13 Ways of Looking at Poverty: Donors Forum’s Jan. 18th Member Breakfast and Supporting Conversations Will Probe Poverty from All Angles
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
– Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens
During this collective breath at the start of the new year, it seems important to pause and consider Wallace Stevens’ artistic meditation on perception and experience. It strikes me as especially relevant to how we approach complex social problems that affect us and our communities. In his poem, Stevens probes the act of distancing and suggests the interconnectedness of elements we encounter in our everyday lives in shaping who we are. Stevens’ call for more focused contemplation should be applied toward poverty, a social trend that is becoming more difficult to ignore. According to census figures, 15% of United States population is living at or below the poverty line, and urban areas are reeling from the effects.
At Donors Forum's upcoming Member Breakfast for grantmaking Members on January 18, we have taken the same care in framing a conversation about poverty and its impact on communities. Daniel G. Sullivan, Director of Research and an Executive Vice President at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago will discuss the connection between the growing poverty rates and the gap in the distribution of wealth and resources, and identify national trends that equally impact our region. Our panel of presenters — Susana Vasquez, Executive Director of LISC; Sharon Bush, Senior Program Officer at the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; and Grace Hou, President of the Woods Fund of Chicago — will highlight strategies funders are using effectively from advocacy efforts to local community initiatives to reduce poverty in a discussion moderated by Dory Rand, President of the Woodstock Institute.
Donors Forum’s Grantmakers Concerned with Poverty group will also host complimentary programs on dates before and after the Member Breakfast to provide additional context and opportunities for deeper discussion. On January 16, funders are welcome to participate in our State of Poverty in Illinois program, looking specifically at the Illinois Commission on the Elimination of Poverty’s report from 2010 and progress that has been made in reducing extreme poverty. And on March 5, we will host noted scholar Dr. Tom Shapiro, Pokross Profession of Law and Social Policy and Director, Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, for a discussion about How Poverty and Inequities Impact All That We Do. This program will examine the long-term implications of our growing poverty rates and the role racism plays in hindering economic mobility.
As we step fully into the New Year with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism, it is important that our energy be directed toward principled action in support of solving the problems that affect our communities most deeply, including discussion that embraces complexity and empathy. The programs outlined above, open to Donors Forum’s grantmaking Members, can contribute to these important conversations.