WE'VE MOVED AND EXPANDED

JOIN US AT WWW.COLORADO2019.ORG TO SEE WHAT'S NEW WITH THE TASK FORCE, REVIEW COLORADO'S PROMISING PRACTICES FOR POVERTY REDUCTION AND CONTRIBUTE YOUR THOUGHTS TO THE BLOG.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT OF THIS COLLABORATION.

WWW.COLORADO2019.ORG

Collective Impact, Promising Practices, Economic Opportunity

Join us October 19th for the Colorado 2019 Summit in observation of World Poverty Day at Infinity Event Center! The summit will feature Mark Kramer, co-founder and Managing Director of FSG and the author of influential publications on shared value, catalytic philanthropy, collective impact, strategic evaluation, and impact investing. Mr. Kramer will be speaking about Corporate Shared Values. Click here to read about Mark Kramer’s Shared Value Initiative with the Clinton Global Initiative. Morning bus tours to promising practices will head to Boulder County and Arapahoe county as well as WorkLife Partnership. Register here!

Guest opinion: Increasing numbers of Boulder County families are hurting

By Terry Benjamin Boulder Daily Camera

EFAA began in 1918 as a way for neighbors to help neighbors through temporary hard times. Almost daily we see news reports about the challenges facing low-income families. Visits to Emergency Family Assistance Association from Boulder and Broomfield County families have increased 24 percent in the past year. They come for food, assistance with rent, energy bills and emergency shelter.

Today, more and more of the families we help are working, but at wages too low to live on. As a result they rely on EFAA and on important public benefits such as SNAP food assistance, Medicaid and child care assistance to make ends meet every month. With well-paying jobs in short supply and costs to raise a family dramatically increasing, an increasing number of Boulder County families are hurting.

Some recent reports:

·         One in five children under five in Boulder County lives in poverty, and child poverty has increased in Colorado faster than any other state. The stress of poverty is particularly harmful to children and can have long lasting effects. Boulder County enrollments in SNAP food assistance benefits have increased 150 percent since 2008 and Medicaid enrollments have increased 63 percent.

·         Even though the Colorado economy is growing, incomes fell for the bottom four fifths of Colorado households since 2007, rising only for the top fifth. This trend is alarming and is affected by the loss of mid-wage jobs, stagnant and declining wages, underemployment and part time hours. Household incomes are not keeping up with increasing costs of housing, education, energy and health care. The Colorado minimum wage of $7.64 is not enough to keep even a single person out of poverty. If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation in the last thirty years, it would be around $11.

·         A single mother with two young children needs to earn $29/hour to be entirely self-sufficient in Boulder County, yet half of the jobs in Boulder County pay less than $25/hour. 41 percent of families with a single mother live in poverty.

·         More than one in three Boulder County renter households pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing, and rents increased more than 10 percent just in the last year. Over 1,750 school-age children in Boulder County are without permanent homes.

The recession has affected many families and businesses but poverty is not just a result of the recent downturn. There are broader issues of economic and public policy at play. Of the jobs with the highest projected growth in Boulder County in the next ten years, one in four are in sectors such as leisure/hospitality, retail, and personal services that pay less than $15/hour, frequently without benefits. One quarter of Boulder County's mid-wage jobs have forever disappeared in the last ten years. Colorado's state budget is constrained so that education and important work supports such as the earned income tax credit and child care assistance have been cut. In the U.S. Congress, the House voted to cut over $16 billion from nutrition assistance, and cut Pell Grants that reduce the cost of higher education, help for the long-term unemployed, and assistance for rental housing.

There is not a simple answer to poverty, but we know that it takes a combination of individual commitment, support from the faith community and community organizations like EFAA, an adequate safety net, good education, access to health care, more jobs that pay decent wages and benefits, and possibilities to accumulate assets and retirement savings.

