D.C. Anti-Poverty Advocates Show How to Get It Done

For months now, we've watched as a fairly strong jobs bill was whittled down to the barest minimum. We've seen state and local governments slash spending for education and safety net programs — in part because our federal leaders see more gain in acting (or seeming to act) on the deficit.

We've petitioned. We've protested. We've written. We've called. We see glimmers of hope on some fronts. But we don't see signs of a policy shift. It's hard not to feel helpless in the face of decision-makers who ignore the plight of the poor and powerless.

So I'd like to celebrate a partial victory in the District of Columbia, my adoptive hometown.

The story begins, as many do these days, with the impacts of the recession. The District faced a projected budget shortfall. So programs that serve low-income residents were at high risk of cuts, as they always are when budgets are tight.

We'd been there before. For this reason, among others, the anti-poverty community had resources in place to champion a better approach to balancing the budget.

One is a nonprofit — the DC Fiscal Policy Institute — that produces and publishes detailed, easy-to-understand analyses of relevant parts of proposed and enacted budgets. Advocates and other concerned residents need these. So do members of the D.C. Council and their staffs. Because only experts can understand what the District's budget actually means.

DCFPI also testifies, meets privately with decision-makers and educates the public through its blog, monthly news column and jointly-organized briefings.

Another resource are some large, overlapping coalitions of other organizations that serve and advocate for low-income residents. They know their areas and issues inside out — affordable housing, homeless services, health care, job training, etc.

For many years, they've collaborated, as the Fair Budget Coalition, on an annual report that recommends a limited set of spending priorities and, more recently, revenue raisers and administrative improvements. This is a powerful tool because it delivers a unified message from a broad spectrum of organizations.

The FBC doesn't stop there. Members host briefing sessions. They walk the halls of the D.C. Council building, dropping in on Council members to advocate for the recommendations. They testify. And, very importantly, they bring in clients who'll be directly affected by what the Council decides.

A third, newer resource is a group of energetic, social media-savvy grassroots organizers — the Save Our Safety Net campaign. They complement the work of the FBC with videos, tweets, online petitions and attention-getting demonstrations. (The photo here shows some SOS volunteers on the steps of the D.C. Council building, which also houses the office of the mayor.)

Everyone involved with these coalitions agrees that this was the toughest budget year they'd faced in a long time. Mayor Adrian Fenty had proposed some revenue-raisers that would hit low-income people hardest, plus major cuts for some critical programs and level-funding for others that were short on resources due to previous cuts.

By the end of the process, the Council had eliminated some of the funding cuts, reduced others and even agreed to some modest funding increases. None of the programs the coalitions focused on got cut more than the mayor proposed.

What the coalitions couldn't get passed were some altogether sensible revisions to the tax code, including new top income tax brackets for the District's highest earners. These would have provided revenues to at least restore the remaining funding cuts.

But even here is a partial victory. The coalitions got five Council members on board with the income tax return. A similar proposal last year just died a quiet death.

Now the FBC and yet another coalition — the new Defeat Poverty DC — have turned their attention to the upcoming local elections. They're producing questions for candidates to answer, which they'll publish in voters guides. They're also hosting events for the public to hear what the candidates have to say about their plans to address key issues that affect poor residents and how they'll pay for them.

The organizations are nonprofits, so they can't endorse candidates. But they can interject the issues they care about into the debate. And, of course, nothing focuses the attention of elected officials like getting re-elected — or of contenders pooling the support necessary to beat them.

What the candidates say they'll do to bridge the huge economic divide (pdf) in the District will give voters more than they can get from the speeches, flyers and websites produced by the campaign organizations. It will also create a record that can later be used to hold the winners' feet to the fire.

All this involves a lot of hard work by organizations that are individually quite small and, in most cases, engaged in providing direct services as well as advocacy. They may get some grant support, but they also depend on donations from local residents. And on volunteers.

The strategies I've described also involve a lot of stick-to-itiveness. I'm constantly impressed by how the advocates I work with bounce back after defeats and get busy on the next campaign. The new budget shows that their persistence pays off.

And though it's not the best budget the Council could have passed, they're still at it, working together, expanding their base and building on what they've gained and learned.

Things to consider when we feel we can't make a difference.

Photo credit: Save Our Safety Net