NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
February 25, 2007
The headline of the national news section in this morning’s Des Moines Register says, “U.S. severe poverty rate is worst since ’75.” A family of four having an annual income of less than $9,903—half the federal poverty standard—was considered “severely poor” in 2005: nearly 16 million US citizens fall into this category.
An analysis of the 2005 census done by the McClatchy Newspapers found that the number of “severely poor” rose 26% from 2000 to 2005. “…Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries…it also suggests that social programs aren’t as effective as they once were at catching those who fall into economic despair.”
Can we end poverty in this nation? According to the Census Bureau, the lowest level we have officially reached since keeping records was 11.1 % in 1973. In 2005, it was 12.6%. Having worked in the field for over 25 years, it is clear to me that unless a public will to end this situation intervenes, poverty levels probably will continue to grow. This public will must be fueled by ordinary citizens like you and me who are willing to communicate effectively and insistently to our neighbors as well as our political leaders. The trend is for the gulf between “the rich” and “the poor” to continue widening, a trend that ultimately endangers our democracy. I, for one, am not willing to let this happen without doing what I can to suggest an alternate route.
Moving beyond poverty as a nation will require each of us who share such a vision to become the change we want to see happen. By examining your own life’s choices, attitudes, and beliefs, you too can align the personal forces that are available to you toward the task of eliminating poverty. It is within the grasp of each of us to unleash enormous power to transform our society so that one day no one will ever have to live in poverty again.
I wrote this book to inspire and equip you to become a more powerful ally and advocate for families who suffer in poverty. Poverty is a condition that we can eradicate, when enough public compassion and will combine with widespread clarity and effective leadership. Contact us any time at www.movethemountain.org for help with getting started in your own community.
I. RE-FRAMING THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY
Causes, Effects, and Solutions
To eliminate poverty, what’s needed is a consciously made collective decision that there is no longer any need for it to exist: a societal paradigm shift. We must agree that it is not necessary for the well-being of any nation to require that some of us work for less than a living wage—to require that some individuals live in poverty while working as hard as anyone else, often at jobs considered undesirable by most.
When we examine attitudes prevalent in the United States, we find that there is broad acceptance of the belief that if people work hard and play by the rules, they should be able to meet basic needs and have some money left over to invest for the future. This belief can form a foundation for developing new, improved public policies and novel social contracts between and among local, state, and national governments and individuals. This is an important next step toward building a more equitable society. Still, the most significant work needed lies in the realm of making a personal shift from seeking happiness outside of ourselves toward finding happiness within, and toward the experience of living in closer community with others. This crucial shift in mindset will compel us to develop new goals for our systems, such as the complete eradication of poverty. Having goals like this will result in new social and political norms, and, ultimately, in the construction of a more just, more inclusive civilization.
Not “Reduce” Poverty—End Poverty
Framing our work in terms of “ending poverty” rather than “reducing poverty” keeps us from colluding with the assumption that it is acceptable to have some poverty—from thinking that we are incapable of building a society without poverty. Is some poverty acceptable? No more than some racism, some cancer, or some gang violence—some shootings in some school buildings or some terrorism in some states. As a matter of fact, poverty exacerbates these problems, and many others like them. Millions of people living in poverty die younger than they need to from preventable diseases. Far too many are depressed and demoralized by conditions that may have existed throughout their entire lives. Too often, when listening to public dialogue, led for the most part by public officials, we are left with the impression that poverty is not a huge problem. But poverty is a national emergency, and needs to be viewed as such.
These disturbing facts, together with our personal experiences of relating to people living without enough, motivated us at Move the Mountain Leadership Center to identify and pursue ideas that might reengage individual communities in the process of responding more effectively to local poverty. Hurricane Katrina temporarily lifted consciousness and dialogue to a more appropriate level nationwide. Now we need to work to reinstate and sustain that same kind of focused awareness.
Move the Mountain Leadership Center
In 1992, as Move the Mountain began to define a group of working theories, we learned that it is the mindset prevalent among those involved in the highest levels of strategizing that determines which goals ultimately are set for a community. As a result, beginning in 1995 we put our full attention into producing leadership development tools. Since then, Move the Mountain has been helping community leaders in education, human service, and other fields to better articulate their various goals and develop more intentional sets of strategies for implementing their plans. Soon it became clear to us that social service agencies can reach only a small portion of the population living in poverty. In addition, for the most part such agencies can provide only limited, temporary services. Our nation’s network of anti-poverty agencies seems somehow to have transformed into one focused more on grants management than on effective action strategies for engaging communities locally.
Responsibility for ending poverty rests with all of us: in our federal, state, and local governments; our business communities; our neighborhoods; our faith communities; our families; and, most importantly, with individuals. No single individual or group can be expected to take on responsibility for the entire task of ending poverty. Move the Mountain’s mission is to inspire and equip thousands of transformational leaders and thousands of other groups to work toward the goal of ending poverty.
Testing the Circles approach
One strategy we decided to test is called the Circles Campaign.
A Circle comprises two to three or more volunteers—“Circle allies”—who meet monthly with the head(s) of a single family—“Circle leader(s)”—to seek solutions for the daily problems, large and small, faced by those wanting to get out of poverty. Groups of Circle leaders meet together weekly to share a meal and a program. Major focus is placed on improving self-sufficiency, expanding social networks, and enhancing academic performance of both children and parents.
