emerson brooks's blog

Last Friday I returned to Ohio from Kansas City, Kansas after conducting a workshop at the employment and education conference of the AGRM.  I obtained permission from Aha!Process to present on Bridges Out of Poverty. In March 2008, I presented on Dr. Ruby Payne's Poverty Framework. Many of those who were there last year returned to hear more.

Previously, I mentioned how I was introduced to the book "Bridges Out of Poverty" co-authored by Ruby Payne Ph.D., Phillip E. DeVol and Terie Dreussi Smith. This approach to addressing the issue of generational poverty is comprehensive.  It consists not only of a personal commitment to making relational changes but also the willingness of an organization and then a community to adjust its perception of and interaction with those living in poverty. Through strategies designed and researched by Dr. Payne, her staff and those front line workers utilizing her materials, the poor have not only a voice but active participation in the creation of a better future for them and their children.

October 1, 2000 is a date I can't seem to forget.  Nothing earth shattering for the world, my community or even my family happened on that date.  It has no significance in comparison to the history making event of November 4, 2008.  However, it is a date that began a new journey for me professionally and personally. On that date I attended a workshop where I first heard the phrase "Hidden Rules of Economic Class".  It was also the first time I heard of the book "Bridges out of Poverty" by Dr. Ruby Payne, Phil Devol and Terri Smith. 

Poverty‘s scope is vast and its effects are numerous and complex.  Its costs to our global society is high.  These facts do not adequately express the worse aspect of poverty, the toil it takes on people (men, women and children) who are poor.  Addressing poverty requires collaborations, partnerships, communication and understanding.

To many who advocate for the poor, August 26, 2008 was known as Poverty Day.  On that day the United States Census Bureau released it's 2007 poverty data.  Poverty tables received by the Coalition on Human Needs that were prepared by the Census Bureau at the request of Congress's Joint Economic Committee are available for viewing at www.chn.org/issues/statistics/JECTables.zip.

The good news.  The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (www.hud.gov) lastest report indicates a decline in homelessness across the country.  The Planning and Development Network's website asks "if this is too good to be true?"  Why the skepticism?