In the Midst of Market Crashes and Financial Meltdowns Activist Works To Keep Old Problem of Poverty in Public’s Mind

BOSTON/Copley - For three days this week anti-poverty activist Kip Tiernan has been praying fasting and gathering with friends and supporters in the Old South Church in Copley Square. The public event co-sponsored by the Church and Tiernan’s Poor People’s United Fund was called a “Moral Witness to the Injustice of Poverty and Hunger.” Somewhat ironically the cavernous sanctuary of Old South with its towering ceilings and huge edifices stands as a graphic reminder of the enormity of the problem. “I started the first shelter for women thirty five years ago Rosie’s Place and the first food bank thirty years ago ” the 83 year old Tiernan points out emphasizing the many years she has been working to fight hunger and violence in Boston. “But it’s worse now than it was then and I think it’s because we’re alienated from each other.” Tiernan worries that fewer and fewer people consider joining her campaigns to fight poverty including elected officials noting that current economic conditions have more people than ever frightened about their own economic well being. That’s not speculation; research published last year by the Center for the Study of Working Class Life based at Stony Brook University on Long Island indicates that nearly 23 million households “face economic distress.” That figure represents double the federal government’s recognized poverty rate according to the study’s executive summary. In an interview last October Center Director and Professor of Economics Michael Zweig said roughly sixty million people – including many families with children – “are living on the edge.” Zweig’s team looked at U.S. Census Bureau data specifically “people who are just having a very hard time making ends meet. And we measured that by looking at a combination of four things: people’s incomes but also their family size the particular community where they live because costs are different in different parts of the country and specifically housing costs. The federal government has a standard a standard the government has had for a very long time; that a family should not spend more than 30 percent of its income on housing. Because if you spend more than that you don’t have enough money for medical care and transportation and all the other things people need.” Center researchers used the government standard to define who was “economically stressed ” counting households in their study that can’t get above the bottom quarter of the housing market in their community without spending more than 30 percent on housing. Speaking of Boston one of 12 major metropolitan areas studied in the report Zweig said of families consisting of two adults and two children “three out of four families of that sort spend more than $1 548 for housing every month including property taxes insurance and utilities. So $1 548 per month is what it would take to get out of the bottom quarter of the housing market. “In other words if you can’t afford to spend more than that you can’t afford to live above the bottom 25 percent. So we’re saying to spend that much money $1 548 a month without spending more than 30 percent of your income you need an income of $61 920 a year [for a family of four]. One way to interpret that $61 920 amount agrees Zweig is to look at it as a sort of middle class poverty level or at the very least “the economic distress level for a family of four in the city of Boston.” According to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau the median household income in Massachusetts in 2006 was just under $60 000 meaning there are many families earning much less. None of this is new to Kip Tiernan a veteran and ubiquitous social activist who for years has been telling people that poverty and violence affects everyone in our society. During this week’s three day event Tiernan called on citizens to “atone for what we have allowed to happen to all poor people in this state in the name of fiscal austerity or plain mean-spiritedness.” Optimistic despite decades of apathy towards her work she said she believes there is room for redemption repentance and resistance. “I think the time is ripe for all of us who are disillusioned and who feel powerless to renew our spiritual values and come together in some kind of community of resistance…I invite those who want to support me to come and begin to share some dreams and hopes.” Based on the observations of several reporters who visited Old South Church this week only a handful of people accepted that invitation. But as her adversaries have learned over time what Kip lacks in numbers she makes up in persistence. As Tiernan tells the story when Rosie’s Place and the Boston Food Bank first opened years ago “both times there were people who said there is no homeless or hungry” in Boston. “You wait ten minutes and I’ll show you some.” OMB Audio: Kip Tiernan appears on WMBR’s “RADIO with a VIEW” with Marc Stern Sunday May 31st 2009 Web Resources: http://www.ppuf.org (Poor People’s United Fund - Co-founded by Kip Tiernan and Executive Director Fran Froehlich in 1980) http://www.communityworks.com/ http://www.rosies.org/ http://www.gbfb.org/(Greater Boston Food Bank) http://www.stonybrook.edu/workingclass/publications/ (Study: “Economic Stimulus and Economically Distressed Workers 2008) Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati