Poverty is a cultural, communicative, and generational issue

Culture, communicative, and generational factors play heavily into poverty. This is why it is so difficult for people in generational poverty to pursue the fabled "American Dream" and escape the confines of their birth.

As my old Communication Philosopher Corey Anton loves to say, "You aren't born with a mind." In fact, he discuss that the mind is a collective and communal system, which gets its ideas from the others interact with. He goes off in this video about the collective mind and communication. It's a little dense, I know, but he really have some good points.

">

If we all do share a collective mine, and what we think and perceive is affected by the people we interact with, then it would seem to shine a light on some of the reasons why impoverished people have such a difficulty at overcoming their circumstances.

First of all, you have a system which provides as many barriers as possible to people who are in poverty. This all plays into the state of mind of which people are in constantly in poverty. This system that feeds feelings of hopelessness, stress, anger and despair.

History has proven that when people experience extreme hopelessness, stress, anger and despair, regardless of what income-level or culture they derive from, it can feed addiction into negative behaviors. It is not a surprise then that behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse, violence, child neglect, and mental illness all arise from long-term feelings of hopelessness, stress, anger and despair.

If you grow up in a an impoverished community, with negative behaviors such as these, who is going to provide the positive influence in your life? Who is going to educate you to reach beyond your circumstances and achieve a better life for yourself?

As Anton quotes Chorin, "The most important decision you can ever make is who to have as parents." This should not be taken literally, but as the mentors, the people you listen to who will guide your life.

If your collective mind is a community with negative thoughts and behaviors, one is much more swayed into take these as acceptable behaviors. One is also more likely to accept hopelessness, anger, stress, and despair as the norm.

This underscores the supreme importance of mentoring and relationship building in all communities. When we create programs to serve the needs of impoverished people, we need to have relational impacts on their lives. We need to add a new thoughts to their mind, that they can escape the confines of poverty, and that there is hope in reaching a better life.

Before you judge the problems of those who live in poverty, remember that these problems are collective. Unless checked, they can spread from one person to another. Until we implement positive values and objectives into a community, it will be difficult to reduce poverty in any form.

The Debt Poor: Undocumented Poverty

Today's news features two the most highlighted topics in America right now: Debt and Health Care. According to the San Francisco Chronicle,

"Four million Americans would fall below the federal poverty line if the interest they pay on their credit cards and other consumer debt were subtracted from their incomes, say two economics professors who call these people the "debt poor."

For people with low-income who have bad credit, it is often more expensive to live as consumers who are in debt as they have to pay higher fees and are subject to services that prey on them. Payday lenders, loan sharks, and even banks charge higher rates to the debt. They can get away with it because it is considered a "high-risk" to lend to these types of consumers.

In truth, it perpetuates poverty because consumers must take out loans to pay off previous ones, therefore falling further and further into debt. It is a cyclical process they cannot escape.

There are initiatives underway to combat this type of consumer abuse. Bank on San Francisco is unique collaborative effort to bring 10,000 of the city’s estimated 50,000 unbanked households into the financial mainstream. The Mayor’s Office and the Treasurer’s Office of the City and County of San Francisco, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, a local nonprofit EARN (Earned Assets Resource Network), and the city’s financial institutions worked together to:

1. Increase the supply of starter account products that work for the low-income unbanked market by developing baseline product criteria that must be offered by all participating financial institutions.
2. Raise awareness among unbanked consumers about the benefits of account ownership and spur them to open accounts.
3. Clamp down on the proliferation of check cashers and payday lenders.
4. Raise city-wide awareness of the unbanked problem and potential solutions.
5. Make quality money management education more easily available to low-income San Franciscans.

Banks and credit unions participating in Bank on San Francisco have agreed to:

• Offer a low- or no-cost product with no minimum balance requirement. High minimum balances and fees are a key factor keeping people out of the financial mainstream.
• Adapt internal systems to allow customers with a poor banking history to open “second chance” accounts.
• Accept consular identification cards as primary ID. For many immigrants, the barrier to opening an account is having the proper documentation.
• Waive one set of overdraft fees per client. Banks are often criticized for penalizing clients for mistakes, so this waiver gives everyone a chance to learn account management.
• Improve customer service at the branch level, expand marketing and outreach strategies in targeted, low-income neighborhoods, and increase the visibility of appropriate products in San Francisco.
• Partner with local community based organizations to provide financial management training and transition customers ready to enter the financial mainstream.

