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If this were Philadelphia Mississippi, we would declare a state of moral emergency.
Submitted by stan shapiro on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 9:47am.
If this were Philadelphia Mississippi, we would be declaring a state of moral emergency.
Because we live in a thoroughly segregated town, separate, and thoroughly unequal. And it’s an intentionally segregated town, one that became that way due to policies carried out by all levels of government, and by all of our ruling civic institutions. It’s a story that’s now well documented and beyond dispute. Federal insurance agencies, with the complicity of local banks and realtors, redlined our neighborhoods, policies of Negro removal (officially called urban renewal) and highway encirclement further drove blacks into areas abandoned by whites, job discrimination in building and other trades was systematically enforced, and our Philadelphia ghetto took on boundaries as impermeable as if they were written into law. And just in case the lock and key weren’t secure enough, we built our public school system into one separate and unequal, hardly less than if this town were, in fact, Philadelphia, Mississippi rather than Philadelphia, PA. And so the route of economic opportunity out of the ghetto was walled off through the systematic intellectual neglect of generations of children.
Intense segregation has become intense poverty. Manufacturing in our town is no more. Decent jobs within the ghetto are largely a thing of the past. So there is no escape from the intense privation that afflicts hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens, so many of them children. Housing deterioration is rampant, while thousands of women and children, and single men with no hope, have no homes at all. Many of them have resorted to drugs as an escape, and others, completely abandoned to despair, have resorted to killing each other in increasing numbers.
This “society” that we have constructed for 1/3 of our population or more is a moral outrage, and it presents us with a moral emergency. Overcoming it must be the central focus of all of our political and civic life. And there is only one figure in our town's leadership who is asking us to turn consciously to that profound task, and that's Chaka Fattah.
How can we fail to elect this man mayor?
There has been much discussion on this blog and elsewhere about whether Fattah's proposals are practical and workable. I think they're carefully thought through for the most part, and eminently practical and workable, but I can't guarantee that they will all work. But focusing on the details of those programs in this campaign is to walk away from its central issue. And that is do we recognize the nature, extent and gravity of the moral challenge we face? Fattah is asking us to look at what needs to be done in this town in a totally new way. For years the theme that has dominated civic discussion has been “economic development.” How do we bring businesses and jobs to Philadelphia? How do we keep “productive” Philadelphians from moving away, and how do we attract more? Fattah says that’s all well and good. But our central, driving focus has to be helping those whose basic rights we have systematically denied, become those productive Philadelphians.
And, of course, as he’s said, having that focus will ultimately be good for all of us. And he’s right. But that’s not the main reason for turning in that direction, especially for those of us who read this blog. We’re progressives. We care about civil rights, civil liberties and correcting injustice. For us, repairing the damage that we have done – we as a community - ought to be, must be, our driving moral imperative.
Fattah’s campaign is asking us to recognize that philosophy and perspective matter. Some of the candidates say, well, if we make the town attractive for business, good things will follow later. That’s a stand-in-line approach to a moral emergency, an emergency that is slowly – and in some cases, not so slowly -- sucking the very life out of hundreds of thousands of our neighbors every day. They can’t wait for new businesses to show up some day to provide jobs which they likely won’t have the skills to take. They, and their children, need a direct hand up, and they need it now.
This City’s racial history, and its racial present, need to be front and center in our public consciousness and in our public policy. What would we say, all of us, if these patterns of impacted segregation were imposed by law in Philadelphia? Would we say it’s time for tax breaks for big business because of a theory that they will create jobs? And then would we put some patchwork programs together to help suffering people directly that we might or might not be able to finance given the tax revenue we would be giving away? Not likely. We would act, directly, frontally and now. The fact that we created these abominable conditions subtly, over time, does not relieve us of our obligation to confront the results directly, frontally and now.
Fattah, if anything, is too conservative about saying that. Although some of us on this blog seem to think he’s almost confrontational in his rhetoric, he has refrained from casting the poverty issue as a race issue. He knows how charged that focus would be, no matter how thoroughly justified. But we should recognize and applaud his call for us to step up to the moral challenge we face whether he calls it by its true name, racism, or whether he uses the proxy that we’re more emotionally able to contend with, entrenched poverty. Because, of course, the one has led directly to the other. And we need to deal with it, whatever we call it.
Fattah has been criticized because he goes to a forum on sustainability and he talks about poverty, he goes to one on planning and he talks about poverty, he goes to one on education, or transportation, or ethics in government, and he talks about poverty. He’s giving us a wake up call folks, our sense of moral outrage has been asleep. There will be time to talk about whether this program or that program is designed just right. But first we have to wake up and stay awake. By electing Fattah we can tell the country, and the world, that we are doing just that. And it is time for that message to go forth, from Philadelphia. From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Great post, Stan. I
Great post, Stan. I disagree with your conclusion, but not your premise.
Though, I wanted to post on this, but didn't want it to stand alone. And, it is slightly off topic, but related.
Yesterday, I had to drop off a rental application. As I was cruising through the streets of South Philly in my car and, I saw something beautiful--something I did not see much of growing up and something that relates to Stan's post. I saw a group of kids, like 11-13 year olds, walking down Ritner Street between 5th and 7th and joking around. There might have been 6-7 of them. Two were white, two-three were black, one was Latino (or so it looked) and one was likely Cambodian. They were friends walking around in their neighborhood.
When I was a kid, South Philly was a very segregated place. I lived in an Italian neighborhood that was bordered by a black neighborhood. I hardly went into the other and black kids hardly came in. Being one of the few kids who went to magnet-public school and spend my summers in a community center, my friends came from various parts of the city and looked different than my neighborhood friends. On birthday parties or to play football, I had a tendency to want to include everyone. On some instances, it was great. Other times, not entirely welcomed by the parent's of my neighborhood friends--often creating an uncomfortable situation for my friends and making me angry (I had quite a fiery temper as a young lad).
It seems like, at least in South Philly, things are changing a bit. My neighborhood is still mostly Italian-American. It will likely be that way for a long time. But, South Philly being such a dense place, people are finally learning that--just because a family that is different moves it, it does not mean you have to sell your home for New Jersey. Or, that it is a good thing that your kid has friends that look different. I was fortunate in that my parents were relatively open-minded and taught me to be that way.
Great Post Stan
Damn Stan, that was very moving. I can't agree more with your premise, and I fear my attempt to type anything will pale in comparison. Regardless of the candidates different folks here support or spin for, you have made a powerful statement about Philadelphia's painful history and our collective mission for the future.
