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Email Creating a New Legacy for Urban America
By David R. Jones
Never before in this country have there been so many people of color in so many elected positions of power – New York’s governor, the mayors of Los Angeles and many other cities, and now the next president of the United States. More than half of New York’s City Council is comprised of people of color. The city’s congressional delegation includes Nydia Velasquez and Jose Serrano. The question is, what will they do with that power?
One New Yorker who set a standard for the use of power was Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell, whose centennial birth we celebrate this year. Powell was a congressman from 1944 to 1970.
When he became chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee in 1961, Powell orchestrated the passage of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” social programs, including antipoverty legislation, an increase in the minimum wage, funds for student loans, and the Manpower Development and Training Act.
Ignoring Urban Needs
Over the years, the nation has grown accustomed to ignoring the issues of our great urban centers. National politicians talk about the problems of the middle class – meaning mostly suburbia – which, they believe, is where the votes are. But here in New York City rich and poor and middle class live practically next door to each other.
In the midst of the current economic recession, there are a myriad of issues that confront low-income Latino and other New Yorkers, none more so than what is sometimes referred to as “food insecurity,” also known as hunger.
Government data report that almost 12 million Americans went hungry at some time last year - a great percentage of them children and the elderly. As the economy gets worse and food prices remain high, more Americans are depending on food stamps – a record 30 million this month. In New York City, 1.3 million people get food stamps, but another 600,000 are believed to be eligible.
Nationally, over five million Latinos receive food stamps each month. This represents more than 10 percent of the Latino population. Food stamps constitute 25 percent of total monthly income for a typical Latino family that participates in the program.
Latinos comprise 34 percent of low-income New Yorkers, over a million people. In the latest Community Service Society survey, “The Unheard Third,” we found that 38 percent of low-income Latino New Yorkers have no savings for any emergency. This means that they often must choose between paying the rent, getting needed medical care, or buying food. So the food stamp program is crucial to their survival.
When the economic stimulus package is constructed early next year, our representatives should ensure it contains an increase in food stamp benefits. But it must also include help for states and localities and funding for public service jobs.
Aid Basic Services
The aid to states and cities would ensure that basic services are funded at an adequate level, keeping people employed and injecting more money into the economy. Jobs that rebuild the infrastructure and produce more energy efficiency would strengthen the nation’s economy. They would also provide millions of jobless Americans with a wage and a stepping stone to employment in the private sector when it recovers from the recession. Food stamps are a stop-gap; good jobs should be the goal.
The Community Service Society (CSS) has advanced its own legislative agenda, one that could have a positive impact on low-wage Americans. It includes emergency expansion of health care up to 600 percent of poverty and policies to aid formerly incarcerated individuals coming out of our prisons. Go to our website at www.cssny.org for more about our proposals.
New York Congressman Gerald Nadler has introduced a bill to create a career-ladder grant program within the Federal Transit Administration. Its aim is to not only to help existing workers retain jobs in the public transportation industry, but also to recruit young adults across the nation for jobs in the transit sector. And a bill introduced by Congressman Rangel would amend the current Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to include low-skill youth who have been out of work and school for the past six months.
Few presidents have taken office in more difficult times. But history has shown that great problems provide the impetus for big changes. FDR’s New Deal is the prime example. Beginning with the economic stimulus package, our leaders must think big, as Adam Clayton Powell did in the 1960’s. Only broadly sweeping changes in public policies can restore the nation’s economic health and all that it entails.
The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer.
From El Diario
December 18, 2008
December 18, 2008
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