We have to face these economic and political realities. Ignoring these trends, blaming working families, walking away from support of effective public programs, cutting education and other investments, and continuing to push the problem to local governments and faith-based and community nonprofits cannot get us there.

 

Terry Benjamin is Executive Director, Emergency Family Assistance Association.

DeAnne Butterfield

1674 Yellow  Pine Ave

Boulder, CO  80304

303.588.1840

deanne.butterfield@earthlink.net

Sunday, Sept. 9-National Grandparent's Day

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy released the Elder Economic Security Standard Index in July 2011. Highlighted in the report are the costs for "aging in community" (which 90%) of elders want and the costs for aging in nursing institutions.

"The need for home and community-based long-term care can double or even triple an elder’s expenses. Adding a low level of care for one person adds $7,920 per year to living costs. Requiring a medium level of care adds $21,008 and needing a high level of care adds $36,144 to $43,632. As a comparison, national market surveys report an average annual rate of $72, 234 for nursing facility care (semi-private room)..." (page xi) 

This year, the folks at Generations United have created an infographic demonstrating other opportunities that come with keeping our seniors in community as vital members of family. Click here for a snapshot of the community foundation that is laid when aging is celebrated. 

We know what works and how it works. The 2012 Community Assessment of Latino Older Adults in Metro Denver also reminds us to regard our elders as community assets and significant components of family and community stabilization.

 

"Latino older adults have positive perceptions on aging and appreciate the wisdom that comes with age. For them, it is important to remain engaged and active, have good health, maintain independence, and have family support." (page 3)

The conversation regarding community-based long-term will continue. Do something GRAND this Sunday and look around your neighborhoods for seniors. Chat with them for five minutes about what their needs are and then let us know.

 

Poverty and the Pentagon-Call to Action

Organizations:  Add Your Name to SAVE Vital Services and Prevent Rising Poverty

Please sign a letter to Congress - Deadline: Monday, September 10
Read the letter.  Sign the letter.

There are millions of reasons to sign this letter.  Here are just some:

• 1.5 million fewer low-income people provided anti-poverty help by community action agencies.
• 750,000 fewer infants, toddlers, and moms receiving WIC.
• More than 460,000 adults and youth will lose employment/training services, including 51,000 veterans.
• 734,000 fewer households with home heating/cooling assistance.
• 1.8 million fewer low-income schoolchildren with reading and math help.
• 185,000 fewer low-income households will receive rental vouchers.

All these and more vulnerable people will lose vital services if Congress allows automatic cuts to kick in starting in January.  At the same time, Pentagon cutbacks are scheduled.  And Congress has to decide whether to let all the Bush-era tax cuts expire, let just the extra breaks for the top 2 percent expire, or extend all of them. 

The letter calls upon Congress to set the right priorities - budget plans should protect low-income people and invest in job creation, with national priorities paid for through increased fair revenues and responsible savings from reducing waste in the Pentagon or other areas.

These principles were developed over a year ago in a statement signed by more than 1,600 organizations under the name Strengthening America's Values and Economy (SAVE) for All.  We welcome returning and new signers.

Why is this letter so important?  There are Members of Congress* who are determined to protect needed services by insisting on ending some of the upper-income tax breaks.  They oppose protecting the Pentagon by cutting human needs programs.  Of course, military contractors, financial interests, and right wing ideologues are pushing in the other direction.  Large numbers of organizations on this letter will show that groups representing millions nationwide want the right priorities - and are paying attention.  That's the kind of support our allies need to point to.

We can use your help:  please forward this email to your networks, lists, affiliates, friends...
Signing this letter does not commit your organization to anything except agreement with the letter. 

If you've already signed this letter, thank you so much!

Speak for Yourself!  If you're not authorized to sign for an organization, you can still speak out!  Click here to send an email to your Representative and Senators. 
(And remember:  please don't sign the organizational letter if you're not authorized to do so - it just slows us down.)