As you know, I feel very strongly about progressive strategies to reduce crime. I always preface my conversations with my opinion that if we are serious about crime reduction we must realize that education, economic development, public health and criminal justice are interconnected and inseperable (sp?). Not a case of either or but a holistic approach.
This weekend someone posted several graphs illustrating Philadelphia's unemployment rate and how related it is to national trends. That being said, Stan...what policies do you think a mayor of Philadelphia can enact to create massive work/training programs? Do you mean a small scale/local version of FDR's programs that lifted us out of the depression?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
— Margaret Mead
Seth
***Non-disclaimer - disclaimer The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter prevents me from engaging in partisan politics, my comments are not meant to support any specific candidate or party, merely my personal reaction to poverty and Philadelphia's history of racism and segregation***
Thanks for the kind words, Seth
I don't have an exact prescription for fixing the moral atrocity of unnecessary and legally imposed poverty, but I think step 1 is looking it in the face. Otherwise we let ourselves be captured by glib rhetoric that all we have to do is help rich people and they will take care of it. And we don't even regularly look at the kind of charts that Price put up that show, in fact, that that stuff isn't working.
But Fattah's program, focusing on lifting people's capacity to function in a modern economy, seems to me to be on the right track. We don't know, because it may not have been tried on the scope that he proposes. I think we have to try it, and measure its results. Fattah is clear that he intends to get results, and intends to stay at it if his first set of ideas don't work out. I heard him speak today, and he speaks with passion about waking up every day as mayor to focus on this problem. That's what I want in my mayor. I don't expect guaranteed results; I want guaranteed focus and intention. Nothing will happen without it. This problem is too difficult and intractable to be solved through indirection, or as a side-effect of some other idea.
Here and there change may be occurring
but in the aggregate, not for the better. The segregation is still overwhelming, both in the schools and in living patterns. And certainly in the depth and desperation of the poverty that has resulted. That will not be cured by the welcome few improvements we may be seeing around the fringes.
I wonder, Stan, if the
I wonder, Stan, if the change is a result of poverty in this city becoming more widespread and the influx of new Philadelphia who can only afford to live in certain places. That this is not happening by design, but chance.
But the structure of
poverty came along with the structure of segregation. So to the extent that other ethnic groups are moving into areas where housing values are low and schools bad due to previous patterns of black-white separation, those affects are now pounding the new groups. The root cause traces back decades if not centuries. And those causes are not accidental.
Great post Stan. Like
Great post Stan. Like Gaetano, I like what you are saying but just disagree with your conclusion.
I have been wondering this for a while, but I was afraid it was a question that would cause a flame War, so I have held off. But, I was just wondering, what has Fattah done in his 20+ year political career to fight poverty head on? As a member of the appropriations committee, what has he done to bring money into his city and his district where, I’m assuming most of the poverty in this city is taking place?
I know that there are a lot of people who support Fattah because of his stance on poverty. But I was just wondering why people would support him so strongly when he has a 20 year career in which he has not been a leader on the subject. It just sounds like rhetoric to me.
If I’m wrong about his lack of credentials, then I apologize ahead of time to him and all of his supporters.
GEAR UP and Core Philly and more
Some key highlights from in Congress:
GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs): Conceived by Fattah to help all children to have an equal opportunity to access higher education. Assisting millions of children, GEAR UP has become the largest pre-college awareness program in this nation's history and has contributed nearly $2 billion toward the educational advancement of low-income students.
Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Act: Sponsored by Fattah, this program assists homeowners who are experiencing unavoidable temporary difficulty making payments on mortgages insured under the National Housing Act. [remember that Fattah created the same program in the state when he was a member fthe General Assembly.]
Fattah Higher Education Conference: Over the past twenty years, Fattah has convened this conference which has helped hundreds of students achieve their dreams of obtaining college, graduate and professional degrees. In February, 2006, he assembled a coalition of schools, non-profits and state institutions that agreed to award $25 million in graduate school scholarships to all 700 college students enrolled at the conference. Each of those eligible students who are admitted to any of the participating graduate institutions can attend for free.
Reverse Commuting: Fattah engineered a $1.486 million federal grant to support a reverse commuting program to take Philadelphia workers to suburban jobs.
CORE Philly: Fattah, in collaboration with Philadelphia Mayor John Street and School District CEO Paul Vallas, launched this last dollar scholarship program which gives graduating Philadelphia seniors entering Pennsylvania state funded institutions up to $3,000 to cover college costs not covered by financial aid. To date, nearly 7,000 Philadelphia students have benefited.
CORE Philly Endowment: Fattah has taken the lead in helping an endowment established by CORE Philly with its efforts to raise $200 million in order for this last dollar scholarship program to exist in perpetuity.
Thanks for the info. Maybe
Thanks for the info. Maybe he isn't so bad after all.
Also disagree with your conclusion
I share your outrage at the awful conditions that far too many Philadelphians face. I just don't think that Chaka Fattah would be the most effective at improving the city. For the impoverished or other.
Just because Fattah talks the most about poverty, does not mean his programs will work. I have serious doubts of the effectiveness of a volunteer "Philadelphia Opportunity Foundation of civic, education and business leaders to oversee the entire implementation" of billions of dollars. It has potential to be an inefficient redundant bureaucracy that I don't think we need, and I don't think would reduce poverty most effectively in Philadelphia. Yes, I think $2 Billion would help, but highly doubt the feasibility and that figure. No company will donate that much and not take more in return.
I also think you seriously misrepresent the other candidates. Just because they aren't promising to hold an airport sale to raise money to fight poverty does not mean that they won't fight poverty. Every other candidate has proposed stuff to fight poverty.
----
I support Michael Nutter for Mayor.
So let me understand this
You support Michael Nutter for mayor whose centerpiece proposal is cutting taxes to raise revenue, an idea which can mathematically be expressed as 2-1=3. Yet your major concern with Fattah, as I understand it, is that you have no guarantee that his programs will work.
Obviously your complaint is ideological, not mathematical. And that's OK, I guess. I just think if we're comparing programs that are equally unproveable in their capacity to achieve results, we ought to go with the one that directly attacks the moral atrocity that is entrenched segregation and poverty.
Fattah's program and that of three of the other candidates both suggest spending huge sums of money to fix our city. Fattah spends it for his opportunity agenda. The others spend the money on tax cuts. Yes, tax cuts are like spending money. Because you start out, as everyone agrees, with less of it when your program is in place. There's a theory, completely unprovable as we've discussed at length on this blog, that that expenditure will result in benefits. Those benefits would get to poor people, even if they arrive, by first going through rich people who will then sprinkle some of them on the poor, bye the bye, somehow, someway.
