Financial Stability for the State of NC

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Stan Holt

Any good financial literacy program that we fund at United Way of the Greater Triangle has at its very core a simple philosophy. It must teach smart budgeting and in order for households to get ahead, there has to be more income than expenses. Unfortunately, the State of North Carolina is beginning to walk on some very thin ice as the General Assembly begins planning for changes in the tax code. These changes are supposed to improve state revenue. However, the recent plan that is being considered by North Carolina’s Senate leaves North Carolina and its middle class and poor citizens vulnerable.

The proposed plan would eliminate personal income tax, corporate taxes, and business license taxes. That eliminates $12 billion in revenue that is used for public schools and human services across the state. So how do they propose to raise revenue? The plan’s proponents suggest increasing sales taxes on goods and services. Sounds reasonable, I’d love to pay fewer taxes on my personal income. Oh wait, that means the tax on food, gas, home repairs, and car repairs will all increase. Hmmm. I wonder if we are “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

The opponents of this argue that expanding the sales tax means a much bigger contribution from the non-wealthy. According to the Budget and Tax Center, “Under the (proposed Senate) plan, a family earning $24,000 would see its taxes increase by $500, or by 2.1 percent of its income, while a household earning $1 million would get a $41,000 tax cut, representing 4.5 percent of its income.” It also means that if personal income tax goes away things like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Care Tax Credit are likely to go away too. Cutting these tax credits are essential ways that working households are increasing their income. In fact we know one of the best antipoverty strategies around is helping qualified households receive the Earned Income Tax Credit.

United Way of the Greater Triangle is committed to helping provide services in our communities to those of limited wealth. However, I fear the path the state may go could undermine efforts to improve each households situation. I’m worried that we will see even greater human service needs if services and education take further cuts because the state’s primary revenue stream has been eliminated.

Graphic from antiguaobserver.com

Ba humbug

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Stan Holt

No, I’m not Ebenezer Scrooge when it comes to Christmas, or maybe I am. Suffice it to say, so many of my blog postings come from discussions I have with staff here at United Way. This is yet another one of those conversations. Lately, I’ve been hearing, “Poverty is too big, it can’t be solved. It’s just too complex.” My response, “Ba humbug.” I’ve heard time and time again from staff here and people in the community, “We’ll never solve homelessness.” My response, “Ba humbug.” Let me tell you why I say Ba Humbug.

We really do know how to improve the poverty rate. Data from the National Bureau of Economic Research show us that with Social Security, we have been able to reduce poverty over the years among senior citizens. In fact, without social security, the poverty rate for seniors would have been five times higher. We also know that recent data calculated by the Census Bureau show that unemployment benefits kept over 2 million people from falling into poverty this last year. While things like food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit are not counted as income by the Census Bureau, had they been, these programs would have brought 3.9 million and 5.7 million households out of poverty had they been counted. That said, without these government benefits, these households would have incredible housing and food needs that would have been unmet.

Finally, a new infographic from Think Progress put me over the edge this last week; check it out. It suggests that what is needed to end homelessness is a 10 fold increase in HUD’s budget to $20 billion. Impossible? Ba humbug. Not when you see that Americans will spend more on their Christmas decorations this year and that alone could end homelessness. (Check out this infograph on Christmas decoration spending: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/10/1311041/infographic-homelessness-christmas-decorations/)

Maybe I will be Ebenezer Scrooge this year and not decorate. Ba humbug.

Image from www3.dmagazine.com

What about personal responsibility?

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Stan Holt

Last weekend I had a great priviledge of doing a two hour training on poverty for Raleigh’s Support Circles. Support Circles is a program of Catholic Charities. It matches up small groups of congregational volunteers with homeless households to provide them social support as these households move to self-sufficiency. I spend some time defining poverty, sharing some of the most recent data and talking about how poverty impacts health and education. As part of the discussion, one of the support circle volunteers asked me, “You haven’t talked about personal responsibility? Don’t you believe that people have personal responsbility to improve their situation?” Of course, this comment comes during the week following Mitt Romney’s comments regarding the 47% who believe they are entitled to public support and do not take personal responsibility to care for their lives. So perhaps talking about personal responsibility and poverty is a timely thing to talk about.

I just saw this article written by a woman who was on welfare and shook my head. I remember many variations of this story when I was working as Genesis Home’s Executive Director. It was true, the majority of families who found themselves homeless and living in this transitional housing program were in a temporary situation. However, they needed some government assistance to move out of their current situation, a homeless shelter, and needed to continue that assistance until they were stable.