* Senator Patty Murray is one such determined Member of Congress.  If you didn't hear her in last week's webinar, you can listen to the recording (her statement is in the first 10 or 15 minutes):  click here to listen. 

And here is a collection of useful background information.

August Meeting in Arvada

The Economic Opportunity

Poverty Reduction

Task Force

REMINDER: “Creating a New Plan-Strategies for Helping Families Meet Basic Needs” 2012 summer meeting.

The focus of this next meeting is reviewing strategies for mitigating hunger, increasing affordable housing and accessing funds to meet basic needs.

The meeting will be from 3:30-5:30 at the Arvada Food Bank. Carpooling is available from CCLP address or every driver will be reimbursed for mileage.

Date:         Friday August 24, 2012

Time:         3:30 pm-5:30 pm

Location:     Arvada Food Bank, 8555 West 57th Avenue Arvada

This agenda includes updates on Colorado’s anti-hunger and affordable housing movements.

PROPOSED AGENDA:

3:30-3:45 Call to order/introductions-- Senator Hudak

3:45-4:30 Basic Needs Strategies presentation

4:30-4:45 Quick Break (snacks, bathroom, etc)

4:45-5:15 Brainstorming-What’s missing in this section of the plan? Who knows of “what’s working” for website nomination? What are legislative ideas for 2013?

5:15-5:30 Update on 2019 Summit and Promising Practices Database. Call for Nominations.   

2012 Colorado Conference on Poverty - Understanding CSBG and Getting Ahead of Poverty

Tuesday, August 07, 2012 10:00 AM - Friday, August 10, 2012 12:30 PM (Mountain Time)

 

The Colorado Conference on Poverty is coordinated by the Colorado Community Action Association
PO Box 18321, Denver, CO 80218
(303) 949-9934
www.coloradocommunityaction.org

Pueblo Convention Center
(719) 542-1100
320 Central Main Street
Pueblo, Colorado 81003
United States
Map and Directions

WHY ATTEND THE CONFERENCE:
Enjoy beautiful Pueblo, Colorado - the gateway to Southeast Colorado while participating in a four-day conference packed full of amazing sessions and speakers, inspiring and entertaining keynotes and networking activities with your peers!

UNDERSTANDING CSBG:
Local organizations throughout our state, known as Community Action Agencies or Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Entities/Subcontractors, actively partner with communities and other organizations on the local, state and national level to reduce the causes of poverty, fight the impacts of poverty, and help people with low-income achieve self-sufficiency.

July Task Force Meeting-July 18, 2012

July 2012 Meeting of the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force 

You, your constituents and your partner organizations are invited to attend the “Creating a New Plan-Strategies for Employment and Education” meeting

This subject is especially timely since current figures show that Colorado’s increased unemployment rate is 8.1%-the same as the national unemployment rate-ranking us 34th in the nation. Developing educational strategies and matching job skills and training with areas of job growth are critical to reducing poverty among Colorado’s most vulnerable populations. We are prompted by the new information memo from the Administration of Children and Families, which now allows states to request “work participation waivers” in an effort to spark innovative ideas for enhancing employment for TANF recipients. Sound familiar? It should—we called it SB12-139 last session.

Date:         July 18, 2011              Time:         3:30 pm-5:30 pm
 

Location:     Capitol Building (200 Colfax, Denv)    Committee Room 0112

PROPOSED AGENDA:

3:30-3:45 Call to order/introductions-- Senator Hudak

3:45-4:00 Employment & Education Strategies presentation 4:00-4:30 Discussion and approval of strategies for plan inclusion

4:30-4:45 Quick Break (snacks, bathroom, etc)

4:45-5:15 Brainstorming-What’s missing in this section of the plan? Who knows of “what’s working” for website nomination? What are legislative ideas for 2013?

