Words'nTone

On Wednesday my Executive Director asked if I’d speak at our annual banquet dinner, which was last night (10/19/07), for five minutes on any subject I choose.  Of course I am pretty well versed to take up on any moment notice speaking, but what should I speak on—well actually that was an easy one: Child poverty.  Our agency, NEON, Inc, a SW CT Community Action Agency, is basing much of its strategic planning on reducing child poverty, so that was an easy one.  With that, it is our desire to develop and encourage partners in this plan.  So, I combined the two—reducing child poverty and encouraging others to join us.  It was only five minutes, well maybe 6 and a half.  The following are just the notes (bullets) I used.  Some you’ve already read here In the Margins.  It was quite noisy as I started, but as I got into it and began reading the statistics, it was amazing how quiet it became.  Can’t you imagine an end to child poverty?

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I can’t help myself…I am not only just the meek and mild Director of Finance & Planning Services for NEON, Inc.  I am a former pastor, a former Christian college Greek professor, a father, and a person who is passionate about what I do as an advocate for children in poverty, for children who live in crisis…

There are...

• an estimated 160 million children on the streets of this world and 104 million orphans with no mother or father and no one to care for them.
• roughly 37 million Americans, including nearly 13 million children who (still) live in poverty.
• And...one in ten children in the State of Connecticut lives in poverty.

Children who live in poverty are:

• 1.5 to 3 times more likely to die in childhood
• 2.7 times more likely to have stunted growth
• 3 to 4 times more likely to have iron deficiency before school begins
• 1.5 to 2 times more likely to be partly or completely deaf
• 1.2 to 1.8 times more likely to be partly or completely blind
• about 2 times more likely to have serious physical or mental disabilities
• 2 to 3 times more likely to die from accidental injuries
• 1.6 times more likely to catch pneumonia

President Lyndon Johnson placed before congress in the mid-1960s the challenge to end poverty…he said…

“This administration today here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in America…and I urge this Congress and all Americans to join with me in this effort…It will not be a short or easy struggle—no single weapon or strategy will suffice—but we shall not rest until that war is won.  The richest nation on earth can afford to win it.  We cannot afford to lose it.”

In the OT there is a ordinance that illustrates how communities can aspire to help those on the margins, the disadvantaged, the poor and working poor.  The people were commanded not to glean to the edges of their fields, not to go back and clear off what was left after harvest so that the working poor and needy could come find food for themselves and their families.  They left the margins of the fruit of their labors and make it available to the widow, the orphan, and the needy—they left it for those on the margins so they’d have their needs met.

“The imagination of faith refuses to be content with human arrangements—social, economic, political, urban, rural—that are not based on the practice of human freedom in the presence of God.  That imagination will pertinently challenge those arrangements through envisioning alternatives, through prophetic speech and action, through the creation of communities that include, strengthen, and give integrity to those at the margins” ~Andrew Davey, one of my favorite authors

There are amazing partnerships that we already have:

• The Norwalk Redevelopment Agency
• The City of Norwalk itself
• The WorkPlace, our regional Workforce Investment Board
• The Department of Social Services
• The Department of Labor
• Connecticut’s Justice Branch and Department of Corrections
• The United Way
• The Norwalk Court

A growing list of businesses and corporations

The list is actually many pages long…we couldn’t do the work without you…

We are going to be asking all of you—and more of you—to imagine with us a community where the poor’s needs are taken care of and their children have the opportunity to move beyond poverty toward a self-sufficient, fruitful, and positive life for their own children and future families.

Can’t you imagine that?

NEON, under Mr Mann’s leadership, is future-looking…we can imagine the end of poverty…NEON is developing strategies to make this future possible, right here in this part of Connecticut.

NEON wants to be, not only a a great social service agency—which we are striving to be—but an agency you can be proud of, one that you—each of you—will know we have the best interests of the least among us.  And—that we are partners in this war on poverty—partners in ending poverty.

NEON is committed to harnessing its capacity and resources to reduce child poverty.  That’s in part what we’ve come to acknowledge this evening…

Together we are to imagine a good future for the children now living in poverty.

I’ld like to end by rephrasing President Johnson’s challenge to congress, to challange us

“The administration and the staff of NEON today here and now renews its commitment to the unconditional war on poverty…and I urge this Community to join with us in this effort…It will not be a short or easy struggle—no single weapon or strategy or single agency or person will suffice—but we shall all not rest until all our children are no-longer living in poverty.  As one of the wealthiest parts of the country, we can afford to win it.  Our children cannot afford for us to lose it.”

Thank you for being here tonight

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