On Jan. 9, “Rooting Out Poverty,” a national campaign by America's Community Action Network was released in New Orleans and at press conferences across the country by local community action agencies.
Major goals of the campaign are to promote income security/poverty reduction, public awareness of the causes and affects of poverty and to work collaboratively at the national, state and local levels with other like-minded organizations, agencies and associations to improve public polices at all levels, and to broaden the constituency of people concerned about poverty.
James Norman, chairperson of the Steering Committee for the National Campaign and president and CEO of Action for Better Community in Rochester, stated, “While some Americans are enjoying our nation's economic well-being, far, far too many are not. The number of poor people in the United States range from conservative estimates of 15 million people to other estimates of more than 35 million people.
The Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency has a reputation and history of providing services and administering programs geared towards assisting families and individuals to become self-sufficient. We have signed on to the national campaign, which will enable us to educate and advocate on a broader level.
The Community Action Network is energized as we work together to make the issues of poverty a national priority.
In this, the greatest country in the world, no one should be homeless and no child should go to bed hungry. We call on our elected officials and our communities to join in the efforts of community action agencies across the country in our national campaign to root out poverty.
As the agency embarks on this new initiative - rooting out poverty - and as we end another very successful year of Head Start sending 164 4-year-olds off to kindergarten and looking forward to 111 3-year-olds returning to Head Start in the fall, I congratulate all of the Head Start staff. This staff was not only successful in working and nurturing the children but were able to get a large number of parents (including 80 fathers) to volunteer in all areas of the program.
As the Head Start program ends for another year, I personally thank all of the businesses in the area who continue to let our staff park on their property. It is so appreciated.
Parking remains a problem as St. Francis Church does not allow us to park in their lots without the agency paying a large amount of money each month. Someone said we wanted to park for free. Let me assure the public, we never parked for free. We kept the lot plowed, we insured the property and we maintained it.
Not being able to park in the lot is one thing, but putting up a barrier to make it difficult for the children's busses to turn around is something that is extremely difficult for me to understand. The barrier really is a potential safety issue as there is no marking that identifies the chain, and it could be dangerous.
As the Catholic Church begins a phase of spirit alive and putting faith into action, I hope this year could be a time we could begin a dialogue with St. Francis Church to open up communication on the issues of parking.
As this agency continues to live our mission and commits to the national movement to “Rooting Out Poverty,” I quote from the Bishop of Albany from “Poverty in the Diocese of Albany:” “The test of our own progress will be how we threat those in our community, what we do to promote economic justice and what we do to evidence our care and concern for the poor and needy in our localities.”
We as an agency face the future by continuing to work with all of our partners, collaborations, human service agencies, fatih-based organizations, or board of directors, policy council, staff, funding sources and the public to root out poverty in the land of plenty as we envision a community of inclusive for all people.
There is an old African proverb that says: “It takes a village to raise a child.” I believe it takes the country to root out poverty - one legislative act, one policy, one procedure and one act of kindness at a time.
Gloria Griffin is the executive director of the Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency.
James Norman, chairperson of the Steering Committee for the National Campaign and president and CEO of Action for Better Community in Rochester, stated, “While some Americans are enjoying our nation's economic well-being, far, far too many are not. The number of poor people in the United States range from conservative estimates of 15 million people to other estimates of more than 35 million people.
The Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency has a reputation and history of providing services and administering programs geared towards assisting families and individuals to become self-sufficient. We have signed on to the national campaign, which will enable us to educate and advocate on a broader level.
The Community Action Network is energized as we work together to make the issues of poverty a national priority.
In this, the greatest country in the world, no one should be homeless and no child should go to bed hungry. We call on our elected officials and our communities to join in the efforts of community action agencies across the country in our national campaign to root out poverty.
As the agency embarks on this new initiative - rooting out poverty - and as we end another very successful year of Head Start sending 164 4-year-olds off to kindergarten and looking forward to 111 3-year-olds returning to Head Start in the fall, I congratulate all of the Head Start staff. This staff was not only successful in working and nurturing the children but were able to get a large number of parents (including 80 fathers) to volunteer in all areas of the program.
As the Head Start program ends for another year, I personally thank all of the businesses in the area who continue to let our staff park on their property. It is so appreciated.
Parking remains a problem as St. Francis Church does not allow us to park in their lots without the agency paying a large amount of money each month. Someone said we wanted to park for free. Let me assure the public, we never parked for free. We kept the lot plowed, we insured the property and we maintained it.
Not being able to park in the lot is one thing, but putting up a barrier to make it difficult for the children's busses to turn around is something that is extremely difficult for me to understand. The barrier really is a potential safety issue as there is no marking that identifies the chain, and it could be dangerous.
As the Catholic Church begins a phase of spirit alive and putting faith into action, I hope this year could be a time we could begin a dialogue with St. Francis Church to open up communication on the issues of parking.
As this agency continues to live our mission and commits to the national movement to “Rooting Out Poverty,” I quote from the Bishop of Albany from “Poverty in the Diocese of Albany:” “The test of our own progress will be how we threat those in our community, what we do to promote economic justice and what we do to evidence our care and concern for the poor and needy in our localities.”
We as an agency face the future by continuing to work with all of our partners, collaborations, human service agencies, fatih-based organizations, or board of directors, policy council, staff, funding sources and the public to root out poverty in the land of plenty as we envision a community of inclusive for all people.
There is an old African proverb that says: “It takes a village to raise a child.” I believe it takes the country to root out poverty - one legislative act, one policy, one procedure and one act of kindness at a time.
Gloria Griffin is the executive director of the Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency.
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