I am constantly impressed that the Scottish Government and the Church of Scotland are both very serious about ending poverty. This is not empty rhetoric. Major time and resources have been allocated to this end.
When the Annual Assembly of the Church of Scotland meets in May, the delegates will be given a report on progress toward that goal. Excerpts from that report appear below. The report has been prepared by the Priority Areas Team (See blog entry for September 23, 2007) where Gayle and I are working.
A milestone toward our goal of overcoming poverty will be a Poverty Truth Commission (inspired by the Poverty Initiative at Union), hosted by the Moderator of the Church, David Lunan, and chaired by Tricia McConalogue, a noted leader from one of the poorest communities in Glasgow. Between now and the Commission, we are occupied with organizing within poor communities to encourage local people to have a greater voice in policies that affect their lives. Here are excerpts from the report to the Assembly, which begins with a statement from Parliament.
"Priority Areas...Big Hearted Communities
" 'We believe Scotland must tackle poverty because of the blight and strain which it places on individual lives, on the communities in which they live, and on society in general; we believe Scotland has a proud history and ethos of being a compassionate nation with a strong sense of social justice and addressing the needs of the vulnerable, and we want to embrace this ethos on the basis that it is simply morally unacceptable that over 20 percent of our children still live in poverty.' (Tackling Poverty, Inequality and Deprivation in Scotland, Scottish Government, January, 2008)
"The Scottish Government is to be congratulated not only for such a strong statement of intent but also for its clearly articulated commitment to reducing poverty and tackling inequality. It is much needed in a country where, according to official Government figures, 880,000 people (including 210,000 children) are living in relative poverty and 240,000 are living in severe poverty. This latter figure represents 5 percent of Scotland's population
"The Church has an additional reason to speak out and act against poverty. Throughout the Old and New Testaments the message of God is clear: to ingore those in poverty is to ignore the face of God. In recent years the General Assembly has regularly articulated this understanding through its statement that 'commitment to the poorest and most marginalized is the gospel imperative facing the whole Church, not just the Church in the poorest communities.'
"Through its witness, ministry and care the length and breadth of Scotland, the Church seeks to address the causes and symptoms of poverty. At the same time it seeks to concentrate its efforts -- and to commit extra resources -- towards the very poorest areas. It has designated these priority areas parishes. These correspond to approximately the poorest 5 percent of communities....
"Over the past year the [Church] has continued to pursue its strategy of developing work in three inter-related spheres of activity. These are (a) finding ways to help the wider Church and society to take more seriously the poverty which is on our doorstep; (b) enabling churches within our poorest communities to play their fullest part in tackling poverty and in making their comunities better places for everyone to live in; and (c) encouraging people of faith in priority areas to develop ways of being the Church which resonate with both the call of the Gospel and the reality of their context....
"One of the more exciting developments of the last year has been development of plans for a Poverty Truth Commission to be held in March 2009. This event -- modelled on Truth Commissions in other parts of the world -- will bring together people who are strugglinig to overcome poverty to share their aims, ideas and proposals for the future. These aims will then lead to an ongoing campaign for action and a determination to make others accountable for what they promise to deliver. The Rt. Rev. David Lunan has agreed to act as host of the Commission as part of his Moderatorial duties over the coming year.
"Plans for the Poverty Truth Commission have been spearpheaded by Paul Chapman, who is with us as a volunteer from the Poverty Initiative (Union Theological Seminary) in New York and Tricia McConalogue (Project Manager of Bridging the Gap in the Gorbals.) Paul frequently points out with the wisdom which comes from a lifetime spent in the struggle for the rights of the marginalized that an anti-poverty movement without poor people at the helm is not going to succeed in eradicating poverty no matter how well intentioned its leadership."
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Poverty Truth Commission - March 21, 2009
Cathie Kelly
The blog entry of February 28, 2007 introduces the work of the Transformation Team. I've now observed Cathie Kelly, Community Development Worker, who is usually the first person from the Transformation Team to meet with a congregtion or community group that may be interested in the renewal process that is promoted by the Transformation Team. These are organizations in the most depressed neighborhoods in the city -- depressed in spirit as well as materially. And the members are almost without hope for the future . "For too long the've been going down hill." Enter Cathie with a series of Toolkits "to harness the power that lies within the local church." Called Discovery, the program "works with people where they are at and helps them decide what the needs of the comunity may be."
