2011-2012 Events
Truth and Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina
Northeast Tour: January 19 and 20 (map
)
Southeast Tour: March 2 and 3 (map)
Western Tour: April 30 and May 1 (map)
The Truth and Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina was organized to put a face on the thousands of families and individuals in the state struggling to get by--to get beyond the statistics and hear stories directly from North Carolinians directly affected by poverty and hardship.
The tour consisted of three legs, traveling first to northeast North Carolina, then the southeast and finally covering portions of the west. Tour participants met with residents, local officials and service providers to listen to their points of view and experiences, connect policy with real life, and spur frank discussion.
Participants on the tour--which include members from the organizing partners, foundation leaders, activists and students--have traveled to "Little" Washington, Roper, Elizabeth City, Winton, Scotland Neck, Rocky Mount, Greenville, Goldsboro, Faison, Wilmington, Navassa, Royal Oaks, Red Springs, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Wentworth, Mt. Airy, Salisbury, East Spencer, Hickory, Hendersonville, Charlotte and Monroe. At every stop, residents told moving, galvanizing, harrowing and touching stories of loss, resilience, struggle and pride.
The poverty tour was a collaboration between the NC NAACP, the NC
Justice Center, the Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at
NC Central University, and the NC AARP.
New Beginning men's shelter, Elizabeth City, NC
For more on the tour and stories told along the way:
Video available from:
More information:
Reflections of a 3L, Jeff Lakin, who participated in two of the legs of the poverty tour and wrote about them in this thought piece.
Electricity in Eastern North Carolina
During the Tour, residents in Eastern North Carolina who receive municipal power service have noted the disabling impact of high electricity rates, both personally, on their households and neighborhoods, and also on the economic development potential of their communities. Rates in the 32 localities in Eastern North Carolina who provide municipal power are much higher than rates paid by customers who receive service from one of the state's public utility companies like Duke or Progress. Due largely to debt owed by the towns to the state for their investment in power plants in the late 1970s, the issue of high electric rates is not new, but continues to distress low-income residents who simply cannot afford the inflated bills.
For more information about this issue:
-
Independently Weekly (article on cost of electricity in Eastern NC)
-
WRAL (news story in response to legislative commission recommendations)
Past Events
ACORN and American Democracy: A Talk with John Atlas
September 28, 6 p.m.
Pleasants Family Assembly Room, Wilson Library, UNC campus
John Atlas, acclaimed author of Seeds of Change: The Story of ACORN, America's Most Controversial Antipoverty Community Organizing Group, discussed ACORN's innovative approach to community organizing, the success that made it a target for conservative critics and its controversial demise. Atlas had unique access to ACORN's meetings and staff, and has written a sympathetic, but not uncritical, look at the community organizing group's 40 year history.
Seeds of Change has been haled as "the definitive book on one of the most effective grass roots organizations of low income Americans" by Robert Kuttner, and Todd Gitlin says, "No one has written more informatively about this difficult, necessary work than John Atlas."
For over 35 years, Atlas has been a public interest lawyer, activist, radio talk-show host, and organizer. Holding a law degree from Boston University and a master of law from George Washington Law Center, he is an alumnus of Columbia University and recipient of the Charles Revson Fellowship. John is founder and board president of the NJ-based National Housing Institute/Shelterforce (NHI), a national think tank that promotes concrete strategies leading to affordable housing, urban revitalization, and a more robust and engaged civil society.
Read more about Seeds of Change and access selections from the book.
Read John Atlas' blog.
Thanks to the UNC Center for Urban and Regional Studies for co-sponsoring!
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in NC and the Federal Courts
Oct. 10, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
UNC School of Law, Room 5046
A closer look at the Affordable Care Act from two distinct perspectives. Pam Silberman, president and CEO of the NC Institute of Medicine, discussed the act's impact on the state and its affect on our poorer residents. William Marshall, William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at Carolina Law, examined the constitutional challenges to the act.
Podcast of the presentation.
Video of the presentation.
Practicing Poverty Law in North Carolina: 3 million clients... and growing!
November 11, 2011, 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Room 5052, UNC School of Law
With a record number of poor people in North Carolina and over a third of residents making less than a living wage, the intersection of need and justice takes on new and urgent timeliness. But what is the practice of poverty law really like? How has the practice adapted to changing needs, the recession and diminished funding? What are the barriers faced by clients, and the rewards and frustrations encountered by practitioners? And how might the next generation of lawyers do better?
Speakers included:
- Jim Barrett, Pisgah Legal Services
- Carol Brooke, NC Justice Center
- Anita Earls, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
- Pamela Glean, NCCU School of Law
- Deborah Goldstein, Center for Responsible Lending
- George Hausen, Legal Aid of North Carolina
- Melinda Lawrence, NC Justice Center
- Carlene McNulty, NC Justice Center
- Deborah Weissman, UNC School of Law
- James E. Williams, Jr., Public Defender for Orange and Chatham Counties
Martin Brinkley, president of the NC Bar Association delivered the keynote address.
Conference agenda.
We were pleased to co-sponsor this event with the Consumer and Commercial Law Society and the UNC Law Career Services Office.