We need to remember each sector change in America saw us embrace a forward looking strategy or solution to our national predicament. The early 1900s saw the progressive era. The 1930s saw the New Deal. The 1960s saw the Great Society and today we have our government shaping a new platform for a new era... Our national government played a central role in each of these periods and in each period a current of naysayers shared their doubts and fears.
On a personal note, I recall a period in my youth when our society was debating the worth and merits of what we now call Medicare. Like today, there were some that firmly shared their belief that America was morphing towards socialism. In the end it passed both the immediate test of value and the long-term acceptance of a required solution for America. I do not know of any individuals today who would rescind that compact with our oldest citizens.
As in other periods in our history it is vital that again we “set the table” with solutions to support the transition of our society from manufacturing to information/service. A successful change for our citizens requires a portable and accessible health system in a world that no longer has lifelong employment. A successful change for our citizens requires an educational focus in our society on jobs of the informational/service variety. A successful change for our citizens requires a long-term focus on energy.
This setting of the table is not socialism but effective government policy and programs for a new age. The private sector has a critical role in that journey but government policy assists our society in releasing the possibilities.
Like many Michiganians, Howard was born in the south, graduated from high school and then enlisted in the army during the Vietnam era. He had eleven brothers and sisters via multiple family settings. The class nature of the war brought Howard to the most difficult engagements and battles. He did not have the option or opportunity to remain in a supportive role back in the urban setting. At 6’3” Howard was both a warrior and a gentle man. A byproduct of his experience was his exposure to Agent Orange along with a significant addiction to both legal and illegal substances. These factors became the centerpiece of his life’s script.
Howard served 1964-72 in the war and then like many others moved to Michigan to work in the automobile industry. Howard worked on the line at Ford for 25 years, all the time affected by his personal legacy from the war. When sober he possessed a very strong work ethic. His tenure at Ford was marked by frequent arbitration meetings related to substance abuse issues culminating in his dismissal from the company.
In the late 1990s Howard started to help Pat and I around the house, with a huge focus on the gardens in Pontiac. In much of this decade Howard’s income was $3,000 a month from a combination of his pension from Ford and social security programs. All the while Howard remained homeless. He slept at the homes of friends, relatives and others and visited soup kitchens.
The $3,000 checks were gone by the 2nd week of each month. Again Howard did not spend his money on the trappings of middle-class individuals. He had no bank but used a payday lender; he had no car because he lost his driver’s license; he had few friends except people who wanted his money; he had no home except with people who supported his addiction.
All along Howard fought an internal war, knowing he had significant financial resources to support a different lifestyle but limited by his historic script. Pat and I were in many ways his extended family. We offered to find him permanent housing, we took him to the doctor or the grocery store and we shared meals with him. My mind races to both the good and the bad experiences with him. One of the best was Howard and me in the Woodward Dream Cruise in my 1978 VW convertible. Howard knew many people along the parade route. One of the worst was taking him to the hospital after he was mauled by his drug suppliers.
In the end Howard died from a combination of liver cancer and a heart that was at 25% of its capacity. He was staying in a home with only a space heater. His family was around but in many ways lamenting their loss of a piece of Howard’s finances.
My experience with Howard tests my theory of community change. When individuals are coping with Maslow’s issues of the basics of life… can sustained change truly occur? When can a new script be shaped that supports a future view of life? I have always thought that a good job is the best human service. When the good jobs have disappeared where do we go? How far are any of us from Howard’s script?
Twice a year, I return to my hometown, near the Black Hills of South Dakota to see my mom. It allows some time to take stock of my personal and professional life. Last year, I wrote four blogs around the topic of “Weaving a Community” in greater Detroit. This year I am intrigued about the concept of progress and generational change.
Join me in visiting Chadron, a community of 5,000. Its history intersects with Buffalo Bill, Crazy Horse and Custer. The sky continues forever and a starry night in any season is the eighth wonder of the world. My world consisted of a loving and supportive family combined with many friends. My folks were first generation Arab-Americans in a sea of German-Americans.
The civic glue in the 1950s was a sense of community with strong personal involvement in a region of 12,000-acre ranches. Instead of the Big 3 we had the forestry service, many small service businesses and the college. Instead of the DIA we had the Museum of the Fur Trade celebrating the French founding and settling of the area. Instead of the Fox Theater or Orchestra Hall we had the community concert series allowing rural America to see plays and concerts at the high school gym or college center. Instead of professional sports teams we had high school and Division III college games. Instead of city-sponsored neighborhood watch programs we had neighbors who cared for each other and their kids and demonstrated their commitment in little and big ways.
The successful community recipe for most families included a strong faith in education to shape a better world. Try to imagine my class of eighteen students, who had to participate in all sports, sing in the choir or play in the band, and take industrial arts all on the campus via faculty with dual appointments in both college and secondary settings.
I fully realize that urban and rural America have historic differences. Institutional racism continues to prevent the full participation of many people in the civic culture. Having said that, I lament that most events dealing with social problems, in Detroit such as the Race Summit sponsored by New Detroit or the Poverty Forum, mostly include representatives of formal organizations and tend to ‘preach to the choir’. The thread that worked in my community, at an earlier time in America, was the informal ownership of civic culture by citizens.
During the past 50 years that ownership has been deferred to more formal organizations in both the public and nonprofit sectors for a variety of reasons. The unintended consequence of this action is that neighborhoods and communities have lost their civic muscle. True civic engagement is required and that will only occur when the formal organizations understand their limitations. As was noted during the Bridges out of Poverty program in October, relationships trump programs every time.
I invite each of you to look at the work of the Anne E. Casey Foundation on its Web site, with a particular focus on community change and its two-generation work. As United Way reinvents itself, how can we reach the proper equilibrium of a formal organization that nurtures and maximizes the informal neighborhood fabric in our service area?
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