October 24, 2006

• Under a Changing Star ...

  I was born on the eve of a record hot summer with explosive scenes and racial clashes.  It culminated in late August when Dr Martin Luther King Jr led a march on the Capital Mall and made his "I Have a Dream" speech.  It went on into November when a young handsome President riding in an open car was killed by an assassin's bullet.  And it is the foundation of the world at the moment I joined it. 

  Many things have changed in my lifetime.  Opportunities for women, people of color, and people with disabilities are a hundredfold more available than they were 40 years ago.  The problem is that the opportunity back then was so miniscule that multiplying it a hundred times has not erased the barriers to social, educational, and economic security that plague us.

  The working poor in this country number 39 million people.  And then when you add in the children of these workers, we have a problem that touches on one of every three American lives. 

  I work for an organization that is in the start-up phase of developing systems to change this landscape.  We know that being poor is expensive.  A poor person pays up to 25% more for basic goods and services than would be paid by a middle class family.  And for some things, financial products or big ticket items the rate is an appalling double or triple what would be paid by someone with decent credit and job history. 

  We are trying - experimenting really - with ways to help people to get the things they need at prices they can afford.  We are focused right now on transportation because we know from studies that the biggest challenges to people trying to move off welfare are reliable transportation and child care. Other groups are targetting the child care crisis.  We are focusing on helping people get a car. 

  We are also looking at ways to give working poor people access to lines of credit, small personal loans, and access to financial literacy.  We are trying to find ways to bridge the gap between existing community resources and the people who need them.  We are looking for doors we can open to higher education, houses, and small business development.  And I think we may find some of these answers.

  My best friend says that I was born to be a part of this work.  Maybe that's true.

  What was it like the year you were born?

  Tucker tells me that it's his goal in life to be a kid - forever.  I told him that's a worthy goal. 

  "All the people we call ‘geniuses’ are men and women who somehow escaped having to put that curious, wondering child in themselves to sleep." -- Barbara Sher

  Wouldn't it be nice for people to be able to keep their dreams alive?  To create the world/life they see when they close their eyes to imagine? 

  • 8:09 am
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