Contact: Marie Hawe, Vice President, Marketing and Development
CTE Presents Dialogue on Poverty 2000: The Face of Poverty in the Midst of Plenty
Stamford, CT, April 29, 2000 - CTE, Inc., in collaboration with other community groups and organizations, is sponsoring a community-wide Dialogue on Poverty 2000 on April 29, 2000 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the University of Connecticut in Stamford.
In lower Fairfield County, where homes regularly sell for over a million dollars and luxury cars abound, many members of the Greenwich, Stamford, and Darien communities are fortunate enough to go through their days without being affected on a personal level by the issues of poverty. Yet, in the midst of such affluence not everyone shares in the rewards of a strong economy. How do we, individually and collectively, raise our community's consciousness about these issues? How do we, regardless of our economic status, work to close the widening gap between the rich and the poor in America? How do we influence policy decisions and put recommendations for action in the hands of those who can affect change?
The Dialogue on Poverty is a way for all of us to join together to put new and thoughtful policies into place. The Dialogue begins with talk, but it doesn't end there. Specifically, Dialogue 2000 will bring together business, political, civic, and religious leaders -- as well as the poor themselves -- to develop and help implement local, state, and national agendas.
The Dialogue on Poverty 2000 is a half-day event presented by CTE, the Community Action Agency for the Greater Stamford area. Coordinated on the National level by the National Association for Community Action Agencies (NACAA), and involving 435 Community Action Agencies nation-wide, the local Dialogue is part of a nationwide discussion about the social and economic dynamics that lead to poverty, the impact on individuals, families, and communities, and actions, strategies, and policies to address poverty. Reports from the 435 dialogues held throughout the United States will be compiled with information from statewide dialogues and a national dialogue/town hall meeting to develop a national policy on poverty issues and solutions. The Final Report will be presented at the 2000 National Association of Community Action Agencies annual meeting. Following this, a comprehensive set of policy ideas will be presented to the next President and Congress, all 50 governors, state legislators, county and city executives, policymakers, the media, and organizations representing the business, faith, labor, and nonprofit communities.
At the local level, CTE is presenting the Dialogue on Poverty 2000 in cooperation with the University of Connecticut at Stamford, The Child Care Center, The Council of Churches and Synagogues, City of Stamford Department of Social Services, Connecticut Voices for Children, GE Capital, Greenwich Department of Social Services, Pitney Bowes, SACIA, St. Luke's Life Works, Stamford Board of Education, Stamford Partnership, and the United Way of Greenwich/Stamford.
Speakers at the meeting include Shelley Geballe, President, Connecticut Voices for Children in New Haven. Ms. Geballe will speak about the effects of poverty on children. A second speaker is the Reverend Richard Schuster, Executive Director of St. Luke's Life Works, who will be addressing the issue of affordable housing in the area for the working poor. E. Phillop McKain, President and CEO of CTE, Inc. will speak about workforce development and a fourth speaker, who has yet to be confirmed, will address the digital divide between the poor and the wealthier members of our communities.
To spark further debate at the meeting, which will include round table discussions focusing on housing, the effect of poverty on children, the digital divide, and workforce development, CTE has commissioned K. Wise Whitehead, an award winning filmmaker and writer, to produce a video for the event depicting the chasm between the rich and the poor in the Stamford/Greenwich area. Ms. Whitehead, whose awards include the American University's Directing Award and a 1997 Community Choice Award from the Ohio-based National Black Programming Consortium Prized Pieces competition, brings an extensive arts and social consciousness to the screen in her productions. Her ten-minute production, "The Face of Poverty in the Midst of Plenty" is sure to spark discussion as it captures earlier discussions with members of the Stamford/Greenwich community about the issues surrounding the working poor and the universal struggle for survival.
From the local Dialogue on Poverty, the discussion moves to Hartford on June 9th for the Statewide Dialogue. Co-sponsoring at the state-level discussion are The Connecticut Alliance for Basic Human Needs, the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut, Connecticut Association of Nonprofits, Connecticut Voices for Children, Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, the Capitol Region Council of Governments, Connecticut Association of Mental Health Clinics for Children, Connecticut Community Providers Association, Connecticut Department of Social Services, Connecticut Association of Human Services, Connecticut Nonprofit Human Services Cabinet, Greater Hartford Labor Council, United Way of Connecticut, and Urban League of Greater Hartford.
CTE, Inc. is the Community Action Agency serving Stamford, Greenwich, and Darien. It is the designated anti-poverty agency operating over 30 programs, all designed to fulfill its mission, which is to counter the basic causes of poverty by making available services and activities which help reduce the physical, economic, and psychological barriers to self-sufficiency for low-income individuals, families, and communities, and give them the ability to rise out of poverty. CTE has over 35 years of experience of providing the "Doorway to Self-Sufficiency" for low- and very low-income individuals and their families.