One year into the pilot, the collaborative of financial institutions had opened over 11,000 Bank on San Francisco accounts, surpassing the original goal of banking 10,000 of San Francisco’s unbanked. The goal has now doubled to banking 20,000 unbanked individuals in the city by the fall of 2008.

----

In Kalamazoo, The Poverty Reduction Initiative in collaboration with city and county officials, the Hispanic Council, Consumers Credit Union, and other affiliates are trying to achieve similar goals. A meeting this July will bring together key leaders to discuss the opening of financial assets to low-income families with debt. Be sure to check out http://www.haltpoverty.org for more updates on the progress.

Raising a Whisper

The One Community Leadership Team is certainly making progress in creating a comprehensive method to reduce poverty in Southwest Michigan. Today we gathered together key leaders from the region, drafted a charter, created subcommittees to take action and are mulling over what key issues to advocate for.

This team was created to organize a comprehensive poverty reduction effort that encompassed all the citizens in need of Southwest Michigan. With so much momentum gathered in one direction, there is much to be hopeful for.

But leaders and citizens alike: be warned - this is no task for those who lack dedication. If this is not taken seriously, it has serious potential to fail. However, if pursued vigorously, it also has the potential to succeed beyond our hopes.

It reminds me of a quote from the movie Gladiator, where the emperor is speaking of the decline of his empire due to corruption and war:

"There was a dream that was Rome. I can only whisper of it now. Anything more than a whisper and the dream vanishes. It's so... fragile."

The dream of a "communitarian society," ask Lewis Walker Institute's Director Tim Ready eloquently spoke, is such a whisper. Our society is on a similar verge of decline, with its vices being greed and indifference. The dream that every person have a chance to succeed is seriously threatened by our economic climate.

Hence, it will take quite the effort of both of leaders and citizens to sustain this whisper. It will take time out of personal lives, rearrangement of priorities, and eliminating excuses to accomplish our hope. It will take passion during times of despair, and hard work in times of exhaustion.

I know that now is the time in history to lift people out of poverty, an opportune moment to raise equity and create a sustainable future for all citizens.

It will simply take a lot more than lip service to accomplish these tasks. Be prepared to commit when you are asked to do so.

The leadership team meeting in Kalamazoo

PRI Launches new website

Yes.. it has finally come. The PRI is now online and up to modern standards with its beautiful new website.

Among other things, users may

• Register for volunteer opportunies
• Sign up for newsletters
• Donate directly online
• Read PRI stories
• Host poverty simulations and presentations
• Analyze poverty statistics in Kalamazoo
  

Please take your time, look around and enjoy!

http://www.haltpoverty.org

-Kevin Lignell

Americorps Prepared to Expand

According to Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr., a bill to expand Americorps program from 75,000 to 250,000 volunteers appears ready to be passed by congress.

"This week, the House is expected to pass a bill that would increase the number of federally funded service slots to 250,000, and the Senate will soon begin moving similar legislation.

The House proposal won committee approval last week with overwhelming support from both parties."

It would also increase the education award Americorps receive from $4,725 to $5,350 and requires that it match any future increases in Pell Grant scholarships. Being an Americorps volunteer myself, obviously I have some embedded personal interest in the bill.

But beyond supporting myself, this bill will further aid poverty reduction efforts across the US in a extremely affordable way. Americorps are basically paid a poverty-level wage, so the cost of labor is insignificant. We also create millions of volunteers: it is estimated the current 75,000 in service responsible for creating over 2.2 million volunteers to their organizations.

Having Americorps volunteers work for the Kalamazoo County Poverty Reduction Initiative has greatly increased our capacity to fight poverty; it will certainly aid other organizations as well. I strongly recommend to anyone, young or old, this exciting opportunity to serve their country.To learn more on how to serve, visit http://www.americorps.org.

Transportation Still a Major Issue for those in Poverty

Transportation issues have always been a source of frustration for anyone who has experienced poverty. In a country dominated by the automobile for the past century, it is a large obstacle for anyone trying to make it to work on a weekly basis on top of accessing the support services that a low-income person needs to survive.

Cars are expensive - from their initial cost to purchase, to the high-priced gasoline they consume, to the burdening cost of repair. For someone making minimum wage who has a family, the cost can be crippling. For many in poverty, they simply cannot afford the cost associated with an automobile.

If you aren't driving around to get to where you need to be, then you have to rely on either friends or public transportation. Public transportation, while strong in some major cities in the country, is completely unreliable in Michigan. In our cities, at most what is available is a scattered system of buses which do not even serve all the relevant population areas.

