January 16, 2012

Kris Kvols, HOPE Coalition Executive Director

 

In his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of the Declaration of Independence as a promissory note  – guaranteeing the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  He then observed that our country failed to honor this “sacred obligation” and issued “a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’”

While he has speaking specifically at the time about America’s failure to honor our sacred obligation to the African American community, I dare to presume that he would not disagree that our country has, on more than one occasion, failed to honor our “sacred obligation” and issued a bad check.  And tonight I am going to talk about our sacred obligation to our friends, families, and neighbors experiencing poverty and homelessness.  Basic needs such as food and shelter must certainly be considered unalienable rights that all Americans should be guaranteed.  They are not lofty goals, but basic to survival – the “Life” part of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

And yet, according to the Minnesota Housing Partnership, of available jobs in Goodhue County and surrounding area, 38% pay less than the wage required to afford basic needs.  The federal poverty guideline for a family of 4 is $22,350 annually.  At least 8% of Goodhue County residents in general and 10% of our children (in specific) live in poverty.

While housing is consided “affordable” if it consumes less than 30% of household income, half of the renters and a quarter the homeowners in Goodhue County pay more than 30% of their income.  Based on research completed in 2009, The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation estimates that the actual number of homeless people in Minnesota on any given night is at least 13,000.  This number has increased 25% from their previous study in 2006.  Again, that’s a one-quarter increase in three years.  Of those homeless, more than 40% (nearly half) experienced physical or sexual abuse in childhood.  Three quarters of them (74%) have either a mental illness, substance abuse disorder, or chronic physical health condition.  And 40% have more than one.

This research also showed a 46% increase of homeless in youth ages 12 to 21.  Children and youth age 21 and under made up half (47%) of the homeless in the Wilder 2009 study.  The number one predictor of whether someone will end up homeless as an adult is whether they were homeless as a child.

Hunger has doubled in Minnesota in the past five years.  According to a study released in March 2011 by Feeding America, 1 in 10 Minnesotans (583,000 people) is food insecure – does not always know where he or she will find his or her next meal.  In Goodhue County 4,790 people (10.5% of the population) are food insecure and just over half (51%) of them do not qualify for federal nutrition programs and must rely on charitable emergency food programs to meet their needs.  This Map the Meal Gap study estimated that between 600,000 and 1,000,000 meals are missed annually in Goodhue County.

Our country has once again issued promissory notes that have come back marked “insufficient funds”.  We have failed to honor our “sacred obligation”. I am talking about homeless and hungry friends, families, and neighbors who live in our community –  not nameless, faceless others that exist in a hypothetical realm.  Theodore Roosevelt once said, “This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.”  A “reasonably good place for all of us” requires the elimination of poverty.

Today I ask you to commit to at least one of the following:

• Educate yourself and others about issues (do some reading, start a conversation over dinner)
• Promote community education (invite a guest speaker to your group, club, or organization)
• Educate providers (encourage health care, education and other professionals who may interact with the hungry or homeless to recognize signs and provide referrals)
• Foster coalitions and networks (this community has so many groups doing such good work – help bring them together to share resources and ideas)
• Change organizational practices (look within your workplace)
• Influence policy and legislation (contact your local, state, and federal government representatives and encourage them to do more to address these issues)

Only when action occurs on all six levels, will we be able to fully be able to meet our “sacred obligation” to guarantee the unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” for our homeless and hungry friends, families, and neighbors.

Dr. King once said, “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

We need to do what is right not only for the well-being of our friends, families, and neighbors, but for our own souls.  It is our sacred obligation.