Breaking the cycle of poverty is not an easy task and will require systemic changes, deep interpersonal relationships with the poor, and a major investment of state and federal resources, said one of the speakers during the July 29 Straight Talk SC: Crisis of the Working Poor forum.<\/p>\n
Mark Quinn, moderator of \u00a0the four-week forum, cited a recent survey that showed 20 percent of European respondents thought the ability to improve one\u2019s economic situation was based on working hard while 60 percent believed it was based on a person\u2019s status at birth. In the United States, the numbers were reversed.<\/p>\n
Dr. Danny Avula, deputy director of the Richmond, Va., Public Health Department and a 10-year resident of a low-income, high-crime neighborhood, told participants that his family\u2019s move to North Church Hill has infused both his professional and personal life.<\/p>\n
Following Avula’s discussion, Furman sociology professor Kyle Longest talked about barely getting by in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
The two discussions were the second in a series of four evening forums sponsored by the Riley Institute at Furman and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Furman.<\/p>\n
Longest divided the audience into small groups and had them create a budget for a family of three living on wages from a full-time, minimum wage job. The hypothetical family also received $200 from the SNAP program for food and $100 from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. The audience discovered how difficult it was to stretch the money and how one emergency could disrupt the entire scenario.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo understand an individual\u2019s decisions, we need to understand how they made those decisions within the constraints under which they operate,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have to make choices. There will be tradeoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed out that South Carolina is one of five states with no state minimum wage and that a full-time minimum wage job will not lift a family of three above the federal poverty guidelines.<\/p>\n
Avula, an immigrant who moved from India with his family when he was a year old, initially lived in an upscale neighborhood when he graduated from college. He talked with his immediate neighbors, but \u201cthe vast majority of the people in my community were nameless faces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He and several college roommates discussed the possibility of moving to an impoverished neighborhood and simply being good neighbors. Four couples eventually made the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cGunshots were a weekly occurrence if not daily,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were no grocery stores for miles\u201d although plenty of small shops that sold junk food and beer were available. \u201cWhy would anybody with a choice move to this neighborhood?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer, he said, was that the group missed the sense of community they had created in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all still there,\u201d he said of the four families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was amazed that the kids would gravitate to our house. It was a revolving door\u201d with some in the neighborhood living with them for varying amounts of time, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us,\u201d he said of the immigrants to the neighborhood, \u201care learning a new language, a new dialect and a new culture. I had to learn the customs of my neighbors. A lot of relationships there happen out in the street. In the first month, I had more conversations than I\u2019d had in my previous neighborhood over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the four families that moved in feel changed, challenged and blessed. Although they thought they might become role models for community youngsters, it turned out they are learning as much if not more than the neighborhood residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often feel overwhelmed with the tangible needs of my neighborhood,\u201d Avula said, adding \u201cIt\u2019s really rare to see kids live with two parents or even have a healthy relationship with two parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, young males in the neighborhood have difficulties.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou spend your days doing what your peers do, hanging out on the corner,\u201d he said. If that lasts long enough, they often get pulled into the economic engine of the neighborhood, the drug trade. Even if they don\u2019t, they hang out with the young men who do and often end up arrested. \u201cWith each generation, these challenges become more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solving the problems of entrenched poverty requires \u201ccomplex systemic solutions paired with deep interpersonal solutions,\u201d Avula said. Jobs need to be created in the neighborhood. Two-parent families need to be encouraged. Residents need to be taught skills to handle conflict as well as job skills.<\/p>\n
Gentrification is beginning in Church Hill, with more businesses opening and more middle-class families moving in. But that gentrification needs to occur without displacing all the long-term residents.<\/p>\n
Right now, \u201cwe\u2019ve got the hipster beards with the homeless beards,\u201d he said. And those living there now \u201chave some responsibility to work for the common good.<\/p>\n
Race and class continue to be barriers, and all need to engage in conversations about these issues. \u201cWe all have a responsibility to improve the state of affairs in our communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He is encouraging his black middle-class friends to move back into the communities they struggled to leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no quick fix,\u201d Avula said, but he believes that mixed-income, multicultural neighborhoods could be part of the solution. Also, a major investment by government will be needed to help families leave the culture of poverty behind.<\/p>\n