Make The Connections...

Part of the challenge of a blog like this - and of working for change - is that the problems we face can seem so immense. There's so many things to do, so much that needs... well, change... that one can get very caught up in looking at problems, and not thinking about solutions, or, indeed, doing anything at all.

Yet, we still need the "big picture" - realizing that problems are interconnected, and complex, helps to understand, fully, why solving things that seem simple may not be, ultimately. Knowing the big pictures, the connected problems should give us pause... it just shouldn't stop us completely.

So before talking, in future posts, about taking action, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at some of the big picture - issues we face where poverty issues play a part, but not the whole, of problems we have (here in America, which is my focus, and elsewhere). As always, I hope you'll join in with comments about issues you see, and how you deal with the complexities of the problems we face. And yes, these are issues I care about deeply; I know there's so much more out there.

Let's start with healthcare. A lot of discussion has gone on since President Obama was elected about his ambitious plans for healthcare reform. If you're still wondering what all the talk is about, I heartily recommend Tim Foley's blog here as a great way to break down the issues and how reforms could help address them.  One of the big questions for reform is how Congress will deal with reforming Medicaid, which provides money to states to provide programs for the poorest and neediest (and has been supplemented, in recent years, with SCHIP, a program meant to aid poor children and their families). Expanding availability of coverage for poor individuals and families is a big piece of fixing our broken health insurance system, and it will probably require the "public plan" that's been discussed, and big subsidies to allow people just over the poverty line to afford premiums. All of the discussion of insurance reform, though, shouldn't lose sight of an equally difficult goal: we need to make sure people have access to good, affordable healthcare... and right now in America we do a terrible job of delivering that care to our poorest populations.

Education is another complicated subject.  Improving education and expanding educational opportunities is a vital way to help people out of poverty. Already, it's clear that the economic downturn is adversely affecting opportunities for many to attend college, as reduced opportunities for financial aid crash headlong into almost no sign that institutions can or will reduce tuitions. State schools, often the best hope for people seeking more affordable options, are being hit hard by state level budget crises, and that economic pressure, in turn, has up-ended other lofty goals (such as in Texas, where a successful program to admit the top 10% of all high schoolers in the state has been altered due to pressure from suburban parents). At the K-12 level, budget crises are even more intense. We also struggle with contradictory notions of what schools and teachers should do (teach basic skills, prepare kids for college, teach moral decency... and on and on). These tensions are especially difficult in poorer communities, where schools often aren't given the resources to succeed, but parents have few options or alternatives. Clay Burell is charting the flow of these debates, and the innovations that can help change the way we teach kids, offering a great way to get up to speed.

Next up, for me, is affordable housing, again a key issue made all the more immediate by our national foreclosure crisis. That crisis, indeed, is itself a force pushing more people into poverty, and straining local governments with ever increasing demands for support and services. We are well past the point where this is simply about "bad people" or even "bad banks" - we have a national problem that touches virtually everyone, and almost every aspect of our culture. We are returning to basic questions like "do we really want everyone to own a home?" when renting, for many, may be a more realistic option; and we have yet to find a truly workable solution to provide relief for many folks facing foreclosure, or already in it. One of the ways we've put poverty aside, as a culture, is to keep it out of sight: we've housed  poor people in communities out of the way and on the edge of urban enclaves, allowing both urban and suburban folks to limit their exposure... but those boundaries have broken down, and perhaps that's all to the good. When poverty is all around us, and the issues raised are too big to ignore, perhaps, then, finally, as a community, we can take more steps to address the problems, and work harder to find solutions.

I could go on. Like I said, there are a lot of problems, and they can seem pretty big and complicated. But if we can use the "big picture" to make connections and see a fuller story, we can also, and should, act locally to do what we can to help. That's what I see.  What do you see?

(photo from flickr collection of six million dollar dan, used under a Creative Commons license)