So, it's obvious that you don't choose candidates based on how provable it is that their program will help poor people. Because there's no way that you can make that claim for your candidate's program. And your candidate knows that as well. Which means one thing: improving the condition of poor people is OK with him. But it's hardly the priority that it is for Fattah, whose plan actually spends money directly on those who need help. And who takes no risk on a plan that could actually result in less money -- because it's spent on rich shareholders -- thus resulting in even less support for the poor than we provide now.
No Risk! No Money Down! Buy your own airport today!
Fattah's programs can be mathematically expressed as 2+i=$3 Billion. You know, imaginary numbers.
The plans are not equally unprovable. Not all assumptions are equally valid or invalid. An assumption that I will win powerball is less reasonable than an assumption that I will get a paycheck in three months. Nutter's proposal have a lot fewer huge assumptions than Fattah's proposals. You just cannot equate the uncertainty.
You will never admit that anything Nutter proposes is good, but he has more experience with the Philly budget than any other candidate. He has done more to spell out his plans than any other candidate. He has shown how he would pay for all his programs more than any other candidate. I believe that his plans are better than the other candidates' plans and think that he would be more effective in implementing them and administrating the city honestly and efficiently than any other candidate.
Jobs, crime, unemployment, and schools are things that Nutter talks about the most. If you think improvement in those four areas would not help reduce poverty, or that it would just be incidental, then I don't know what to tell you.
You are just ideologically opposed to any tax reduction, and you have a personal vendetta against Nutter. I believe that you said that you would oppose any tax cut that would benefit large corporations, no matter how certain that everyone would benefit.
Spending money directly on nonprofits run by his allies, who promise to do some good. Like use broken security cameras to keep us safe for $700,000. If we got 5 broken cameras for $700,000, just imagine what we can get for $2 Billion!
You have no idea what risk is, or what sustainability is.
A mayor that will drive companies and employers and jobs and residents out of Philadelphia will result in less money. That is a certainty. It will probably also make things worse for the impoverished, and make things even harder to fix. You may not think Chaka Fattah will lead us further down this road, but I think the risk of choosing Fattah is too high.
I tried to just write a small post to point out that just because a candidate talks about poverty, doesn't mean he will be the most effective at fixing poverty. Apparently, Stan thinks that every proposal in this campaign has no risk of failing, unless it is proposed by Nutter.
And Stan, if you are replying to my post, reply to my post.
----
I support Michael Nutter for Mayor.
Vendetta! Vendetta! Arrogance! Arrogance!
You are just overwhelmed by your candidate. He is undoubtedly, as Bill Murray said, speaking of himself in Groundhog Day, not God. But also quoting Bill, he must be *a* god. Because the only way anyone could disagree with Nutter's desire to throw hundreds of millions of bucks at rich sharehholders would apparently be to have a vendetta against him. There's no conceivable way one could simply disagree with such humbug.
I would say you are the one with the vendetta. Why? Who knows; in your view it apparently proves my point to say so.
Aside from my vendetta, I will restate my simple point that you have not rebutted. There is no proof that taking money out of the budget by giving it away in tax cuts results in more money. There is also no proof that Fattah's plan will work. However, Fattah's plan does not give money out that he doesn't have. If it fails we have no less money. If Nutter's plan -- copied by Brady and Knox -- fails, we have less money. Therefore, Nutter's plan involves more risk. That's all there is to it.
Risky and Less Money
If you're spending $2-$3 billion on a program or group of programs that might not be effective, it's the very definition of programmatic risk.
Further, if you spend the $2-$3 billion on programmatic expenditures not related to the airport's infrastructure, you will at some point have to raise money some other way to pay for required capital expenditures during the period when the airport is leased out.
So, let's call a spade a spade on the Opportunity Agenda
What exactly is the risk in a program that sends kids to college?
We know from the KIP study that Philadelphia retains more natives who graduate from local colleges than comparable cities--many more than in Boston.
We know that there are a lot of jobs--particularly in pharmaceuticals and in health care--in the city that require skilled workers.
So, basically we know that if we send more local kids to college--remembering that less than 20% of our city's current population has a bachelor's degree or higher (and I bet that number of white folks vs. black with degrees is severely imbalanced)--that we would produce more middle and high wage earners who would fill available jobs and would then contribute significantly to our economy.
Is there another plan on the table to not just stabilize, but grow our revenue base exponentially that I am unaware of?
At the end of the day, people with college degrees disparaging the value of sending working class kids is beyond ironic for me. So, let's call a spade a spade on this issue. Especially when we're talking about leveraging an asset that no one has ever talked about using before and that only brings $4 million in revenue to city coffers now.
Meanwhile, as I have said before, the plan Fattah has proposed to take over the airport is just a plan. The actual deal has not been done. There's no reason that we can't set aside some of the money that is invested in the Opportunity Foundation for long-term capital expansion of the airport.
The point of the plan is to show voters a map of where Fattah will take the city. For those who care to examine it, go to www.phillyforfattah.com and check out the policy center.
From what I understand, and
From what I understand, and I'm just posing this, part of the problem with the Airport Agenda is that there is a good likelihood it will never come to fruition. Then we are left with a mayor who by the function of law cannot pursue his major electoral priority--or is left to find another way to satisfy that promise.
I think that no other candidate has proposed leveraging the airport because if it doesn't happen, they do not want to be left holding the bag on empty promises. Or, maybe because their projections on its profitability for the city are slim--economists can and disagree.
This is just my summary of what I have been reading.
Main criticism of airport deal has come from other candidates
The main criticism of the airport deal has come from other candidates- except of course when they tell the Philadelphia Business Journal they are also open to privatizing the airport. [I would provide a link, but they only put the current issue online - it was in the April 13 issue]
There are 2 big things that have to occur to make the airport deal happen.
First is that Congress needs to expand the privatization pilot program. There will be a bill passed by this fall in order to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration to continue to be funded. The current draft of the bill includes this provision, and Fattah will use his position in Congress to ensure that the provision stays in the bill.
Step two is to get the airlines on board. With all the flight delays at the airport, the promise of improved airport management that could come through a private operator will help spur them to sign on. This was certainly the case in Chicago—and remember that Midway has many of the same carriers as we do.
