Action Forum held March 27. 2010

The final event of the first round of Community Conversations on Reducing Poverty in the Northern Neck took place on Saturday, March 27th. Paula Fisher, with the Visions steering committee, acted as moderator. She thanked Susan McFadden and Open Door Communications for all their work developing our logo, our promotional and recruitment mailing material. Paula went on to open the meeting with these quotes from The World Bank PovertyNet: "Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom."


"Poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities." Paula added, "Community, Community, Comm u-ni-ty, Comm – Unity. This is why we have come together today... to move from dialogue to action in designing a plan to reduce poverty in the Northern Neck."

Each group had an opportunity to share their experience, their process, their vision and their recommendations.



The Heathsville group, represented by Joe Thompson, shared the following report:

Vision:
Communities working together to move from poverty to prosperity
Purpose:
To develop an action plan for reducing poverty in Northumberland, Lancaster and other surrounding counties of Virginia
Background:
Thirteen (13) members and four (4) facilitators participated in five (5) conversation sessions of two hour durations where
a. poverty was defined, and quantified in our communities at 10%
b. problems facing the poor were identified
c. available assets were listed
d. a list of possible actions was developed, analyzed with a consensus reached recommended Action Plan

Recommended Action Plan:
Our recommended Action Plan contains three (3)elements; a Community Coordinator, a focus on jobs and a focus on education.

1. Community Coordinator: We believe our communities have both the people and the assets to reduce poverty, except for a funded Community Coordinator who will develop, coordinate, manage and measure our poverty reduction efforts. For example; we have banks, churches, schools, businesses, etc. who could work on projects; but would need someone to coordinate, organize and measure”collective efforts” full time… a Community Coordinator. Our cost estimate for one person, transportation, telephone, computer and space is $100,000 per year, which we hope would be funded initially by a grant or foundation. Further, this Community Coordinator will need an Advisory Board to guide him/her. Without someone dedicated full time to this effort real success cannot be achieved.

2. Focus on jobs! More jobs..Less poverty, period! Some opportunities are:
1.Establish a Clearinghouse for Jobs/Skills……people looking for work/people seeking jobs. 2. Create a website for free listing. 3. Establish a physical location for connecting.

3. Focus on education! Expand the use of Rappahannock Community College in providing training for jobs (Example: Austin CC “Construction Gateway Program” www.austincc.edu/bct/gateway.php and www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1543) Expand Warsaw VoTech program to adults. Provide counseling for success in work with volunteer counselors. Help people gain literacy skills for further college or skills training. The Community Coordinator will promote children’s mentoring, reading partners, etc. with churches, civic organizations, etc. to help children’s education.

Prepared by Joe M. Thompson 3/24/2010
Presented by Joe M. Thompson & Tom Price

I'll continue to post the plans and recommendations over the next week, so that everyone can give each some attention. Each report represents hours of work by our many volunteers in this process. Thanks to all of them, and a special thanks to our facilitators: Torrence Harman, Lorraine Justice, Jessica Jordan, Kathleen Watson, Dave Alberts, Marilyn Warren, Lance Barton, Jason Hughes, and William Smith.