Anyone who's ever ridden a bus to get someone knows how difficult their routes can be to traverse. If you don't live near a route, or if that route does not lie where you need to go, you can forget about an easy travel. It could take 3-4 hours a day to reach what a car would feasibly do in 30 minutes.

What we need to mend the struggles of public transportation is a system of both light rail and high speed trains. This would make it easier for any residents, regardless of income, to access the resources around them. It would also be environmentally friendly, reducing pollution and increasing mobility of the region.

In the Michigan Business Review, writer Nathan Bomey asks if a high speed train could be in Michigan's future.

In fact, the Windy City is the top thief of Michigan's top college graduates, according to Ann Arbor-based think tank Michigan Future.

Which is just part of the reason why he believes high-speed rail could provide a significant boost to the region. If young people could visit Chicago regularly, why not stay in Michigan after all? Not to mention the fact that high-speed rail could introduce a wave of new people to the Detroit region.

For now, though, high-speed rail is still largely a fantasy for most of the country. The sheer amount of investment needed - tens of billions of dollars for hundreds of miles of track and trains - is daunting.

But the Obama administration's commitment to enhancing the nation's transportation infrastructure and the inclusion of $8 billion in high-speed rail funding in the $787 billion economic stimulus package are promising steps.

Rick Harnish, executive director of the Chicago-based Midwest High-Speed Rail Association, argued that Michigan needs high-speed rail.

"I don't see how Michigan remains in the global marketplace if it doesn't link itself to fast trains with Chicago," he said.

Please add Kalamazoo to the list of High Speed stops in this senario. For a city who prides it self in being the transition from Chicago to Detroit, this would reap millions for the economy. So what's holding all this potential economic development back?

Ultimately, the barriers to high-speed rail present significant obstacles, though. Freight carriers own most existing tracks, for example, meaning Amtrak trains have to yield to freight trains during routine trips.

Harnish said high-speed rail investments would require the construction of new tracks to avoid freight trains as much as possible and renegotiation of deals with freight companies.

We need to make these forms of transportation a priority again. It simply isn't feasible to rely on hybrid car development to push the future - the roads are crowded and potential slower than a train anyway. The development of trains in Michigan would help both its poverty residents as well as those well-off.

Changing the Discourse on Poverty

The "American Dream" has been a great public relations campaign for the United States in the last century. For who could argue against a country of where anyone can succeed, regardless of race, class, or gender?

Everyone loves a Cinderella story, of whose repertoire now includes the impressive 8 Oscar victories by hit film Slumdog Millionaire. However uplifting the story, we all know deep inside that the chances of anyone in poverty truly rising out their condition without resources is slim to none. America is no exception.

Knowing this is true, why are we so quick to judge those on the lower rungs of the later? American popular culture has historically given a tough shrug to its poor residents. If you can't pick yourself up and rise above, its your fault. It would seem that the foundations of our culture would not allow smart, hard working people to fail.

In the idea of the American dream, a philosophy based off of self-reliance and personal responsibility, there exists a an inherent problem: the idea that some of our poor are deserving or their condition, whereas others are not.

Generally, the "deserving poor" refers to people who live in generation poverty. Generational poverty is a cyclical problem where those who lack resources for their own lives have none to give to their children to rise above their conditions. As studies suggest, education is one of the highest indicators of poverty across the United States. Parents who lack education themselves are rarely in conditional to give their children advice on how best to pursue theirs.

On the other hand, the "undeserving poor" refers to those of whose poverty status is situational or temporary. This group of poor has likely greatly expanded with the recent layoffs caused by the economic crisis. Unlike those in generational poverty, these members usually have either job experiences or education necessary to rise out of poverty again when the opportunity comes.

The idea of deserved and undeserved poverty needs to be broken. At a time when our economic playing field is leveled, there is a chance for increased empathy towards all people in poverty conditions. It is time we should realize that whether generational or situational, no one deserves to live in a condition where they struggle to meet their basic needs.

If we do not break this ideology, it could have rippling effects on our society and the well-being of all Americans. When the economy finally does recover, no one knows how long it could take to reach its previous height. What will result is families who were once in situational poverty could find themselves being confronted with a long-term problem. It is like a fish net: while many will be lifted up through the net back to financial stability, others will fall through to the bottom.

Someday after this depression has passed, we will forget about the distinction between deserving and undeserving poor. Those who fell through the net could find themselves less deserving for aid than before.

Its time to change the discourse on poverty not because we need to save these few. It is simply because no one deserves to be labeled as undeserving.