Also, as Bob Brady said in the debate over the weekend, "don't underestimate Chaka Fattah." This is the same guy who got GEAR UP passed in a Republican Congress and got the public housing high-rises taken down and replaced with neighborhood homes when people said it couldn't be done.
So I don't think your claim that "there is a good likelihood it will never come to fruition" is accurate.
I think that everyone focusing on the airport is a way to distract from the real point, which is about investing in all Philadelphians and giving them the opportunity to transform their lives. As Mayor, that's what Fattah is going to focus on, and he's not afraid to propose creative, outside the box solutions.
A Philadelphia native, back home working to elect Chaka Fattah as the city's next Mayor.
I'm sorry, Dave, but you
I'm sorry, Dave, but you must have not ready my post very clearly. Otherwise, you would notice I was trying my best to summarize some of the criticism of the plan. Nevertheless, it seems that what is required is that a bill must be passed in Congress, the Hub airline must agree, and the individual airlines must agree. Now, I've heard of stars aligning before, but it seems that perhaps a mayoral candidate should just base a major platform on something that might happen. George W. Bush spent 7 years pursuing a homeland security policy on the threat of a terror attack that might happen--how is that working out?
In addition, I want to know--why the hell it is that whenever someone criticizes Fattah--the response is some derivative of this "you hate poor people" or "you don’t want working class kids to go to college" or "you want all puppies sent to the moon." Seriously, talk about shading the issue. Or even better, something like "so and so" says not to "discount" Fattah. Can we talk about policy without having the opponents being charged with classism when it comes to Fattah. I am just plain sick of that rhetoric--it is the least intelligent form of argument.
As someone who spent the first third of my life poor, the second third decidedly working class and the last third where I am now, I resent being told that my disagreement means I am out of touch with something I directly lived in! How many people out there can say in one lifetime they lived in 3 very different socioeconomic classes--not many. If anyone here knows the value of sending working class kids to college and investing in our children regardless of where or what they come from--it is me. Appealing to my sense of compassion is not something anyone on this site must do--it's there and I do it by action and not just through a political campaign.
To me the issue is this, it may be a good idea as a hypothetical situation, but what happens if this doesn't work. And, I'm not discounting Fattah, I'm discounting Congress, the airlines and the actual ability of the plan to produce as much revenue as it does not. In addition, Friedman's maintenance and upgrading argument is a good one that does not seem to be addressed.
What happens if it doesn't work?
You tell me Gaetano, what happens if it does not work?
How do we then address the fact that less than 20% of all Philadephians have a BA or higher--most of whom are white?
I am sorry you don't like dealing with classism, but like it or not, it's all over this race and it's all over this city.
Beyond which, I don't think you read David's post very carefully.
Maybe you, like me, don't pay as much attention to the national stuff as I do, but there are folks on both sides of the aisle who want the FAA bill to pass with the airport component in it. There's no guarantee that City Council will pass a budget in it that funds Wireless Philly again, but those of us who watch Council know it's pretty likely to happen. By the same token, the authorizing legislation is pretty likely to happen.
As for the rest of the stars aligning, as has already been said, it is happening in Chicago.
Here's what I don't get Gaetano:
I know your other complaints about Fattah, but I don't get this one.
He has proposed something that has a good chance of happening for very good ends. Why don't you stick to talking about the things you do like--or better talking why your guy is better--rather than making arguments I can't imagine you really believe in.
Cause right now, basically what you are saying is, I don't like Fattah because he has a big, bold plan that he may not be able to pull off.
That is illogical to me--it's possible FDR couldn't have pulled off the New deal, it's possible LBJ couldn't have pulled off food stamps, it's possible Nelson Mandela couldn't have ended apartheid--but they all did.
Same with Fattah: he makes a pretty good case for the airport deal on the leasing/finance end. He came to the table with a plan for how to fund a big expansion of city services that will constitute an investment that is guaranteed to pay off. Not to paraphrase Dwight Evans too much, but what is your beef with that?
Ray, Congressman Fattah has
Ray, Congressman Fattah has instilled zero confidence in me for three reasons. First, I did not think he was a particularly good or representative congressperson. Congressman Fattah probably couldn't find my neighborhood on a map. What makes me think things will change when he is mayor. Second, I think it is Fattah who is primarily throwing the classism into the race. Third, I do not believe Fattah is the candidate of those who want something different than what we have.
I think, as we can see from the debate on this site that reasonable people can disagree on the chances of it happening--and more importantly, the chances of it producing the revenue that is being projected. Similarly, the New Deal was a nationwide program to stop a major depression. It is not an applicable analogy. Similarly, foodstamps were a nationwide program to fight poverty, spur the agricultural industry and feed children. Last, Mandela is so not even applicable, I will not spend time explaining why. But, for the two federal programs, what is so different is that these programs were done and coordinated on a federal level to spur the economy and/or fight poverty. Doing this on a local level to the extent Fattah is wanting, to some and me included, seems to be tantamount to writing a check that we may not be able to cash. And, ultimately, what happens if we elect a mayor on fantasy--where do we fall to.
You want me to talk about what I like--How about stop telling the Nutter supports they are classists when they critique the plan?
What happens if it doesn't work? Well, I think that is for Fattah to answer. It's his plan. What I see happening is this NOTHING. Another missed opportunity.
Based on my impression as a constituent, I do not think Fattah is interested in being the mayor for all Philadelphia. He should show me otherwise. He isn't and neither are you.
for real?
I never called you or anyone else a classist Gaetano. However, when I ask what we do if Fattah's plan to send more kids to college does not happen, as you suggest it will not, and you reply:
...it's hard for me to believe that education is much of a priority to you. Fattah wanting to send kids to college is hardly HIS idea alone. Every parent who is struggling to make ends meet and save for college would be happy for some help. Just ask the 10,000+ parents of the current CORE Philly program who got the help they needed to send their kid on the path to a better life than the one they had.
Okay, because from what you
Okay, because from what you know about me this might be the most ridiculous statement you have ever made: "it's hard for me to believe that education is much of a priority to you." Whatever, Ray. Plain ridiculous and, in my estimation, borderline slanderous given what you know of me.
And, that comment has so enraged me, I feel the need to add to this comment. Education is how I am what I am. It is what has gotten me here and everyone's child should have that opportunity. But, what is so frustrating is that you would even remotely say such a thing because I disagree with you and your candidate. That is percisely what I am talking about--the low level of debate coming from the Fattah side is solely focused on shading the issue with rhetoric. I challenge the plan on practicality, you tell me education is not a priority for me. Well, Ray, that's is just %&^*ing brilliant. I have never been so impressed with debate skills.