Beginning a Circles Campaign is a very practical way to build a new, broad-based constituency around the agenda of ending poverty. It is a simple idea that has captured the imagination of politicians, faith leaders, neighborhood organizers, social workers, educators, and business leaders across the United States. A team of people supports members of one family as they work their way out of poverty. Although the process of helping a family out of poverty is complex, the concept of Circles is not, and therefore is attractive for many.
Participating in a Circle gives anyone—public officials included—a new opportunity to get close to the pain of poverty by sharing the experience of one family. Working together in an organized way, systemic barriers to moving out of poverty can be addressed.
The deeper motive underlying the Circles Campaign is to invite everyone to consider making changes that stem from enhanced generosity and compassion, and to develop simpler lifestyles that are more sustainable and enjoyable. As one makes friends with people who have extremely limited cash resources, it becomes more difficult to spend money frivolously. As we engage in intentional dialogue about poverty and its causes, we often recognize that a simpler lifestyle would reduce anxiety and bring a stronger sense of meaning and peace to our lives. Our need to over-consume—to accumulate possessions to fill emotional needs—diminishes. We begin to see the world around us in new ways, which can stimulate an interest to advocate for new, more equitable social and public policies.
Excerpt # 2
Rhonda got involved in a Circles Campaign after she lost her job. “It was a union position so I got laid off because I was the lowest on the totem pole.” She found herself waiting tables and decided that joining a Circle would be a good opportunity. “I just felt a lot of shame. I think anybody in poverty does feel it because I worked really hard, am really smart, am a good person, but I still just can’t make it.” Rhonda was able to get a group of allies who were supportive regarding what she needed. She got a job a couple months later because there was a position opening up where she had previously worked. “I started working full-time making $12 an hour by commuting an hour each way, so it was a lot of hours, but I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel; if I put in this time and this experience I was earning more money.”
She remained very committed to her Circles group even after she got a job. “I would drive an hour to work, work for eight hours, drive an hour home to get my kids, and we would drive about another 45 minutes to get to Circles.” They were really long days, but Rhonda knew the meetings offered her opportunities for leadership, and it was something they did together as a family. Her kids really looked forward to going because they made friends at the meetings. Rhonda made friends with her allies and gained some leadership skills, which she would not have had the opportunity to do in any other place. “Circles gives you the opportunity to give back to the project and to other people where other social service programs don’t offer that.”
In her Circle, Rhonda worked on doing some concrete budgeting, which was something she never learned in her family. “All I learned about money growing up was [that] we never had any. Actually having money and budgeting it was a really big concept.” She felt very comfortable about sharing details of her financial situation. “It was a no-blame, no shame environment. You say, ‘This is where I am...’ I made decisions that were not all smart ones, but I knew I had to take responsibility for [my situation] if I wanted to make things better.”
The other thing she did was clean up her credit report. “I had bills that I couldn’t pay when I was going to school, and when I was working a minimum wage job there were things I couldn’t pay that went into collections, and I ran some credit cards up, and so those are things that I paid off.” She also entered into an asset development program in Minnesota that matched everything she put in three to one. “I’m actually buying a house in about two weeks with the money I built up with that. It is exciting.” She also went back to school to finish her degree in sociology, which helped her find a great job.
While Rhonda was a Circle leader, a position opened up as a Circles coordinator. “I was able to stop my participation and work into this role as being a coach to families and facilitator of our weekly meeting.” She now works directly with families in Circles. “I think that there is a moral responsibility to help other people in our community.”
Rhonda grew up thinking that if you work hard you can make it, but she has known so many people who work hard and still cannot get ahead. “I think there is something inherently wrong with our economic system, and that we have a responsibility to speak up about it.” She has seen first-hand many public policies that really keep people trapped in poverty. “I think I have the responsibility to make other people understand that public policy needs to change.” She thinks that community members need to be more aware of the poverty around them. “If people are in poverty, it affects everyone; and if everybody prospers, it affects everyone. We are all interconnected.”
Excerpt # 3
Rich, an ally, believes strongly in the Circles Campaign. “When I was growing up people had more siblings around—parents, grandparents and extended family—and I think now-a-days people have [fewer] siblings and move around a lot more. I see Circles as a potential for replacing that connection that people used to have.” Another benefit of Circles, according to Rich, is that it has been nice to cross socioeconomic boundaries that people have put up in their lives. “You see over and over again that people don’t have many others to count on. A Circle allows them to be with people that they would not [usually] necessarily deal with and to provide them some positive outlooks in their lives.”
Rich sees the potential for Circles growing. “I’ve been around awhile looking at the way things are [done]. I see this as a very logical alternative to what is being offered out there, and a much better alternative.” He believes that Circles gives people the chance to change their own lives. “It is more of the ‘hands-up’ than a ‘hand-out’ type of thing. We really put the emphasis on the person wanting to make a change in their life and give them a little bit of motivation to get them to the next level.”
“I’ve gotten out of Circles an appreciation of what people experience and the challenges in life.” Rich has seen some really motivated people who are participants and allies. “They have their heart in the right place and they only want to have success, not only in their own way, but in others’; wanting to share in their time, that’s a huge thing now-a-days, people willing to share their time to help others.”