Cathie will go with me to the next meeting of Cracking the Shell, a group of Asylum Seekers with whom I have been meeting regularly. (Cracking the Shell means coming out of the shell and entering into the life of the larger community.) The group has lately been very demoralized ever since one of their leaders was deported back to Africa. She suffered from a cruel process. The authorities of the Home Office simply knocked on her door in the night, without any warning, and took Deborah and her baby away, after she had been in Scotland for three years applying for refugee status. Her friends from Cracking the Shell were able to visit her in detention and then one day she was gone -- put on a plane to her home country, without money -- to face the dangers that brought her to the UK in the first place. We are working with the Asylum Seekers and a legal team to try to change the process.
But for now, Cathie's challenge -- using simple, interactive and practical learning resrources -- is to help the group recover its bearings by reaching out to their community. She follows a six-step process, beginning with an exercise to help them discover who they are and realize the power and resources that they already bring to the situaiton they find themselves in. One of the many Discovery exercises uses story-telling. For churches, Cathie places 8 1/2 by 11 posters on the floor, each of which would help someone tell a story reflecting on a truth that applies to their church and then asking each person to choose one that best fits their story.
My best moment in this community was.....
I am proud of my church because.....
The person I most admire in this community is.....
I feel safe when.....
The funniest thing that happened to me in this community was.....
This serves as a review of the strengths of church and community and is a step toward enabling churches to respond to the needs of the community. Many differenct exercises are used over a period of several meetings, each of which concludes with a Spiritual Exercise.
One such exercise forcuses on the story of Blind Bartimaeus, found in Mark 10:46-52. After the story is read, it is discussed using several illustrations. The first is of Jesus going from Jericho to Jerusalem, surrounded by such a crowd that the bling beggar is not noticed. Next Bartimaeus' situation is imagined with reference to outcasts throughout the world -- impoverished and forgotten. When Bartimaeus cries out, the crowd tries to shush him lest he disrupt the focus on Jesus, but then Jesus challenges the crowd to bring Bartimaeus to him. Finally, Jesus asks him what he wants and responds by giving him sight. The Discorery material enables people to draw an analogy to today's church. "The crowd represents the church and Jesus challenges the church to focus on the vulnerable and marginalized... The way Jesus responded to Bartimaeus was by finding what his needs were and acting accordingly, involving others in meeting those needs." (The Discovery material was written and illustrated by Bill Crooks and Jackie Mouradian and is owned by Tearfund.)
The Discovery process helps the church or community group build its own confidence and prepare to take action for community change. As the group begins to see the possibilities, other members of the Transformation Team can help with more ressources and information for change.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
WHAT'S MISSING
In contrast to the United States, Scotland in general is very aware of the extent of poverty in both city and countryside. With a long history of providing for the general welfare, here there is a stated determination to develop programs that leave no one behind -- and narrow the yawning gap between rich and poor.
In 1999, when the Scottish government gained partial independence from England, it nobly resolved to focus its full attention on the evils of poverty with the ultimate goal of ending poverty. It embraced the UK anti-poverty goals targeting children, young people, families, older people and then communities. The eradication of child poverty was an explicit UK goal with a success date set for 2020 when childhood poverty would be defeated and injustice successfully wiped out. Progress would be realistically assessed at milestones along the way, citing both successes and failures. A new government report is just now being released.
Facing the hard reality that between 1999 and 2003 not much progress had been made, the initial "Social Justice" program was replaced with a program called "Closing the Opportunity Gap" that focued on far fewer issues. Even with a change of government in 2007, the public, private and voluntary sectors of the Scottish society remain determined to tackle poverty. There is always the danger of losing zeal for the cause, but generally the determination has held firm.
Since 1999, there have been many studies of the day-to-day experience of people living in poverty and this vital information has been passed on to the policy makers. Research studies that include listening to people in poverty have proved very revealing and have in some cases resulted in refining the goals of the various anti-poverty programs.
The problem is that even with this surfeit of hearings, studies and programs in which poor people relate their story, there are very few poor people at the table when decisions are made. Policy decisions continue to be made without the active participation and the passion of those most affected. Top-down decision-making, rather than bottom-up.
There are many reasons why poor people should have a major voice at the policy-making level. Most obviously, solutions should be tailored to the real problems. Consider this: some of the high-rise dwellings with dozens of subsidized apartments concentrated in one building may indeed be a breeding ground for social problems; the decision to raze many of them is well founded. Yet, the residents tell me that they do not want to move. They want to continue to live in these apartments among their friends rather than be scattered in new public housing around the city. I'm not aware that this conflict-of-interest is being ironed out in the halls where policy is being made. Top-down decision-making leaves poor people disempowered, disillusioned and suspicious of government.