No one is arguing that sending kids to college should not be a priority. But, the problem the Fatta-lunatics seem to have is that people disagree on HOW this is to be done.
You miss the point. Fattah runs around town telling people their kids are going to college if he becomes mayor. What happens if it doesn't? Does he have a contingency plan? How does he find the money then? Do we just abandon the ambitious proposal. That is my point. Otherwise, people will be more disappointed then they were before. You do not want to answer that question. I'm not out there campaigning on unicorns and mer-men--he is.
I want to know, what if? Pretty reasonable if you ask me. I ask the same of everyone else.
That's bull
Gaeatno, you can't be all things to all people. You can't be the objective observer asking "what if" and also take potshots at people who are not Michael Nutter whenever you want.
You are not asking "what if," you are saying and have been saying "no way."
I don't care if you don't support Fattah, but his plan to lease the airport, an unused asset, to fund a fight against generational poverty is bold. And it is doable.
And guess what Gaetano? maybe you don't know me very well. Because I have been obsessed with focusing public policy at the city level on fighting poverty and increasing opportunity LONG before I met you or Fattah. So if Knox, Brady, Nutter, Evans, Queena Bass or Jesus White wins this race, I will still be pushing to make sure that education and higher wages are a priority so that every Philadelphia can have access to the privileges my mother and grandmother did not, and that I did.
Ray, everyone on here did
Ray, everyone on here did stuff before YPP came along--not just you. I'd hate to tell you but Ray Murphy did not inspire me to go work on a political campaign this year because I thought it would be fun.
I still do not get why the hell it even matters--you're the one that said education isn't a priority for me.
You made the low blow against me, Ray. Do not get angry that I'm fighting back.
Here's what I said:
I'll leave it to the rest of the readers to judge this as a "low blow" or not:
"I never called you or anyone else a classist Gaetano. However, when I ask what we do if Fattah's plan to send more kids to college does not happen, as you suggest it will not, and you reply:
...it's hard for me to believe that education is much of a priority to you. Fattah wanting to send kids to college is hardly HIS idea alone. Every parent who is struggling to make ends meet and save for college would be happy for some help. Just ask the 10,000+ parents of the current CORE Philly program who got the help they needed to send their kid on the path to a better life than the one they had."
Yes, and what I am trying to
Yes, and what I am trying to get at is--if the airport plan doesn't work, do we just say goodbye to everything he wanted from it? Does he have any other way to pay? That is all, Ray.
I agree with Gaetano
For what its worth, I agree with comment. All Fattah does is promise everythiing to everyone and wants to pay for all by leasing something that is not his to give away. But, I at least give him credit for being able to find the airport....he certainly couldnt find my neighborhood when I lived in his district.
*I support Tom Knox for Mayor*
I admit I'm also baffled
I'm baffled that people hold Fattah to the standard of "he must show that every detail of his program must work" and then implicitly or explicitly support a candidate who wants to make money by reducing the City's revenue stream. Who, in other words, promotes the idea of 2-1=3. I mean it's OK if you want to take that leap of faith and assume that one of those candidates will both a) keep the city from going broke, and b) also add new money from the tax cut that pays for new programs. But I still don't get how one lauds a candidate who is going to make money by cutting revenue and criticize another candidate who calls for holding on to existing revenue streams, and then spending for new programs from new money. I just don't get how you can intellectually justify both of those positions.
Classism
Gaetano, clearly we have different perspectives on Fattah and I'm clearly not going to change your mind about him as a Congressman or his ability to get the airport deal done. I think he can, and you don't and that's fine.
But I didn't invoke classism when I responded to you, I was trying to focus on the point of the Opportunity Agenda rather than getting bogged down in the weeds of the airport deal. But I'm having a really hard time understanding this idea that Fattah is not going to be a Mayor for all Philadelphians. First of all, it's right in the tag line of the campaign and its main message and slogan - "Real opportunity for ALL Philadelphians."
Second, for years upon years, the poor have not had a voice in government. They are the ones who have been left out of the power structure. For years candidates have run without mentioning poor people. So why is it that now that Fattah actually mentions poverty and says he wants to help the poor middle-class and upper-class people cry foul that they will be left out of government? He's not saying he wants to write anybody out of the process, he just wants to write those that have been left out back in.
Most of us on this blog are Democrats, and part of why I am is because the Democratic Party has fought for the poor and working class while the Republicans have not made the poor and working class a priority.
Do you think national Democrats have left out not been a party for the middle and upper classes as well? Has their defense of the poor drowned out their ability to represent middle-class and upper-class Democrats as well? T
To me it just doesn't fly that because he says he wants to stand up for working-class people that he won't be a Mayor for everyone.
A Philadelphia native, back home working to elect Chaka Fattah as the city's next Mayor.
Like I said, I've been poor.
Like I said, I've been poor. I've been working class. I know, first hand, these issues. I just wonder why Fattah did not see fit to care much about the poor and working class my my community that were in his own district.
Whatever. This conversation is so blown out because a simple question cannot be answered.
And, I notice the change in message. Working class is a relatively new addition to the message. A good one. A needed one. But, not one I heard 2 weeks ago. Campaign are, indeed, receptive to criticism.
Of course they are
No one on this campaign has ever talked about poor people. We always talk about creating opportunity for ALL and reducing poverty. It's in every thing we write and everything we say. Most of our volunteers and supporters are not poor--they are every day people struggling to get by and would like a little bit more help.
It is Fattah detractors who have focused on poor people to create class divides which is exactly what David points out above. Fattah will be a Mayor for all people as every single one of his policy papers makes clear.
And, I'm detracting because
And, I'm detracting because I want to ensure he is not selling me a bill of goods. I just want the answers to what happens to these programs if X does not occur.
Do you worry the same amount about what
happens if Nutter/Brady/Knox's tax cuts result in less revenue and do nothing to help unemployment as Price's charts strongly suggest?
Yes, Stan. I do. I worry
Yes, Stan. I do. I worry about it all. I stay up an night and think about these things--believe me, I do (I'm being truthful here). Okay--maybe I stay up at night because I have to work too.
I'm asking lots of questions to lots of people. That is what I do. I have outline what I thought about tax policy almost a year ago. It looks nothing like any of the candidates.
