Re: Nonprofit helps the poor find their voice
P. Myers (mpwr@u.washington.edu)
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 14:43:32 -0800 (PST)
This sounds like a *great program, with several exceptions...which I hate
taking with Sonny...or the original author...
There are fine homeless writers who might offer their services, with a
more comprehensive understanding of the needs of marginalized populations,
than those described below (note the use of "I" and "them" in the
"teacher's" lexicon...also part of his/her mindset, I fear...
Note also the assumption that homeless/poor/marginalized/disenfranchised
need to know how to better parent. This is, simply, a victim-blaming
cosmology, and does little more than give the message that "you're not
good enough; and you need to change to get "better"...or "more
successful."
Under this system, nothing happens to challenge, or to even address the
need for people on the margins of society to interrogate and challenge the
*etiology of how they became labelled as they were...in fact, no real
awareness of labelling obtains, in the words of one of the tutors.
Another concern I have is that poverty pimps may be "enriched" at the
expense of those whom they believe they "help" by more than money.
Self-esteem is one consequence of helping...one feels that one has "done
good"...made one's contribution to society...helped others, less fortunate
than they...
Great ego boost for the p.pimp...not so great for the ...pimped.
This is a *great idea, but should be implemented by advocates...yes,
advocates who are or were, peers of those to whom the offer information,
resources and experience.
We *can help ourselves, and we *can be advocates without poverty pimping
(let's find a way to -- albeit long and drawn-out -- say what that is
every time, ok?)...
This is an issue I've been wrestling with for a long time...advocacy.
I was a single parent with two young children...no help but Welfare and
school...then worked my way through several years of school...I'd been
homeless, actually, more than once in my life (and dread the possibility
of another such experience!)...am I not a fair advocate for all the groups
mentioned above? Is accepting recompense (monetary) for what I might
do...is *that poverty pimping? Hell, I'm *still poor!
I can't get a handle on how and when representative democracy becomes
poverty pimping...we elect legislators (lots wealthier than we) to
*advocate for us...to speak for us...to be our voices...sometimes we elect
jerks, and out they must go...but the idea of choosing, when necessary,
someone to speak for someone else...is that so very bad? Is this a yes/no
issue...always?
Sorry, I'm not really criticizing the program itself, or even the motives
of the volunteers...although I'd feel better if I heard more of what *they
get from the experience...and even *better if I heard that it was
peer-driven...
I just needed to give something considerably less than $.02.
Thanks. PatM
On Sat, 17 Jan 1998, H. C. Covington wrote:
> Forward by Sonny ...........
> -----Original Message-----
> Date: Saturday, January 17, 1998 9:12 AM
> Subject: Nonprofit helps the poor find their voice
>
>
> http://www.philanthropy-journal.org/nonprof/voices0198.htm
>
> ***Nonprofit helps the poor find their voice
>
> VOICES, a nonprofit that teaches reading and writing to low-income adults
> and children plans to open an adult magnet school later this year. Called
> RISE, the community learning center will use literacy to develop skills in
> parenting, job readiness and citizenship. Leslie Waugh reports.
>
> >From the article....
>
> A lot of well-meaning people advocate on behalf of the poor.
>
> But what happens when the poor speak for themselves?
>
> You hear VOICES.
>
> VOICES, a five-year-old nonprofit organization based in Raleigh, is a group
> of writers who teach literacy and communication skills to adults and
> children in homeless shelters, low-income housing projects, prisons,
> day-care centers and government agencies that serve the poor.
>
> But beyond simply teaching the basics of reading and writing, VOICES uses
> literacy to show students how to become better parents, how to find jobs
> and how to get along with other people.
>
> ....
>
> "I've been influenced as a writer by Charles Dickens and as a Catholic by
> Mother Teresa," he says. He concedes he's no Mother Teresa, but in VOICES,
> he says, "we're dealing with a lot of people whose voices haven't been
> heard or mattered.
>
> They're excluded from lots of opportunities and often are unable to speak
> for themselves. What I can do is use writing to give others tools to use in
> their own lives.
>
> *****
>
>
> Peace,
>
> John Freund, C.M.
> Vincentian Center for Church and Society
> St. John's University Jamaica, NY 11439
>
> http://www.stjohns.edu/vincentianctr AND http://www.cptryon.org/vdp
>
> freundjb@stjohns.edu 718 262 8826 Voice 718 262 8695 Fax
>
>
************************************
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to
and you have found out the exact measure of
injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them...
Frederick Douglass