5:15-5:30 Announcements and Wrap Up   

PPACA and its Impact on Colorado's Working Poor

The hoopla is over and we're back to the everyday grind. In two days we'll be celebrating another year of independence for the country. This year there may be a pause, a consideration and a moment of wonder for The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. No matter how you slice it, or call it, this piece of legislation demonstrates the power of commitment to a common agenda. What will it mean for Colorado's working poor? Well, first and foremost it will increase access to many underserved communities. According to Barbara L. Wolfe, from the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, the increase in funding for community health centers will bring more service providers to neighborhoods (especially rural) who have little to no access now. For more on how implementation will decrease barriers to access read "Health Care Reform and Low-Income Families: New Costs, Lower Burdens".

YouTube Activist Channel

"The Human Rights Channel will be overseen by Witness, an international nonprofit organization that has been using video to help activists document human rights abuses for almost 20 years. They are working with Storyful, a news gathering and curation operation that will help provide verification of videos uploaded onto the platform." ~ The New York Times Check out the New York Times Story here. Here is a link straight to The Human Rights Channel.

Reading Room for a shade respite on a hot summer's day

One of the ways we can mitigate poverty is to rethink banking.  Advocates for public communal banking assembled in Philadelphia some weeks ago to plan for and promote a more sustainable financing system for states, modeled on the bank of North Dakota and the one time public bank of Canada (1938-1974).

http://truth-out.org/news/item/9658-how-big-banks-run-the-world-at-your-expense

Also, a 12 year old Canadian girl explains public banking far more clearly and concisely than I can.

http://www.alternet.org/story/155700/12-year-old_girl_explains_what_most_economists_can%27t_about_money_and_debt/?page=entire


The following article looks at "dead zones" in the U.S. - areas where previous productive based industry has left and all that remains are industries based around military bases, low salaried service industries, private prison industry, and tourism - and how those that are beginning to pull out of an economic slump do so.   It is interesting to note the complexity and diversity of economic development that is necessary to create a truly sustainable local economy as opposed to the easy and obvious approaches that most people consider but create many low salaried jobs and not much else.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/155731/how_to_end_the_nightmare_of_jobless_america/?page=entire

"A person's a person no matter how small."-Dr. Suess

What does it mean to live in the state that has the fastest growing rate of childhood poverty in the country, only to then discover that you live in a wealthy "developed" country that has one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the world? Yes, yes, it's "relative" and "relative" means it's not you. Read on, be outraged and then join us this summer as we work on reducing poverty across the state. Report: US Has One Of The Highest Child Poverty Rates In The Developed World. The task force planning meeting for Interim 2012 is June 11th at Pizza Fusion on Colfax & Pearl. Lunch will be provided so we hope to see you there.

Three Ways the Ryan Budget Hits Latinos

Although experts in the field state that the Congressional House budget will be "dead on arrival" in the Senate, we have learned, this year, to keep our voices loud. It may be true that the "whole package" isn't set to pass, but we are learning that even the tiniest of program changes get integrated and have a profound effect on individuals and families struggling to make ends meet. Following is an article written by Melissa Boteach,Director of Half in Ten: The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years, that highlights the effects of budget cuts on Colorado's fastest growing demographic. For more on the impact of the Ryan budget on the Latino community click here.

The latest from the Reading Room

Last week there was a big dust up over a TED lecture that was slow to be released, not because of any hesitation on part of the man who gave the lecture, but on part of the TED organization.  The content of this lecture is radical in terms of the dominant paradigm in that the man who gave it, a venture capitalist, spoke about the need for the wealthy to pay more in taxes as lower taxes lead to the wealthy becoming more wealthy as opposed to creating jobs.