I remember that we had a dialogue
about taxes that was quite intelligent on this site. I think that between the two of us and others who contributed to that dialogue that we might be able to come up with a very sensible tax policy. But the point is, as you've pointed out, it's not the policy of any of the candidates. And three of them, including the one I think you support, have put forward a policy which is quite simplistic and subjects the City's treasury to huge risk. Yet it seems that you're not demanding from your candidate the same kind of "what if" assurance that you're demanding from Fattah. Even though if your candidate's idea goes south, we'll have less money -- maybe a lot less -- and if the airport idea goes south we'll be even.
That's what I don't get. That's why I think your main problem with Fattah is how he's treated your district, not his policy. Which is something you certainly have a right to take into consideration in weighing your choices. But I just think you ought to be clear about what's really driving your decision. Because the uncertainty over the airport deal just doesn't make sense as a factor if you're going to be consistent.
I have to agree
If you read the PhillyBlog threads about Fattah's proposal, people write all kinds of stuff that confirms Ray's argument. Someone actually wrote something like, "Only people on welfare will vote for Fattah." Each comment reinforces the last.
Fattah is not waging a class war. On the other hand, many of his critics have attacked him for specifically caring about people trapped in poverty. They're the ones making arguments based on class, not Fattah or his supporters.
---
Check out my blog!
I am currently working for Marc Stier and Ellen Green-Ceisler.
Again, it is not a class war
Again, it is not a class war for me. It is about answering a question and me not being called or having the implication that I am a "classist." That is all. For crying out loud, I could care less what is said on Phillyblog.
Well, I worked in City government for 22 years
and I saw how the impossible was made to happen. It often started with mayors saying we just must have something. Like the Convention Center. Like 2 new completely unnecessary stadiums. These things started out with everyone conceding they were totally unaffordable. But on the first of these, Goode, and on the second Rendell, said, we just have to have them. And they put these ideas at the top of their agendas. And as Fattah says will happen with his Opportunity Agenda, these mayors went to work every day asking their staffs "What do we have to do today to make this happen?"
Now it helped that the entire power establishment was behind these things. But the mayor is part of that elite himself. And he has ways of getting the rest of the gang to go along with his number 1 priority. Both the Convention Center and the stadiums required major infusions of state money from legislatures whose members hated Philadelphia, and often won office because they spewed that hate. The mayors got their money from those legislatures.
So here's my point. When evaluating a candidate, get to know what that candidate really cares about. Fattah has been fighting for advancing the interests of the poor his entire life, even before he held public office. He will come to the office every day prepared to fight for his priorities, whether they have a setback along the way or not. And that's a reason to think he will succeed.
As far as Nutter is concerned, I saw what he spent the last 3 years of his public career trying to move heaven and earth to accomplish. Tax cuts for business, rich and poor alike. I have every reason to believe he will succeed at that mission as well if he becomes mayor.
So that's the choice we face in looking at those two candidates, a zealot for fighting poverty and a zealot for tax cuts for business. And that choice is very easy for me without knowing a single thing about the practicality of leasing the airport.
Sending Kids to College?
I love sending kids to college, if that's what they want to do. Is that what the Opportunity Agenda would do?
Kalamazoo (MI) has an interesting program in this regard called the "Kalamazoo Promise". Here's some info on it:
"[T]he tuition plan requires only that students live in Kalamazoo or neighboring Oshtemo township, graduate from public high school and attend a public university or community college in Michigan. Students who go from kindergarten through the 12th grade get a full ride. The program will cover 65% of tuition costs for those who spend at least their four high-school years in the city's schools, with the percentage of aid rising for those who spend more years in the system."
This would be an even better idea for Philadelphia if we could tweak it so that create slots at in-City Universities would be the primary place where kids would go to school.
I'm not sure who you're talking about, but I haven't heard anybody disparage the idea of sending working class kids to college (if that's what they want to do). It's fantastic.
Speaking of Which
There was an article in the Inquirer this morning about this issue:
"A state representative from Delaware County, joined by other lawmakers, introduced a bill in Harrisburg today to create a regional authority to operate Philadelphia International, Lehigh Valley and other airports in the area."
"Rep. Bryan Lentz said in a news release that establishing a Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Airport Authority could help reduce congestion at Philadelphia, one of the nation's most delay-prone airports, by coordinating planning and operations at all the region's air fields. The authority would be required to have cooperative agreements with state authorities in Delaware and New Jersey, and to coordinate planning and investment with SEPTA and Amtrak, he said."
"Among the co-sponsors of Lentz's bill are several Delaware County Republicans - including Mario Civera, minority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee - and Democratic state Reps. Josh Shapiro, the deputy House speaker, and John Siptroth, chairman of the House's aviation subcommittee."
"State Reps. Babette Josephs, Tony Payton Jr. and Cherelle Parker, all Philadelphia Democrats, have also signed onto the bill."
well that's what the plan is about
Now Friedman, I have already posted the Opportunity Agenda here in its entirety twice. Don't make me do it again.
The plan is about 2 things:
1- preparing kids to go to college, starting with better childcare programs. All research, not to mention experience, shows that kids are college-bounce or not, from a very early age. I remember talking to my mom about what college would be like when I was 6 for instance.
2- The Opportunity Agenda acknowledges the fact that schools alone can not overcome the barriers created by poverty and it therefore suggests better coordination with CBH, DHS and other child welfare agencies and the School District.
These are all proven programs--with empirical data behind them--that will lift kids out of poverty.
Morphing Before My Eyes :)
I should be on staff! I am helping to get this thing more focused! I just looked at the Opportunity Agenda online...it's not as concise as what you presented. It's much more vague.
LOL
Ok, you forced me to do it, once again ladies and gentlemen, the Fattah Opportunity Agenda., Judge for yourselves the specifics of the plan. I think it's very specific in that it lays out Fattah's map of where he wants to take the city. Whether we spend $ 5 million a year on the CORE Philly scholarship program or $4 million in the first year is impossible to nail down until Mayor Fattah gets into office and looks at the whole budget. However, for a campaign trail policy paper, this is pretty detailed:
THE FATTAH OPPORTUNITY AGENDA
As Mayor, Chaka Fattah will implement an Opportunity Agenda to invest needed resources in Philadelphians to make sure that every child, regardless of need, can have access to every opportunity that our city provides. This agenda will also seek to reduce the cycle of poverty that affects too many Philadelphians. Fattah's plan starts with putting our children on the right track and seeks life improvements all the way through adulthood. By combining responsibility with opportunity, the city will raise a newly empowered generation of Philadelphians.
