L.A. County CAB Delegation Joins Washington D.C. Rally to Urge Presidential Candidates to Address Poverty Problem

Group will call for a White House Conference on American Poverty

(LOS ANGELES)-It's become an annual trek that Los Angeles County Community Action Board (CAB) Chair Mike Gipson deems absolutely necessary for deserving families in Los Angeles County, each year exposing himself to more proof that many Angelinos are indeed one paycheck away from being homeless.

Gipson, along with CAB board colleagues and staff, will travel to Washington, where they'll use the trip to re-energize their local efforts and provide a continuous reminder that there is still a whole lot more to be done here. The members will travel to lobby on behalf on L.A. County's poor population with nationwide Community Action Partnerships in an effort to maintain the current level of federal funding.

As poverty rates continue to rise and as the nation is only months away from electing the next president, the national Community Action Partnership is taking an aggressive approach to ending poverty with its "No Room for Poverty" National Rally Saturday Sept. 4 in Washington, D.C.

The L.A. County delegation will join over 1,000 other Community Action Agencies, nearly 40 national partner organizations, and Americans from across the country in calling for a White House Conference on American Poverty. The groups will urge the presidential candidates to agree to convene such a conference next year to focus on poverty in America.

"If Americans have access to jobs, education, healthcare, housing, and telecommunications, they are better equipped to escape poverty," said Gipson, a local youth minister and union representative who represents second district Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke. "That's why we will urge the presidential candidates to present specific plans to address these issues," Gipson said.

The "No Room for Poverty" National Rally is being held as part of the Community Action Partnership's 2004 Annual Convention and will mark the 40th anniversary of Community Action. The groups hope to attract not only the attention of presidential candidates, but other decision makers as well.

"The election will be decided by approximately 15 percent of the electorate representing America's undecided and uncomfortable," said Derrick Span, national president of the Community Action Partnership.

"They are worried about their economic future. Bush or Kerry must find a way to emerge as the clear choice to address a definite and absolute plan to eradicate poverty and strengthen the safety net for all Americans. That will be the edge to the presidency in a too close to call race." Span said.

The Census Bureau last week reported that the number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million. It was the third straight annual increase for both categories.

The Census Bureau also reported that the number of Los Angeles children living in poverty rose by more than 10 percent last year to nearly one in three. The rise outpaced a national increase in the ranks of poor and uninsured Americans.

The city's total population living in poverty grew to one in five- from 18.8 percent in 2002 to 20.1 percent last year, it was reported. Poverty levels were lower countywide, 16.4 percent, and statewide, 13.4 percent. The city's overall poverty rate was far higher than the county's, the state's or the nation's, with the child-poverty spurt coming after two steady years with the level at just over one in four, according to the statistics.

"It certainly is alarming," said Janis Spire, executive director of the Alliance for Children'sRights, a legal advocate for poor and abused children in Los Angeles. "It's a mind-boggling statistic, with very real and serious consequences for our children and our future."

Spire and other child-welfare specialists were puzzled by the sudden spike in child poverty in Los Angeles but said diminishing public services for the poor and rising housing costs were contributing factors.

The Los Angeles Community Action Board meets at 1 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month in the floor Conference (Room 112) of the Community and Senior Services, 3175 West 6th Street. For additional information, call (213) 738-4345.

Submission by James Bolden
boldnews2004@yahoo.com