold action to shore up the nation's balance sheet. Cloaking himself in the language of class warfare, he calls on a hostile Congress to end wasteful tax breaks for the rich. "We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share," he thunders to a crowd in Georgia. Such tax loopholes, he adds, "sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary – and that's crazy."

Preacher-like, the president draws the crowd into a call-and-response. "Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver," he demands, "or less?"

The crowd, sounding every bit like the protesters from Occupy Wall Street, roars back: "MORE!"

The year was 1985. The president was Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Read the entire instructive report here.

Cut in state mental health funds huge blow to many homeless and to housing efforts. . .

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

Late last week, we received word from Value Options, the state's private insurance provider for mental health services for the very poor, that cuts in benefits would be forthcoming tomorrow (December 1).

The funding action taken responds to the very disappointing level of support from the state legislature in its last session.

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance believes that adjustments in the latest funding plan need to be forthcoming to protect consumers who are most vulnerable. Among the necessary adjustments, the following should be carefully considered and resolved as quickly as possible:

• The reduction of the case rate for indigent populations to $100 per month from $140 per month will leave many homeless individuals without case management services.

• Homeless individuals with mental illnesses and addictions have few natural supports in place to help them negotiate services systems and ensure their basic needs are met.

• The majority of the 2000 formerly homeless individuals with mental disorders and addictions who now live in supportive housing need the vital case management services now provided.

• It is crucial that a clear case management plan for homeless individuals, those in supportive housing, individuals leaving the jail and those returning from the state hospital be crafted and communicated to the field quickly.

• Note: The estimated cost of serving people with mental illness who are homeless is three time higher than for consumers who are in stable housing because of the increased incidence of crisis and subsequent rates of emergency room visits, hospitalizations and incarcerations among those who have no homes of their own.

• Homeless Individuals, including parents in families who are homeless, should be considered a priority population and services should remain whole for these populations.

Again, the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable among us take the hit in the public policy decisions of the State of Texas. We must find a way to do things differently and more effectively.

Injured, broke, and trying to work. . .

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

Friday a man knocked on my front door.

His jeans were torn, his clothing filthy, his facial expressions bespoke his fear and embarrassment.

"I live down the street in the blue apartments," he began. He told me his name and then began telling me his story.

He needed to earn a few dollars to purchase his anti-seizure medication. Just out of the hospital after a series of episodes, he needed a job.

When I reached for my wallet, he stepped back.

"No, don't do that," he scolded me. "I don't want a handout, I want a job. May I clean your windows or rake your lawn?" he suggested.

As we negotiated the job options, he showed me the gunshot wound that marked the back of his head. He pushed back his drooping right eyelid to reveal the absence of a normal eye. He told me an incident of random gunfire had devastated him and his life.

"The bullet came out my eye," he informed me. "The brain injury changed me."

He then began to cry.

He told me his meager disability benefits don't near cover his cost of living. He wept when he told me that he used our food pantry at CitySquare so he could eat.

He told me about his church.

He told me about his career before being shot.

He hugged me.

He went to work on the leaves in my yard, and I paid him well so that he could get his meds.

My neighbor should be doing better. Make no mistake about it: he's trying very hard. He's doing all he can do.

I'll try to help him, to stay in touch.

But the scale of problems like his are overwhelming. With so many in dire need, we need economies of scale provided by collective, national solutions.

In Monday's newspaper I read about more cuts in our privatized mental health services for the poor and disabled in Texas. As the report noted, Texas has made it to the bottom of the national ranking for these services.

Think about it.

Things aren't working. . .

2011-11-28T06:00:00.001-06:00

Did you see the 60 Minutes program last night regarding the growth in the numbers of homeless families and children? Families living in their cars. Children "learning how to be homeless." Check it out here.

Somehow current lectures about freedom, rugged individualism, tax cuts for the wealthiest, no matter what the human cost; and shrinking government ring right hollow when you have to face the stories of these families fallen on very hard times.

One out of 4 children in America is classified as living at or below the poverty line.

Almost 50 million Americans find themselves scratching out a living at or below the poverty line.

People want to work, but our economy is not working for growing numbers of us.