To this end, Mayor Fattah will look to leverage one of the city's greatest assets- Philadelphia International Airport. The city will lease the airport to a highly qualified operator which will improve its operation and produce $1.9 billion in capital that can go directly to improving the lives of all Philadelphians. The $150 to $160 million in annual earnings, along with some strategic use of capital, will provide the funding for Fattah's Opportunity Agenda.
The Opportunity Agenda will be comprehensive, education-led and evidence-based. Through it, the city will enhance and expand early childhood education, literacy, and science instruction. The city will create the best learning environment possible at home, in the school and after school. This agenda will provide incentives for youth to stay in school, expand access to college and create a culture of achievement throughout our city. Through extensive oversight, data analysis and enhanced accountability, the Fattah Administration will ensure that the city is getting the right return on its investment.
LEASE PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO FUND OPPORTUNITY IN PHILADELPHIA
Lease Philadelphia International Airport. Chaka Fattah will initiate a concession lease of the Philadelphia International Airport to a highly qualified operator. This lease is estimated to generate over $3 billion for the city in gross proceeds, which after the payment of debt, would result in $1.9 billion to be invested in a Philadelphia Opportunity Fund. This $1.9 billion fund would provide approximately $150 to $160 million per year in earnings to be used to expand opportunity for all Philadelphians. A long-term lease would allow an operator to improve the airport's operational ability and still allow the city to retain control over the airport as its owner and landlord. Airport security would remain in place through the TSA. This lease arrangement would ensure the continuation of current labor contracts, current employee retention and the assumption and expansion of all minority business contracting agreements. Any lease would also include the requirement that collective bargaining rights be protected.
ESTABLISH A PHILADELPHIA OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION TO OVERSEE IMPLEMENTATION
Philadelphia Opportunity Foundation. Mayor Fattah will establish a Philadelphia Opportunity Foundation of civic, education and business leaders to oversee the entire implementation of Fattah's Opportunity Agenda. This volunteer foundation, headed by Mayor Fattah, will carefully oversee all program and spending components of this agenda, monitor its successes and look to improve the initiatives undertaken to maximize the opportunities offered to all Philadelphians.
Build a New Architecture for the Provision of Children, Youth and Family Services. The Fattah Administration will create a new architecture to enhance accountability in the provision of services for children, youth and families. This new architecture will include Mayor's Coordinators for Children and Families for each of the city's 181 elementary school catchment districts. The responsibilities of these coordinators will be determined by the Opportunity Foundation, through the work of pilot programs, but their work will be focused on increasing collaboration between public and private providers of services for children, youth and families.
Install a Special Inspector General for All Children and Families Services. In order to enhance accountability, Chaka Fattah will create an Inspector General specifically for children and families services. The Inspector General will receive and investigate all claims of neglect, malpractice or inefficiency in services delivered to children, youth and families and will make recommendations to the Mayor, relevant department managers or law enforcement when necessary. Additionally, the Inspector General will be charged with seeking out cases of waste, fraud and abuse in the spending of all city resources relating to children, youth and families, reporting directly to the Mayor and the Opportunity Foundation.
Create a Pilot Program to Work Out Best Practices for Implementation. In the first year of his Administration, Chaka Fattah will look to create five pilot programs to determine the best practices for implementing this agenda. Effective implementation strategies will emphasize accountability for public funds and for the successes and failures of programs, utilizing extensive quantitative data tracking and analysis. Successful implementation strategies will also focus on collaborative efforts to provide children and youth services in a comprehensive manner. Teams of education and child service professionals, in conjunction with the Opportunity Foundation, will create a model program and implement it city-wide during the summer of 2008.
BOLSTER CHILD ACHIEVEMENT AT EVERY LEVEL OF EDUCATION
Ensure that Every Child Has Access to Early Education. Every parent and community stakeholder should understand the importance of early childhood education. During the 2004-2005 school year, the percentage of children entering Philadelphia's public school kindergartens that received formal early child care and education fell to 66 percent from 70 percent the previous year. Four decades of social science research tells us that investing in the minds of children between the ages of three and five yields extraordinary returns to both our society and our economy. As Mayor, Chaka Fattah will create a network of early child care and education centers, available to all Philadelphians.
Focus on Literacy in Elementary School. An early grasp of literacy is the cornerstone of future academic achievement. To promote literacy in our city's elementary schools, Mayor Fattah will call on teacher trainers like the Children's Literacy Initiative and others to make sure all of our early elementary school teachers have the training to effectively teach literacy. He will also provide parents with basic training in literacy education through teacher training programs and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Finally, Fattah will look for new ways to provide reading materials to children, including through the Wireless Philadelphia Initiative, local cable television and new library outreach efforts.
Make Philadelphia a Leader in Math and Science Instruction. Philadelphia is blessed with a number of leading scientific companies and institutions including the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Philadelphia Zoo, the Morris Arboretum, University of the Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Rohm & Haas, Temple University and the math, science and medical programs at all of our region's first-class universities. Mayor Fattah will bring the expertise of these institutions into our city's math and science classrooms by asking representatives of these institutions to help develop the math and science curriculum for our city's schools. This will ensure that our math and science teachers have the necessary professional development to effectively implement this curriculum. Similarly, Fattah will attempt to bring all of our city's science classrooms to these institutions for hands-on learning. Finally, Fattah will expand the Educational Advancement Alliance's mobile learning lab program to provide every elementary and middle school student access to a hands-on learning experience in science.
Build Cutting-Edge Community and After School Centers. Project H.O.M.E.'s Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs is a state-of-the-art learning center, which is outfitted with cutting edge hardware and software systems, and which provides after school programs for area children and teens with evening GED and literacy classes for adults. The Center focuses on helping Philadelphians increase their educational and employment opportunities through comprehensive technology and literacy instruction. Mayor Fattah will expand this model and build 21st Century community and after-school centers in other regions of the city to provide support and valuable educational tools to our city's children, youth and families.
Make Every Classroom a Classroom of the Future. Philadelphia cannot afford to overhaul each of the city's 270 schools, but it can modernize every classroom for grades six through twelve, with Smart Boards, wireless internet connections and laptops for every child. In order to maximize the usefulness of this new technology, the Fattah Administration and the School District will design and implement a Smart classroom training course for all teachers, so that they will know how to effectively utilize this new technology. This effort will utilize various state funding sources as well as city dollars.
Expand Paid High School Internships. Mayor Fattah will work with the School District of Philadelphia, the Chamber of Commerce, labor groups and other area employers to increase the number of paid internships offered to students, including providing incentives to area businesses that provide internships. The Chamber's recent announcement that it will provide 1,000 paid internships is a great start on this effort, and more can be done. Internships can be a valuable tool for high school retention by providing an incentive that can bolster future employability.
