CCH's Director of Organizing, Jim Field, recently turned me onto the founder of community organizing, Saul Alinsky (1909-1972).
If you've never read Alinsky, or heard about him, go read his books, Reveille for Radicals (1946) and Rules for Radicals (1971). You can also check out this superb 1972 interview during which he talks about his career and the movements he helped start.
The U.S. spends $720 million a day for the Iraq War. Follow this link to watch a powerful video on YouTube that imagines what we as a society could do with these funds.
A couple points:
Just in: Thursday's Poverty Dispatch from the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Check it out by following the link:
The current Poverty's Dispatch includes the following stories:
Today's subjects include:
Measuring Poverty - Washington
2008 Federal Poverty Income Guidelines
Social Services and Increasing Need
Food Stamp Debit Card Fees - Iowa
At the end of 2007, CCH started a creative writing and arts program, Horizons. The program is running in four shelters across the city.
Horizons’ goal is to empower its participants by giving them the opportunity to discover their own creative voices. By expressing themselves artistically, Horizons participants have the chance to regain a sense of their own beauty and value at a time when most of their focus is on what is wrong with their lives.
Watch for updates and Horizons participants’ work soon on CCH’s blog and website!
Last night, I learned that a friend of my family had died.
Her name was Prital Desai. She was a loving, caring person. She taught my stepson in preschool through first grade, and she took care of my newborn son.
Prital was 27 years old when she died. She was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia about six months ago and spent most of that time in the hospital.
The world has lost a beautiful human being, and the day is sadder now that she is gone.
From The New York Times: Tentative Deal on Economic Stimulus Plan.
Great news, right? Paul Krugman says, not necessarily.
Spotlight on Poverty is a website that monitors what the presidential candidates and other politicians are saying about poverty. It also links to news stories, editorials and studies on poverty and politics.
It's a great site. Follow the link to check it out.
In an earlier post, I linked to an interview with David Cay Johnston, who just published
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You with the Bill.
I want to say to you. . . as we talk about "Where do we go from here?" that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.
Via Fresh Air from WHYY, January 3, 2008:
Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston explores in his new book how in recent years, government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and the middle class to the rich and politically connected.
Cay Johnston covers tax policy for The New York Times, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on that beat. His previous book, Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich — and Cheat Everybody Else, was a best seller.
