Poverty Tour Spotlight
- Rev. Dr. William Barber III and Director Gene Nichol recently appeared on the Black Issues Forum on UNC-TV hosted by Deborah Holt Noel to discuss the Poverty Tour.
- Director Gene Nichol and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II co-wrote a letter
to the North Carolina gubernatorial candidates, Pat McCrory and Walter
Dalton, asking them to consider the plight of many North
Carolinians facing poverty and their proposals for addressing poverty if
elected.
- Rev. William Barber discussed "Putting a Face on Poverty" on WUNC's The State of Things.
- View the Poverty Tour documentary, "Truth and Hope: The Challenge to Address Poverty in Our Communities."
Graph provided by the NC Justice Center.
Truth and Hope Poverty Tour Summit, August 11, 2012
The Truth and Hope Poverty Tour conveners hosted a Summit on August
11, 2012 in Rocky Mount. The Summit brought together Poverty Tour
participants from across the state to bear witness to their experiences and discuss plans for change.
- Poverty summit flyer.
- Poverty summit press release.
-
Open letter
from Professor Gene Nichol and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber to the people of North Carolina.
-
Short sneak peek
of the documentary to be released at the Summit.
- Articles about the Poverty Summit:
Truth and Hope Poverty Tour in North Carolina
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.
During the 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. The tour consisted of four legs.
Northeast Tour: January 19 and 20 (map
)
Southeast Tour: March 2 and 3 (map )
Western Tour: April 30 and May 1 (map)
Triangle Tour: July 20
Participants on the tour--which included members from the organizing
partners, foundation leaders, activists and students-- 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, Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. 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.
Transcript of Rev. Barber's speech
introducing the tour in Salisbury, NC.
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)