Increase Apprenticeship Opportunities for High School Graduates. Chaka Fattah full supports the recent agreement between the Building and Construction Trades Council and the School Reform Commission to accept 250 to 425 high school graduates from the city's public schools over four years in exchange for participation in the city's $1.8 billion school construction plan. As Mayor, Fattah would use other government contracts to leverage apprenticeships and internships for the city's high school students and graduates.
Help Philadelphia High School Students Get a Jump on College. The Fattah Administration will call on the 83 institutions of higher education in the Philadelphia region to partner with the city's neighborhood high schools to create Early College High Schools. Early College High Schools provide high school students the opportunity to earn an Associate's degree or college credits. Under the program, earned college credits are paid for at public expense. Instruction is compressed into four or five years and emphasizes rigorous instruction, relevant curriculum and supportive relationships. Finally, Early College High Schools focus on serving students traditionally underrepresented in higher education and target first-generation, low-income, English language learner, and minority students. By offering the chance to get a jump on college, our city's comprehensive neighborhood schools will improve student retention and help students prepare for and experience advanced learning. The possibility of earning two years of college credit while still in high school will draw some of our strongest students back to neighborhood schools, reduce the financial burden of college and increase the chances that Philadelphia students complete their degrees.
Increase Access to College for All Philadelphians. Chaka Fattah is committed to fully endowing the Core Philly Program regardless of the outcome of the Mayoral election. This program offers all Philadelphia high school seniors - whether from the public, private, charter or parochial systems - a unique opportunity to attend select Pennsylvania colleges and universities through need-based, last-dollar scholarships up to $3,000. Currently, CORE Philly Scholarships help students pay for their first year of college. Once the first year has been fully endowed, Chaka Fattah will explore expanding this program to provide funding for the second year of college as well.
Create an Incentive Program to Institute a Culture of Excellence in Philadelphia. Mayor Fattah will work with the Opportunity Foundation to build a culture of excellence in Philadelphia by providing incentives for success. The aim will be to recognize and reinforce success and excellence at every educational level, for achievements large and small in order to change how our city thinks about education and opportunity. Incentives and rewards could range from certificates of recognition to scholarships and other awards which will help Philadelphians move beyond self-sufficiency and significantly increase their life chances.
PUT ALL OUR ADULTS ON THE PATH TO PROSPERITY
Increase Adult Education. As Mayor, Chaka Fattah will work to implement a strategic plan to help Philadelphia adults with college credits complete their degrees. According to a study by Graduate! Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Economy League and the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board, 80,000 Philadelphia adults between the ages of 25 and 45 have earned college credits but have not finished their Bachelor's or Associate's degree. If 10,000 of these adults finished their degrees, city tax revenues could increase by $272.3 million over 30 years, social service expenditures would save $300 million over 30 years and increase Philadelphia's purchasing power by $1.05 billion. Chaka Fattah will work to expand outreach, establish a re-engagement center to provide individual academic, financial, career, and logistical counseling. Mayor Fattah will also work with area colleges and community colleges, to increase financial aid for returning students, bolster aid for students attending school less than half time, establish flexible class scheduling and providing need-based discounts on online courses. Finally, Fattah will provide incentives for employers that provide tuition aid and reimbursement or flexible workweek scheduling to allow time for course work.
Create a Senior Administration Official to Coordinate Workforce Development. Mayor Fattah would establish a senior administration official to manage, oversee and coordinate the city's workforce development efforts. This senior official will focus on coordinating training efforts in growth industries, working with vocational programs, colleges and universities. In addition, this staff member will work with these institutions to expand their workforce development course offerings, seek to partner area employers with high schools and work to increase funding for workforce development from state, federal and private sources. Another task of this senior staff member will be to identify promote and expand successful workforce development programs like those run by A.P. Orleans, TOP/WIN, 1199C, Physicians Billing Solutions Inc. and Sunoco. Finally, this staff member will oversee the creation of job clubs, organized by Councilmanic District, for those seeking work. These clubs will provide support and information to unemployed Philadelphians and help them identify employment and training opportunities through formal and informal information sessions.
Create a Workforce Development Action Committee. Mayor Fattah will invite major stakeholders to form a Workforce Development Action Committee to help develop frameworks for workforce development and provide advice to the Mayor as he formulates his policies. This group will include business representatives, including the various chambers of commerce, representatives from unions, major workforce development non-profits and representatives from area colleges and universities.
BUILD A CITY OF LIFE-LONG LEARNERS
Create Mobile Opportunity Centers. Mayor Fattah will create mobile opportunity centers that will travel throughout our city's neighborhoods six days a week, to help connect citizens with the many opportunities in our city. These centers will be a one-stop information shop to find out about both public and private programs for all Philadelphians. The city offers many economic assistance programs, including help buying and repairing a home and providing job training. But these programs are not well known. Information will be available on youth and adult recreation programs, cultural outreach opportunities, volunteer and community service outlets, charity programs, city assistance programs for homeowners and small businesses.
Hold Financial and Consumer Empowerment Events. The Fattah Administration will provide adult education on personal finance proficiency and help Philadelphians get their fair share of state and federal benefits. The city will work with organizations like the Benefit Bank to simplify the process of applying for state and federal benefits, and give Philadelphians the tools they need to successfully file taxes and navigate other government and private bureaucracies. People do not take advantage of federal and state benefits worth billions each year because applying for state and federal benefits is time consuming, confusing and stigmatized. Billions in tax credits also go unclaimed out of lack of knowledge and fear of audit. The Benefit Bank removes helps all citizens claim the benefits and tax credits they are entitled to. Chaka Fattah believes there is an unmet need for financial empowerment education in Philadelphia, and will partner with federal agencies and non-profit organizations to expand provision in our city.
:)
Is the link broken?
Food for thought
Here in the good ol' US, we're very happy to keep pouring public money into stuff which has been demonstrated to fail miserably. Ferinstance, we continue to pour billions upon billions of dollars into the War on Drugs, which has been somewhere between a complete and an abject failure, continuing on your POV. We continue to pour money into administering and applying the death penalty (the War on Life?), when all available evidence suggests that its main effect has been to increase violent crime.
Compared to those two steps which we know don't work, I'd prefer to see money spent on something which might not work, but very well could work and, in doing so, raise money which could be used to address the problem of persistent poverty in Philadelphia.
-Z