Millions of people need your help. Now. Please help us make sure people in the most precarious financial circumstances are not pushed off a cliff.
Despite all that’s been written and said about President Obama’s SOTU address last week, there’s one line which seems to have gone virtually unnoticed:
"I've proposed cuts to things I care deeply about, like community action programs."
The line, apparently, was news to the National Community Action Foundation, which represents hundreds of the local agencies that provide services to low-income families, and whose head, David Bradley, was listening from the gallery.
Mr. Bradley, whose group has strongly supported the Obama administration, said in a statement this afternoon that president’s remarks were "extremely troubling" and "ill-conceived."
"We are in desperate economic times and community action programs are being used more than ever by struggling families who have never before needed assistance. For Washington to end its partnership with this vital local program is both alarming and short sighted," he said.
"This was theoretically a liberal, Democratic president who said he liked the program — and threw it overboard."
That snip was from the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: http://blogs.wsj.com/...
A bit of background: Community Action Agencies (CAAs) were created in the mid-‘60s to man the point in the war on poverty. There are about 1,100 CAAs across the country. They were designed to be local/regional in nature, so that each agency could focus on problems and solutions unique to its particular area. Each CAA is governed by a local board of directors, one-third of whom are low-income people.
Most people are probably more familiar with programs typically offered by CAAs than they are with Community Action itself. A few examples: Head Start, LIHEAP (energy assistance), weatherization, a wide range of homelessness prevention programs, youth and senior employment. You get the idea. And even though the guidelines are different for each program, they have one thing in common: Those who qualify are either below the poverty line or slightly above it.
The poverty rate continues to rise. Cutting funds for anti-poverty programs now is the absolute worst thing to do at the worst possible time.
Full disclosure: As I’ve mentioned in past diaries, I work for a Community Action Agency. In fact, I have one of those stimulus-funded jobs that the GOP assures you never existed. When the poverty rate exploded in 2008, the local CAA created my position to help inform the newly poor of the assistance we could provide, and to educate the public about issues affecting people trying to work their way out of poverty.
I’m still employed, even though the stimulus funding has run out. So ... lucky me.
But this isn’t about me. It’s about the more than 40 million Americans who are struggling to make ends meet while living below the poverty line. It can be an impossible task, a crushing existence where hopes and dreams for a better future are crowded out by the constant worries of how you’re going to make it to the next month, next week, next day. (Yeah, I speak from personal experience. From long ago, thankfully. But some things you don’t forget.)
It’s important to note that people who work for CAAs are, for the most part, not government employees; the majority of the agencys are independent non-profit corporations. There are no glittering pension plans. Pay is certainly not out of line with the private sector; I make about 20% less than I did while working in the media (but this is still the most satisfying job I’ve ever had).
What I’m trying to point out is that there’s not a lot of fat to cut from Community Action. Our agency is a strong proponent of responsible public spending; 97% of every public dollar we receive goes into the services we provide.
So cuts to Community Action will absolutely result in reducing or eliminating services to low-income families, many of which are struggling to cope with low incomes for the first time. A common refrain we’ve heard from many of our clients the last two years: "I used to donate money to organizations like this. Now I’m on the other end."
I live and work in south central Minnesota, which is not exactly Ground Zero in the war on poverty. But the number of people living below the poverty line in our nine counties grew by more than 61% from 2000 to 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. There was a 22% leap in 2008 and 2009 alone.
Keep in mind that the Census Bureau data lags by a year; the most current figures are for 2009. But in 2010, our agency recorded a 35% increase in the number of calls for assistance we received. It appears that more and more people have exhausted their savings and/or unemployment benefits and are becoming increasingly desperate, and that the poverty rate will undoubtedly continue to rise.
But let’s not get distracted by statistics here. What we’re really talking about are people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, or who were forced to accept reduced hours or pay. Many are now working at jobs paying far less than they used to make.
But you know all that. My area is no worse off than the rest of the nation, and is of course in much better shape than a lot of areas. But across the country there are tens of millions of people – TENS OF MILLIONS of PEOPLE – who are relying on the little bit of assistance that community action provides. And community action is relying on you to help make sure we’ll be there when you or your neighbors need us.
Please, take a few minutes to contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to maintain funding for community action and its programs. Do the same with the White House. For the moment, it appears we're talking about preserving somewhere around $400 million of CSBG funding. Not a lot of money when you consider the cost of extending Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Please maintain a respectful tone in these communications. Community Action has worked tirelessly to build relations on both sides of the aisle in Congress. There are certain people who are regularly reviled on this site who have actually been staunch supporters of Community Action in the past.
Finally, please consider recommending this diary, so it gets maximum visibility. If you contact your reps in Congress, please comment below and let me know who that is.
Unfortunately, Community Action has lost many of its greatest allies in Congress, people like Ted Kennedy, David Obey and Chris Dodd. That’s why it’s vitally important that the public makes its voice heard in this matter.
Politicians can have various reasons for singling out an entity like President Obama did to community action in his SOTU speech. Sometimes, it’s precisely to generate an outpouring of response to help ensure that a particular program is taken off the table.
With your help, we can accomplish that.
Thank you.