FALL NEWSLETTER 2004

Changemaker: Heidi Keezer
Executive Director, R.I. Parents for Progress

Heidi Keezer	PHOTO: DAVID O’CONNOR

"When you're on welfare," says Heidi Keezer, Executive Director of Rhode Island Parents for Progress, "You're stuck in a system that doesn't want to help you."

Heidi knows that unhelpful system inside and out. As someone who moved off of welfare and out of poverty through education and employment, she also knows that making the system work requires a rare combination of good public policy and individual empowerment.

Today, forcing that often reluctant system to help families move out of poverty has become Heidi Keezer's job. At Parents for Progress, she has built an organization dedicated not just to mending our state's social safety net for the families of children, but to making that safety net a launching pad for individual success and independence.

Parents for Progress advocates for structural changes in Rhode Island's program of family assistance and work supports, while helping individuals and groups learn to advocate for themselves and protect themselves against everyday threats to their families.

"My goal is to make women passionate about organizing," Heidi explains. "What works is passion... passionate commitment. I tell my board members, 'If you have that passion and energy when you join, you will learn the skills to go with it.' Together, we are constantly learning how to build an organization."

Women receiving public assistance are the core of Heidi's small army of anti-poverty activists. Her 700 members work and speak for the roughly 14,000 families statewide now enrolled in Rhode Island's Family Independence Plan (FIP), our state's version of the welfare-to-work revolution that transformed American welfare in the 1990s.

Members set the Parents for Progress agenda. For the poorest, survival issues top the list: housing, cash assistance and everything from clothing allowances to health and childcare.

On the day we speak, Heidi is preparing for a hearing at the Department of Human Services the next evening. DHS wants to increase co-pays for services covered by RIte Care. Another "cost saving" proposal would eliminate the $50 monthly "pass through" thousands of families receive when an absent parent pays child support on time. These and many more proposed "adjustments" in benefits will create real suffering.

A family of three receives just $554 per month. Benefits have not been raised in 15 years and the purchasing power has actually been reduced by 40 percent over that time. Heidi expects about 80 members to turn out at the DHS hearing on copays. Many will be graduates of the Parents for Progress "Leadership First/Primera Guia" training course.

State officials and lawmakers continue to balance tight budgets by seeking to trim benefits that already leave FIP families far below the poverty line.

"Nobody chooses to live on $554 a month. Wider policies determine whether FIP can move people out of poverty," says Heidi. "Families need access to education and training. The state needs a skilled work force and wage levels high enough to support families."

Parents for Progress would like to see these benchmarks established as a "Rhode Island Standard of Need" for families to guide employment and social benefit policies.

Heidi learned the true cost of low-paying jobs as a single mother and high school graduate earning $7 per hour in New Bedford. Working full-time would have meant paying out most of her earnings for childcare. Part-time work wasn't enough to live on. Just to survive, Heidi filed for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).

Fortunately, the old AFDC program offered educational benefits. When her children were old enough, Heidi enrolled in college and eventually graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

By the time she graduated, Heidi was a seasoned activist and paid organizer with New Bedford's Coalition Against Poverty, which worked to preserve the kinds of educational and other opportunities that had helped Heidi gain her independence from welfare. In 2000, she came to Rhode Island as the first full-time organizer for Parents for Progress. Now it's Heidi's job to help poor women find their own voices... jwh
 

22 Years of Giving for Change
Helping people strengthen connections

Christopher F. Koller	PHOTO: DAVID O’CONNOR

Campaign '04 kicks off this fall with Christopher F. Koller, CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of R.I., as Chair. Chris is committed to improving access to high-quality health care for needy children and families across the state. To him, the concept of community is critically important. He supports The Fund because it works with small, locally based organizations to strengthen communities, to support families and individuals.

"In Rhode Island you can get your arms around problems," Chris says. "You can put the pieces to the solutions together. And it's almost always about building community - helping people strengthen connections. The Fund builds our communities by building agencies located right here - in the neighborhoods; organizations that help people improve their lives."

In last year's giving drive, The Fund raised $360,068 plus a $43,000 bequest from a Connecticut widow, a supporter of numerous progressive causes. Hopefully, the coming campaign will grow as it marks The Fund's entry into Lifespan's employee charitable drive.

Looking forward to a vigorous and successful season are Campaign Committee members: Karen Adams of WPRI-TV; Jeanne Cola of Citizens Bank; Richard H. Godfrey of R.I. Housing & Mortgage Finance Corp.; Eric Hirsch, Ph.D. of Providence College; Jay G. Lindgren, Jr. of R.I. Department of Children, Youth and Families; Brandon Melton of Lifespan; Scott Molloy, Ph.D. of URI/Institute for Labor Studies; H. Peter Olsen, Esq. of Hinckley Allen & Snyder; Robert L. Stout, Ph.D. of Decision Sciences Institute; and Chair of Campaigns '02 and '03, Peter Walsh of BankRI. . NHV
 

Changemaker: Henry Shelton
Coordinator of the George A. Wiley Center

An unquenchable thirst for justice

Henry Shelton	PHOTO: DAVID O’CONNOR

H enry Shelton began his career as an organizer for change in 1966, working from a storefront office on Providence's Prairie Avenue.

