poverty in america – Jason Toney

December 5, 2013 / 1 Comment

Something’s Gotta Give

“We are all terrestrial.” – Eskmo, We Are All Terrestrial

A few days ago, my friend Sloane released The Giving Manfiesto out into the world. How I go about doing my small part in making the world a better place has been a topic running through my head a lot over the past few months.

Tiffany talks about how much “please give” mail I get. I wouldn’t call it junk mail but over the years, I’ve had such a fractured approach to charitable giving that I get mountains of mail from organizations far and wide pleading with me to give more, to give again, to fill out surveys, to mail my congressperson, to come to an event. Also, hey, here’s a map and some stickers and some greeting cards and a calendar and some mailing labels you’re never going to use.

The questions that I’ve kept coming back to, though, are what do I really, personally care about and where do I want to make the biggest impact financially and with my time?

Sloane’s thoughtful approach to this is helping me crystallize what I first posted about on Thanksgiving.

The two most important social ills I want to invest in addressing are Economic Inequality/Food Insecurity and Social Justice.

While I’ve given to a variety of environmental organizations in the past, I want to focus more of my support here to time spent making the world more green and sustainable.

I also will continue my pro bono consulting work with Taproot selecting projects/organizations that address my core issues. I will find more consistent time to work with our local food banks.

I will continue to support local public radio and the local museums and arts organizations (like LACMA) that I frequent.

Supporting friends is a great category that I’ve never quantified or budgeted before. There are increasing opportunities to support a charitable fund drive or micro-funded project and I want to be thoughtful about how I go about doing this.

Emergency giving. Of course.

It’s interesting. I have no idea how much I give financially each year. I want to change that for 2014 and beyond. I hope I’m giving at least 5%, my goal is to get up to 10% and see how that feels.

What I do know is that I’m not giving enough of my time. There are 8766 hours in a year. Can I give 876 of them to helping others?

I wanna try.

November 29, 2013 / 2 Comments

Hard Knocks and Hard Conversations

“The truth remains self-evident.” – Georgia Anne Muldrow, Zulu (The Mind)

We sat around the kitchen table in my aunt-in-Law’s small home in a cute little neighborhood. Her daughter and her new husband were planning to go out to Wal-Mart to take advantage of discounts on video games. In the midst of giving them a hard time for leaving Thanksgiving festivities to shop, she notes that she’d like a new TV if it’s cheap. Somehow we twisted our way into a discussion of the poor and the choices poor people make.

“How are you going to be on assistance and have a 50 inch TV?”

“How are you going to always have your hair did and your nails done?”

“There was a woman on Judge Judy who had seven kids and was suing a man that she had tried to buy a car from that never brought her the car. Judge Judy asked her how she was paying for these seven kids without having a job. She said she got 700 dollars a month from Disability for one of her kids. ‘How are you going to buy a car when you don’t have a job?! Whose going to pay for these kids? Me? Byrd?!”

Incredulous laughter.

I wanted to say, “Yes. Judge Judy is the highest paid person on television. Maybe she and Byrd could afford to provide some additional support for families in need.”

I wanted to say, “How do we expect this woman to improve her family’s condition if she doesn’t have a car? Wouldn’t a woman with a child on Disability need a car?”

I wanted to say, “What do you think you would spend your money on if you were in high stress, grief-stricken poverty?“

I wanted to say, “Or better yet, don’t you think she spent as little as humanly possible for her nails and her ‘do? Is it possible that feeling good about how you look is a basic human want and desire? Couldn’t looking presentable help you at a government agency or a job interview or your child’s school or any of the other dozen places you might need to go in a day where people are just waiting to close the door in your face?”

Instead I drank my cran-brrr-rita and waited for the mac & cheese to finish cooking.

It’s hard to get people to acknowledge their own good luck. A two person parental unit with steady income (even if modest). Having those parents know there is better for you out there and pushing you in those directions. Always having food on the table. Always having the lights on.

These are not givens. They are fortunes. We don’t tend to see them as such. It’s difficult to tell someone they don’t have it so bad. Most of our own personal narrative is that we have overcome great burdens to be where we are.

So, single mother of the projects, just do more. Get right. Stop making stupid choices and be like me. I made it. So can you.

It’s hard to talk to people about poverty.

November 28, 2013 / 0 Comments

Fortunate. Thankful. Determined.

“Forever conditioned to believe that we can’t live. We can’t live here and be happy with less.” – Sting, If You Love Somebody Set Them Free

There have been a wave of stories in recent weeks trying to paint the real picture of Poverty in America. Food insecurity and income inequality are regular matters of interest on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show. These societal ills, more than any others, are becoming my core issue of concern and where I plan to focus nearly all of my charitable giving and volunteerism for the foreseeable future.

I live on the right side of America’s economic divide. We’re not a paycheck to paycheck household. We don’t balk at expensive meals or cringe at the rising price of gas or hold our nose (much) at air travel or hotel costs. Hell, that we take trips via plane and have real vacations make us very different than a far too large number of Americans.

It stings because it's true. — It stings because it’s true.

And while we eat well at pop-up restaurants and select grocery stores based on variety and specialty rather than cost, i’m increasingly aware that there are those who have to make the choice between cheap eats and diapers. I’m more frustrated that most of my tax dollars go to military spending rather than the basic human essentials of my fellow man. I’m mortified that there are serious debates about the value of food programs and universal health care and housing support. I’m ever more determined to do more.

So, this year, as I sit down with family in a warm home with an abundant table, I give thanks for being so fortunate.

And I give thanks that I have the opportunity and the will to do so much more for those less economically lucky.

Thanksgiving is a story of survival from a time when that wasn’t a given. That is still the truth of this day for many of us.

It is maddening to try to figure out why that is. There’s no reason why it should be.