If we don't begin to do better, I say. . .

Shame on us!

If

2011-11-27T06:00:00.002-06:00

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

~Rudyard Kipling

"Wrap it up" at Barners and Noble and help CitySquare!!!

2011-11-26T06:00:00.005-06:00

Thanksgiving 2011: Widening wealth/poverty gap

2011-11-26T06:00:00.003-06:00

Challenging thoughts for Thanksgiving. . .I posted this same material last year. . .things are now worse. . .

Poverty and Thanksgiving: A Call to Close the Rich-Poor Gap

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It calls forth the essential spiritual value of gratitude. I have precious memories of feasts shared with family and with good friends at congregational dinners. I eagerly anticipate this year's gathering.

Imagine inviting family and friends over for Thanksgiving dinner and feeding some of them a lavish feast and some of them scraps and leftovers. While some are served an overabundance of delicious food, others receive tiny portions of unappetizing leavings. Horrible thought!

Two apparently unrelated headlines caught my eye a few weeks ago as I surfed my usual news sites. I can't get them out of my mind. The first is a truly major development: The percentage of people living in poverty in the United States is the highest in half a century. One out of seven Americans lives in poverty.

The second headline was a mere tidbit in the business news. It said something to the effect that companies that make things no one really needs have done very well in this recession. Though apparently unrelated, the two items are, of course, intimately connected. The poor are getting poorer and their numbers are increasing while the rich are doing very well. They continue to buy high tech gadgets and luxury items.

These news items should have been a major religious story. At one level, the growing gap between rich and poor is an economic and political issue. But it is also a moral and, ultimately, a religious issue. There is a temptation to see economic relationships as the result of uncontrollable forces. As a matter of fact, allowing this widening gap between rich and poor is a choice -- a moral choice. And it is a moral choice with enormous spiritual consequences.

All of the great religious traditions teach us that we are connected to one another. Every human being is my brother or sister. Every faith teaches compassion, that those who love God express that by loving others. Every faith also teaches us that we become fully human in community.

Economic inequality pollutes human relationships the way smog pollutes our lungs. Just look at life where the gaps between rich and poor are greatest -- Latin America and Africa. And look back to when the gap was greatest in American history. These were times of slavery and robber barons.

I know from my years in parish ministry the financial strains that beset families. I have seen a member lose her home because of predatory lending practices and witnessed the devastation of a sudden illness. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2009 59.1 million Americans had no health insurance, and we know that catastrophic health expenses can plunge families into poverty. Why is it that the United States is the only country in the developed world without universal health insurance for its citizens? And why here, in the richest country in the world, did more than 1 million children go hungry in 2008, according to the Dept. of Agriculture? These are more than political issues; these are spiritual issues as well.

Inequality breeds fear, bitterness, suspicion, crime and violence. It eats away at the dignity and self esteem of the poor while it hardens the hearts of the rich. Inequality numbs our spirits. Ultimately it dehumanizes us. Ironically, social psychology shows us that our grandmothers were right: The rich are not happier.

The answer is not some romantic neo-Marxist notion of a perfect equality. But neither is it the uncontrolled and rapacious avarice that sacrifices people to profit margins and outrageous consumption.

The growing gap between rich and poor harms us all. We can choose a better way. Let us share the bounty of the earth. There is enough for everyone at the Thanksgiving table.

[To read the original from The Huffington Post, click here.]

Shopping carts. . .

2011-11-25T06:00:00.004-06:00

[What follows provides very instructive insight into the world of deep poverty organized around an all too common sight in urban America today.]

On Shopping Carts, Thanksgiving, and Homelessness

What has four wheels and carries a turkey?

Unless you own a turkey farm, chances are that the bird in your oven took a spin in a shopping cart. Most of us don’t think twice about using a shopping cart (except when it has a squeaky wheel).
On the streets, a shopping cart is called a “buggy.” When I was homeless, I avoided “pushing a buggy” as long as I could. When that day finally came – when I had to get something from point A to Point B and had no other option but to use a shopping cart – I could no longer be in denial about my situation. I was homeless. As you can imagine, accepting that reality was devastating.

To read entire essay click here.