The office was the Inner City Apostolate, and Henry was a young priest charged with finding ways for his Bishop to address the roots of poverty. The people he worked with were mostly mothers on welfare. At first, he thought it was enough to help them one at a time.

But one morning Henry tried something different, something suggested by a professional community organizer he'd met in Chicago. Instead of driving the mothers to the welfare office one by one, Henry told each woman to come back at two o'clock.

That afternoon, Henry asked them to work as a group to write down what they needed from welfare. The women elected a leader and agreed they would support one another. Henry drove them all over to the office. They told the woman at the desk they wouldn't leave until all their demands were met. Within an hour, they all had what they needed.

"I was amazed," recalls Henry. "Now, I was just the driver. A spectator. It happened so quickly."

Henry and his moms became part of the National Welfare Rights Organization, a nationwide campaign to bring welfare payments up to standards based on real family needs. George Wiley, a native of Rhode Island, was the national organizer for NWRO and a brilliant tactician of protest who brought the nonviolent tools of the civil rights movement to a kind of guerilla war on poverty.

During the years that followed, Henry brought a lot of organized mothers to welfare offices around the state, sitting in and demanding enough support to raise their families in health and dignity. Eventually, they won their battle. The legislature passed a major increase in funding for special assistance for welfare recipients.

You must get in trouble. Get in the way! — U.S. Congressman John Lewis

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Although Henry long ago left the priesthood, married and raised a family, he still takes guidance from Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice." From the progressive Catholic movements of the 1950s and 1960s, he absorbed a simple yet profound perspective of response to injustice: Observe, Judge, Act.

"If you see someone suffering, you have to decide: is this fair?" says Henry. "If it's not, what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to disregard those folks, or pitch in?"

For nearly 40 years, Henry Shelton has always pitched in, using what he learned from George Wiley and the civil rights movements of the 1960s to make his message of justice heard.

"I'm not putting down social service, but we are about organizing," Henry explains. "There are kids who work in soup kitchens and that's great. But we want the ones who begin to ask themselves, 'Why is it I see the same people in here every day?'"

From the Wiley Center, Henry fights for very specific kinds of justice: bus passes for the elderly, heating fuel for low-income families, jobs for unemployed workers. Over the years, he has also helped to create a legacy of organizations that shape the state's progressive agenda: the Coalition for Consumer Justice, the Workers Association for Guaranteed Employment and the Rhode Island chapter of the Gray Panthers. And, we are proud to note, The Fund for Community Progress as well.

Last year, Henry received the Good Citizen award from Citizens Bank and Providence College. U.S. Senator Jack Reed, who helped present the award, echoed his predecessor, Senator Claiborne Pell, when he called Henry Shelton, the conscience of Rhode Island.

Henry has also received the John Kiffney Award from the Providence Newspaper Guild as well as other honors from Phoenix House of New England/Marathon House, Pro Cap Interim House, Amos House and Our Lady of Providence College. He has been awarded honorary degrees by URI and Rhode Island College.

What keeps Henry coming in to work every day?

"Achieving justice." He tells about the professor who asked his students to take their Bibles and cut the word "justice" out of it every time it appeared. "By the time they were done, all they had left was holes."

On the day we talk, Henry has two campaigns for justice underway in the state legislature. The Center's Affordable Bargain Energy Plan would restructure past-due utility bills for low-income households and prevent most of the 21,000 utility shutoffs that deprived families of heat and light in Rhode Island during 2003.

Another Wiley Center initiative, the Refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, would use the state's tax refund system to help the more than 32,000 Rhode Island families with children that rely on wage income of less than $15,000. The EITC would provide up to $200 per year to a working mother with two children earning $15,000 in gross wages.

The political math doesn't seem to add up: it's an election year and the state says it's out of money. Raising taxes is considered political poison. But, that doesn't deter Henry. He has an unquenchable thirst for justice. . JWH
 

Planning for Affordable Housing
Study recommends production goals for every R.I. city and town
 

Christopher F. Koller	PHOTO: DAVID O’CONNOR

Last year state legislators changed R.I.'s Low and Moderate Income Housing Act to mandate that every community develop a plan to assure that at least 10% of their homes and apartments were affordable to low-income Rhode Islanders. Two Fund agencies, Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Housing Network of R.I., commissioned a study to fill an information void on the affordable housing need in R.I., and more importantly, to empower concerned citizens to advocate for more affordable housing development in their communities.

One alarming finding of the study: Over 50% of jobs that existed in Rhode Island in 2000 paid wages insufficient to afford the statewide average rent on a two-bedroom apartment; and over 75% of all jobs in the state paid wages insufficient to afford the median price home. This situation worsens as the state's economy adds more lower wage jobs over the next few years. In addition to a greater volume of affordable housing, it is necessary to provide rent subsidies to more families, expand income transfers and redouble efforts to help low-income families access better-paying jobs. Achieving these goals will help communities "build their economy, help their neediest neighbors, support their workforce and grow smart."