So as I thought about the volunteer’s question on Saturday, I asked the question: What in your life have you been able to control, and what in your life have you not been able to control? In my own life, there were things I could control and things I couldn’t control. When I can’t control something, I don’t feel like I can take responsibility. Suppose I have a job, and I am laid off because the plant is moving overseas. Am I responsible? No. Am I going to need assistance to make ends meet? If I haven’t managed to save up enough, I might need unemployment assistance. Do I have control over getting a new job? Well, not really, that is dependent upon an employer’s decision, not mine. I do have control over completing applications, preparing for interviews, and ensuring I make a good impression, but even a good impression is someone else’s judgement of me. However, what if jobs are scarce in my community? Do I settle for a part-time position, with no benefits? Perhaps. After all that is in my control and having some income is helpful. What happens though, if in the cycle of applying for jobs and getting rejected, I feel discouraged? Hmm. It begins to feel as if I have no control, frustration rises, and I’m hooked into a cycle of feeling like the system is against me. Guess what, it is going to be hard for me to take responsibility; particularly if it feels like things are spiraling out of my control.

The good thing is that I have a support system that would help me think about what I can and can’t control. Some individuals and families may not have that support. I’m glad the Support Circle volunteers are asking these tough questions and talking about what they can do to help. Sometimes personal responsibility can seem elusive, but when we help others discern what they can and can’t control, and help them understand the small steps to take, confidence will lead to greater personal responsibility and that is another step in the process toward self sufficiency.

Image from caregiverland.com

The power of connection

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Stan Holt

I’ve been hobbling along the last three months as a result of plantar fasciitis. Despite the frustration of not being able to run as much as I want to over the past few months, it has served as a mechanism for me to think about connections.

Plantar fasciitis is a unique injury to the connective tissue in the foot. It can affect anyone, but anyone who runs or who has challenges with their foot arches are at risk for the injury. One of the things I’ve done for treatment is to go to a body worker. He has pictures on his wall of the fascia in our body. It is absolutely amazing. Did you know that there is one long piece of fascia that starts above our eyebrows, goes over our head, down our back, down each leg to the bottom of the foot? This unique connective tissue is what holds all our muscles into place, ensures that our internal organs aren’t floating around in our body, and keeps our muscles and bones from “overstretching.” It reminds us that our body is not simply individual organs, bones and muscles, but a system where one thing that impacts one system can dramatically impact another part of the system. The trick is to not ignore our fascia, but to ensure its flexibility and strength.

This brings me to my real point, which is to say that in human services we must think about the connections between service agencies and ensuring that those connections are strong and flexible. Many people “fall through the cracks” of the net provided to support people when they are in trouble. However, these cracks in the net are caused, not by the lack of agencies (there are many), but by the lack of strong and flexible connections. Thinking about how we deliver services from a systems perspective is critical if we are to have any success in achieving a healthy, strong and vibrant community.

Here at United Way of the Greater Triangle, we are really trying to begin thinking in this way. Historically, we have supported individual agency programs. Funding individual programs is like strengthening one muscle. When we focus on one muscle our fascia forces us to balance and strengthen a counteracting muscle. If the body is to really function well, strengthening these two muscles may actually also require strengthening other muscles as well. So we want to build the connections between agency programs and strengthen not only one set of programs, but think about how we support others.

For example, in the past we have supported programs that successfully move homeless people into permanent housing. Now we need to add complimentary services to the picture by supporting more programs that promote the employment and job training necessary to maintain employment. Not only do we need to support these programs, but they must interact and work closely with the housing programs. The connections that are built between these agencies begins to function like healthy fascia, so that when we have those strong and flexible connections we actually are able to see better results and homeless households are quickly and successfully able to move into and sustain their permanent housing.

Image from running.competitor.com.

What is systems change?

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Stan Holt

Many people today are talking about systems change, including those of us here at United Way of the Greater Triangle. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “Systems change is a shift in the way that a community makes decisions about policies, programs, and the allocation of its resources — and, ultimately, in the way it delivers services to its citizens. To undertake systems change, a community must build collaborative bridges among multiple agencies, community members, and other stakeholders.” A nice, long, and, believe it or not, fairly simple definition. But what does this look like?

Here are some examples: Continue reading →