Furthermore, poor people, who have the most to gain, bring a zeal to the anti-poverty movement that is unmatced by the dedication of professionals. It may be harsh to say, but the truth is that some professionals have a vested interest in the continuation of poverty.
After the hurricane Katrina devastated the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, the residents loudly proclaimed, "Nothing about us without us is for us." The same is true for poor people everywhere. Personally, I don't want decisons being made about me without me being part of the process.
We sometimes hear the complaint that poor people are not really capable of considering social policy on a country-wide basis. And it is true that people unrehearsed in formulating systemic development projects don't always know the language or are shy to speak up. Yet when people are taken seriously they find their voice and their wisdom emerges. One of the consequences and curses of poverty is that self-image and self-esteem are low. As a poor people's movement to end poverty develops, people gain confidence.
When impoverished people are not heard, the society as a whole is denied a major resource that would help immeasurably in advancing the goal of ending poverty. The words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoken when he launched the Poor People's Campaign just forty years ago, have important meaning for the country of Scotland today. "There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life..." (Martin Luther King, Jr., Trumpet of Conscience,1967
It's wonderful to be in a country that is not totally complacent and that faces its injustice and inequities and seeks to overcome them. But with poor people in leadership roles, the possibility of success will be greatly enhanced.
In 1999, when the Scottish government gained partial independence from England, it nobly resolved to focus its full attention on the evils of poverty with the ultimate goal of ending poverty. It embraced the UK anti-poverty goals targeting children, young people, families, older people and then communities. The eradication of child poverty was an explicit UK goal with a success date set for 2020 when childhood poverty would be defeated and injustice successfully wiped out. Progress would be realistically assessed at milestones along the way, citing both successes and failures. A new government report is just now being released.
Facing the hard reality that between 1999 and 2003 not much progress had been made, the initial "Social Justice" program was replaced with a program called "Closing the Opportunity Gap" that focued on far fewer issues. Even with a change of government in 2007, the public, private and voluntary sectors of the Scottish society remain determined to tackle poverty. There is always the danger of losing zeal for the cause, but generally the determination has held firm.
Since 1999, there have been many studies of the day-to-day experience of people living in poverty and this vital information has been passed on to the policy makers. Research studies that include listening to people in poverty have proved very revealing and have in some cases resulted in refining the goals of the various anti-poverty programs.
The problem is that even with this surfeit of hearings, studies and programs in which poor people relate their story, there are very few poor people at the table when decisions are made. Policy decisions continue to be made without the active participation and the passion of those most affected. Top-down decision-making, rather than bottom-up.
There are many reasons why poor people should have a major voice at the policy-making level. Most obviously, solutions should be tailored to the real problems. Consider this: some of the high-rise dwellings with dozens of subsidized apartments concentrated in one building may indeed be a breeding ground for social problems; the decision to raze many of them is well founded. Yet, the residents tell me that they do not want to move. They want to continue to live in these apartments among their friends rather than be scattered in new public housing around the city. I'm not aware that this conflict-of-interest is being ironed out in the halls where policy is being made. Top-down decision-making leaves poor people disempowered, disillusioned and suspicious of government.
Furthermore, poor people, who have the most to gain, bring a zeal to the anti-poverty movement that is unmatced by the dedication of professionals. It may be harsh to say, but the truth is that some professionals have a vested interest in the continuation of poverty.
After the hurricane Katrina devastated the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, the residents loudly proclaimed, "Nothing about us without us is for us." The same is true for poor people everywhere. Personally, I don't want decisons being made about me without me being part of the process.
We sometimes hear the complaint that poor people are not really capable of considering social policy on a country-wide basis. And it is true that people unrehearsed in formulating systemic development projects don't always know the language or are shy to speak up. Yet when people are taken seriously they find their voice and their wisdom emerges. One of the consequences and curses of poverty is that self-image and self-esteem are low. As a poor people's movement to end poverty develops, people gain confidence.
When impoverished people are not heard, the society as a whole is denied a major resource that would help immeasurably in advancing the goal of ending poverty. The words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoken when he launched the Poor People's Campaign just forty years ago, have important meaning for the country of Scotland today. "There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life..." (Martin Luther King, Jr., Trumpet of Conscience,1967
It's wonderful to be in a country that is not totally complacent and that faces its injustice and inequities and seeks to overcome them. But with poor people in leadership roles, the possibility of success will be greatly enhanced.
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