I2 Community Development Consulting conducted the research and authored the report. For a copy, call The Fund at 941-7100. . JG
 

George A. Wiley Center

George A. Wiley Center reports that the R.I. House of Representatives signaled its concern about the issue of affordable energy by passing unanimously Wiley-endorsed legislation requiring the Public Utilities Commission to liberalize its requirements for restoring service to shut-off, low-income households. A Senate Committee did not move on the bill but agreed to convene all interested parties and the utilities to work on an alternative plan. The Wiley Center's Coach Henry Shelton and The Fund's Over-60 Team played a group of "youngsters" called the Wild Colonials and won 10-9. The team has scheduled games with The Rhode Island Foundation (September 18), Salve Regina University and others.

Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation recently completed a neighborhood revitalization project that may be a first for the nation. WNDC restored a 19-unit series of buildings with four of the homes specifically designed for families operating home-based childcare businesses. The result is an opportunity for home-based businesses and for parents to have safe childcare right in their own Constitution Hill neighborhood. The children at WNDC installed a beautiful, colorful mosaic on the outside of their new Community Arts Center Building.

R.I. Parents for Progress won a major battle. The last session saw Governor Carcieri cut the $50 monthly child support pass-through from his budget. The General Assembly at first accepted the cut but then reconvened in special session to restore the much-needed funds. Over 3,100 families receive this $50 child support payment. The credit for the success goes to RIPP members who engaged in a letter writing and phone call campaign. While at a rally at the State House, hundreds marched to the Governor's office to deliver postcards from children who would have been impacted.

NRI Community Services PHOTO: courtesy of The Call

Childhood Lead Action Project's friends and families will "flock" to Slater Mill on Sunday, September 12, to take part in their second annual Rubber Ducky Derby. The Derby is one of the many exciting events that take place during the Pawtucket Arts Festival to raise money for lead poisoning prevention programs. This year's event will be held at Slater Mill on Roosevelt Avenue in Pawtucket.

AIDS Project R.I. was welcomed into The Fund this summer. We are proud to introduce its Executive Director Christopher Butler. To highlight AIDS Project R.I.'s membership, The Fund will hold its Campaign '04 kickoff at the agency on Tuesday, September 7, at 4:00 p.m. The address is 232 West Exchange Street, Providence.

All Children's Theatre Ensemble's Wrenn Goodrum, executive director, won a Rhode Island Foundation Fellowship. She intends to visit children's youth theaters with similar missions, visions and programs throughout the country.

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Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation

R.I. Coalition for Minority Investment's Gateway Business Forum graduated 21 entrepreneurs in June. The 11-week program partnered with the City of Pawtucket and the Cathedral of Life Christian Assembly to direct entrepreneurs on how to start a business and included instruction in developing a business plan to implement their business concept. Classes are small with between 8-15 participants and offer approximately 27-30 instructional contact hours and 4-6 outside counseling hours with a dedicated consultant.

Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services and its community partners took title to the Melrose Apartments, a cluster of 11 large Victorian houses on or near Adelaide Avenue in the center of Elmwood, Providence. GENS is proud to report that all 11 properties and four additional properties are being lovingly restored. It will welcome 42 returning or new tenants to brand-new apartments and five new homeowners to their new houses. All of the rentals and home sales will be on affordable terms, meaning that rents and mortgages will not exceed 30% of incomes for lower-income and moderate-income families.

Connecting for Children & Families This year CCF provided $5,000 in emergency aid for neighbors in need. The organization also promoted academic success for more than 200 children in Woonsocket's Fairmont schools through Camp Costa and Kid's Connection after-school enrichment program. CFC distributed 35 car seats and properly installed hundreds more. It supported 125 families with very young children through the Parents as Teachers Program and improved the quality of childcare in Woonsocket through technical assistance, professional development and grants.

R.I. Parents for Progress

ACORN Institute, Center for Hispanic Policy & Advocacy/CHisPA, R.I. Parents for Progress and West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation have been working tirelessly to get out the vote. Parents for Progress launched door-to-door voter registration drives in Pawtucket. The Fund has signed on, along with Citizens Bank and two others, as a major sponsor of Citadel Communications' ACTI-VOTE campaign. Through a grant of $5,000 from The Rhode Island Foundation, The Fund is volunteering at concerts and events to encourage young people and members of minority groups to become engaged and empowered. . AEG
 

Contributing writers: Andrew E. Galli, Joe Garlick, Jonathan W. Howard
 

PROGRESS is published to inform friends of The Fund for Community Progress about the activities and concerns of its member agencies. Gifts to The Fund have a definite impact on solving problems of poverty, hunger, homelessness, mental illness, housing, discrimination and other issues of injustice. PROGRESS stresses the importance of your continued support as together we "build a better community."