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EverydayCitizen.com is a lively blog community comprised of authors across all ethnic, gender and generational lines. Diverse in opinion, our bloggers care deeply about social, political, environmental, human and economic conditions in our nation and
Recent Posts Tagged With 'poverty'
Join the fun! Accept the challenge!
Hope you'll join us during the lead up to our Community Hunger Day on Monday, October 27. Details about what you can do are here....
Your Opportunity to Act
Nearly 923 million people in the world go hungry. It is estimated that 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes in underdeveloped countries. Sixty percent of these dea...
May God have mercy on us all
Just how far off the mark can we get? By now we've all heard, seen and/or read reports about the weekend junket attended by AIG executives that ran up a tab of $442,000 after the recent federal bailo...
The Poor Are Us
On Monday of this week, a mother and her grown daughter, a household that I know pretty well, came to see me at the office. It wasn't a casual visit. They came because they needed food. They were no...
The Priorities of Our National Life
The stock market plunged again today and world markets are now in trouble. Interestingly enough there are those who still want to place the blame again on the backs of low-income borrowers. Others ha...
Ever wonder why people in our inner cities are angry?
As I got ready to leave the Roseland Town Homes (a housing project that has been renovated in a very visible and accessed part of Dallas) at 7:00 on a Friday night, a fight was getting ready to happen...
For Those Who Would Change the Wind
"Poverty is the worst form of violence." Mohandas Gandhi, Human Rights Leader, Freedom Fighter (1869 - 1948)...
Who May Care More Deeply
Random thoughts on an afternoon that could become "historic" in a very bad way. . . What does it mean to be in "leadership" in our media driven, poll-sensitive, "ear-to-the-ground" political version ...
A Video Worth Your Time
Lauded as one of the greatest politicians of our time, lamented because of the unfulfilled potential of his presidency and lambasted because of his personal weaknesses and failures, Bill Clinton's pos...
The Clinton Global Initiative
As incredibly draining as the news has been recently, I think that its time for something refreshing. Today, the Clinton Global Initiative started. I think its one of the best things happening to brin...
The Other America: Putting Things in Perspective
In 1960, Michael Harrington wrote, The Other America, a book that shaped the domestic policy of both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Likely time for another book like that. There are definitely two Am...
$700,000,000,000.00
$700,000,000,000.00! Now, that's an amazing number, representing a huge amount of revenue. Consider: The National Football League operates franchises in 31 U. S. cities (New York has two teams). If y...
Who's Gaming the System?
In an effort to make some sense of this electoral season's increasing levels of irony, double standards and outright hypocrisy, the country's current economic calamity has me stymied. Let me explain: ...
Those at the Bottom Suffer Disproportionately
Working on our housing effort in downtown Dallas (City Walk @Akard) taught us a great deal about how hard it is to provide high-quality, affordable housing for the working poor and the homeless. Even...
So Much for Free Markets, and the Love of Money
So much for free markets. Decisions about how systems and institutions work have consequences in the lives of real people. It's just a fact. This is particularly true when it comes to public policy r...
Sunday Evening Musings
Church was edifying and comforting today. I went to two churches this morning. I attended the early service at the church to which I and my family belong. At 11:00 am, I attended another church to hav...
Distancing by Labeling
'Young and irresponsible', 'illegal aliens', 'crack heads', 'alcoholics', 'unteachable', 'uneducated', 'disruptive', 'lazy', 'welfare queens', 'drop outs'. These are the pejorative labels we put on t...
With Whom Do You Identify?
When it comes to poverty, one of the easiest "arm chair quarterback" exercises, is to make judgments about the poor. Most often this "judgementalism" is the result of our bias, or it is the result of ...
Questions My Friends Ask Me
Is the United States willing to elect an African American to be its leader? Does anyone really understand poverty? How many churches, synagogues mosques and other faith communities could truly justi...
Talk Is Cheap: Use Words Only When Necessary
People interested in our work here in Dallas, especially church people, often ask us, "How do you share the Gospel with your clients?" Sometimes, after taking an hour-long tour of our several location...
Pregnant, On the Street, and Don Miller's Prayer
Speaking of unwed mothers, take a look at Karen Shafer's provocative post, Pregnant and On the Street.I’m not a person who generally feels I need to be taken care of, but when I was pregnant, this c...
Support of Unwed Mothers
Last Tuesday evening, it was encouraging to see lots of signs being waved about by delegates to this year's Republican National Convention that read, "We Support Unwed Mothers!" Such a sentiment expre...
Distortion of Humanity's Purpose
"We stand by as children starve by the millions because we lack the will to eliminate hunger. Yet we have found the will to develop missiles capable of flying over the polar cap and landing within a ...
Rendering the Poor Invisible
Whether you think there is a societal responsibility to provide assistance to the poor or not, the fact is the poor among us are growing in number. More about this later. If there really is a growing...
Do you believe in our children?
Below is a video of an exceptional young man... no, I take that back. He is not exceptional. He is what so many other kids could be. I don't know his family, but I know his neighborhood. His school i...
Do We Hate the Poor?
I understand people who have made personal determinations regarding whether or not they will support charitable organizations. I can understand whether or not people will support legislation which wil...
People don't get it
Mayor Tom Leppert praised the partners and supporters for “bringing together a vacant building and need for permanent affordable housing” downtown. “It’s amazing what perseverance and commitm...
Art Project to Help the Homeless: HUVs
And just when I was certain that I'd heard and seen just about everything related to poverty and homelessness in the U.S., along comes University of Michigan student Stephen Mills. HUVs for our homel...
For Those Who Would Change the Wind
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." Dwight David...
How We're Contributing to a Growing Underclass, Part 2
OK, I'm going to trust you. Click on the link below first to see another way we are helping to stock the pool of underclass in our society....