The video was finally released, but I enjoyed reading the transcript even more thanks to The Atlantic posting it, along with the slides, last Thursday.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/here-is-the-full-inequality-speech-and-slideshow-that-was-too-hot-for-ted/257323/#.T7UVz2j9Qig.facebook


And on Friday, Slate.com posted the following graphic that illustrates the change in poverty county by county nation-wide from 2007-2010.  6 Colorado counties have a lower poverty rate - south east and south central ones, and I have been thinking about the reasons for it all morning.  Is it the influx of second home buyers in Saguache and Fremont counties?  Is there a drop in overall population in the southeast counties?  Would any readers who have more credible answers (or, at least, theories) chime in and share?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2012/05/poverty_rates_most_u_s_counties_see_increasing_poverty_rates.html

The Circles® Campaign is a transformational approach that partners volunteers and community leaders with families wanting to make the journey out of poverty. Operating in communities around the country, each Circles® initiative consists of families working to get out of poverty and several middle and upper income Allies who befriend them and lend support. Read more about the Circles Campaign here.

Making Poverty Manageable

Scott Miller, founder and CEO of Circles Initiative, discusses poverty being too expensive. In this article Scott offers a solution of tackling 10% at a time to make it more manageable. http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120517/NEWS/305170050/Speaker-Poverty-too-expensive

As printed today in the Denver Post

I wrote a letter to the editor based on hours of sitting and listening to the testimony both in favor of and against the ordinance banning street camping.  Below is the complete letter that I wrote and also sent to the Westword and every member of the city council, an edited version (for length) ran in the letters section of today's Denver Post.

The ordinance to criminalize camping voted on last night by nine of the thirteen members of the city council is simplistic, and creates a new criminal class in our city out of innocent citizens.  It is not written as many of those who spoke in support of it last night claim it to be, it is NOT a first step in creating a more holistic solution but a clear cut statement that people who have not prospered in our diminishing economy and do not have the support networks that some of us can access are beneath the rest of us.  Those who support this ordinance have the perception that it will actually help the population targeted, when in fact their statements emphasized how it will help their businesses and nothing more.  In reality, it is a gateway ordinance in creating a criminal record preventing the ability to access any housing, and likely employment as well, in the future.  It takes innocent people, who have it hard in very hard times, and condemns them to a cycle from which it is even more difficult to break free.

Add to this the lack of sustainable funding for the programs already in existence, and we can only look forward to the rise of this new and unwarranted criminal class.

Jennifer Gross, Denver

PS – Civic Center Park is not the exclusive domain of the wealthy condo residing new residents of the Golden Triangle.  You knew what the area was when you bought your $300,000+ condos, and now you have buyers regret.  The park belongs to ALL of us, including those you wish to kick out.

House Bill 1271: Direct File Signed into Law

Ever wonder what happened to the Direct File bill we got to watch during Advocacy Day? It has just been signed into law by Governor Hickenlooper! What a great success! Today, every child accused of a crime facing adult court has the right to ask a judge to decide which system of justice--juvenile or adult--the case belongs in, and the right to present witnesses and other evidence in court. Juvenile court judges will decide whether 14-15 year olds should be transferred to adult criminal court. Criminal court judges will decide whether 16-17 year olds who are direct filed should be transferred to juvenile court. This is called a "reverse-transfer" hearing and provides essential due process protections. Please thank Governor Hickenlooper for signing this important bill. Please thank the sponsors of House Bill 1271, who led with civility and strength in the face of strong opposition: Representative BJ Nikkel, 303-866-2907, rep.nikkel@gmail.com Representative Beth McCann, 303-866-2959, beth.mccann.house@state.co.us Senator Tim Neville, 303-866-4859, tim.neville.senate@state.co.us Senator Angela Giron, 303-866-4878, angela.giron.senate@state.co.us

Sign the Petition to Stop Criminalizing Homelessness

Show Denver City Council that you don't approve of criminalizing homelessness. Read the article. Sign the Petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/can-denver-afford-to-criminalize-its-homeless

The rate at which Colorado's kids are slipping into the ranks of the poor has slowed.

Check out the 2012 Kids Count report put out by Colorado Children's Campaign here:

http://www.coloradokids.org/data/publications/2012kidscount.html