Poor People's United Fund

645 Boylston Street

Boston, MA 02116

(617) 262-5922 • (617) 262-1381 fax

e-mail: kip@ppuf.org

Boston's Spare Change Community

March 2003

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

It's getting much more difficult these days to pick up a Boston paper and not see some mention of the Pioneer Institute, a conservative think tank started in 1987. In fact, it seems to be the only think tank to have captured the interest and acceptance of Governors Weld, Cellucci, Swift and now Romney, and has had a marked influence on public policy and electoral decisions for the past twelve years. One cannot help but wonder where the "other" think tanks are _ the ones with opposing views.

To date, the creation of charter schools, the bumping of special-ed and bi-lingual education, the move for the privatization of schools, hospitals and other previously state managed institutions, the move to "clean house" in the judicial system, the rejection of another convention center, the calling for a repeal of the Pacheco Act of l993 and now, the most recent end run, housing, as conceived by the newly instituted Rappaport/Harvard /Pioneer research group. Rappaport, you may remember, was the developer of the West End urban renewal in the mid fifties, reported at that point to be the worst example of urban renewal in the United States. At that time, some twelve thousand people were displaced and only a handful of them ever returned to their old neighborhood.

The highly effective work of the growing conservative think tank establishment, as the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy calls it, is apparent in daily doses of think tank persuasion and lobbying efforts. Last year alone, more than seventy five columns, articles and editorials appeared

in the Boston Herald, touting the message of the Pioneer Institute. The rise of conservative think tanks coincides with conservative thinking in public policy in virtually every state in the nation. Too, there has been a steady move from think tanks to public policy jobs in the Commonwealth that ultimately has resulted in radical social change in most human services.

There does not appear to be much of a level playing field in all of this think tanking, as very little has been heard from progressive think tanks on a federal or state level. This accounts for the huge disparity in thinking about government in general.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

It's getting much more difficult these days to pick up a Boston paper and not see some mention of the Pioneer Institute, a conservative think tank started in 1987. In fact, it seems to be the only think tank to have captured the interest and acceptance of Governors Weld, Cellucci, Swift and now Romney, and has had a marked influence on public policy and electoral decisions for the past twelve years. One cannot help but wonder where the "other" think tanks are _ the ones with opposing views.

To date, the creation of charter schools, the bumping of special-ed and bi-lingual education, the move for the privatization of schools, hospitals and other previously state managed institutions, the move to "clean house" in the judicial system, the rejection of another convention center, the calling for a repeal of the Pacheco Act of l993 and now, the most recent end run, housing, as conceived by the newly instituted Rappaport/Harvard /Pioneer research group. Rappaport, you may remember, was the developer of the West End urban renewal in the mid fifties, reported at that point to be the worst example of urban renewal in the United States. At that time, some twelve thousand people were displaced and only a handful of them ever returned to their old neighborhood.

The highly effective work of the growing conservative think tank establishment, as the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy calls it, is apparent in daily doses of think tank persuasion and lobbying efforts. Last year alone, more than seventy five columns, articles and editorials appeared in the Boston Herald, touting the message of the Pioneer Institute. The rise of conservative think tanks coincides with conservative thinking in public policy in virtually every state in the nation. Too, there has been a steady move from think tanks to public policy jobs in the Commonwealth that ultimately has resulted in radical social change in most human services.

There does not appear to be much of a level playing field in all of this think tanking, as very little has been heard from progressive think tanks on a federal or state level. This accounts for the huge disparity in thinking about government in general.

Pioneer's board members, staff and allies have all held powerful positions in the Weld/Celucci/Swift and now Romney administrations. Cui buono? Who benefits? And who sets the terms of the debate? In Massachusetts, more and more, the Pioneer Institute is framing the discussions around public policy, with privatization as the ultimate goal. Once charter schools legislation was passed, the state board of education, dominated by Pioneer allies, had broad discretion over who was to implement it, how many, and which charters to grant. There are some 25 charter schools now, with more to come. This offers a major threat to public school education. Seeming to favor large schools, many of which are run by the same few for-profit companies, Pioneer allies, in their administrative role, could, and did, make decisions that had an enormous effect on the fortunes of the future employers or ventures, according to Political Research Associates, a think tank based in Somerville. No charter schools, incidentally, offer vocational or bi-lingual education.

But charter schools are merely the tip of the iceberg. Pioneer is invested in restructuring the entire state government which would have an enormous effect on education, human services and public policy in the Commonwealth.

How did all this happen anyway? The Heritage Institute first approached Ronald Reagan on the eve of his inauguration, and only ten days into office Reagan put the freeze on more than 170 pending regulations. By mid-decade it was clear that deregulation and privatization were having significant impact. Deregulation's contribution to reckless financial speculation, marginal airline practices, bank failures, truck highway accidents and, of course, corporate sacrifice of long-term goals to deal with raiders, was only the beginning.… The extreme form of deregulation consisted of a wave of privatizations. Services that had formerly been provided by public employees were turned over to private businesses, much as is currently happening in Massachusetts almost twenty five years later. Wage cutting, layoffs, union busting _ all come down to a revival of our periodic romance with the doctrine of laissez-faire, a cornerstone, incidentally, of the Weld administration.

All of this was happening in the 80's while we advocates were trying to hold things together _ and not being all that successful at it, I might add.

In 1989, Fran and I were fellows at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe. At that same time, conservative think tanks were building a vision for recreating government through deregulation, privatization and under-investment in public policy. Their mission was based on a belief in less government.

Progressive minds, meanwhile, were focused on the issues rather than the vision. What I have said many times is, "We created an ethic to meet the new and desperate need, rather than acknowledging the need for a completely different ethic," _ one that would preclude the need for more shelters and soup kitchens. We continued to settle for smaller pieces of the pie rather than demanding a seat at the table alongside those who were framing the issues. And now it seems, we have come full circle. And there is no debate. There is only a continued swing to the right, with an array of conservative think tanks paving the way for more restrictive help for an increasing percentage of ailing citizens.

Listen up now. If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything. The march of conservative right wing think tanks must be challenged, or all consumer protections and human services will become privatized. You had better start reading the papers and listening to radio a little more carefully if you really want to be a part of good government. It's still not too late to call upon your elected officials and ask them what the hell is going on in your name!

In struggle and hope,

Kip, Fran Georgia, Liz and Celia

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Making Food Stamps Work:
A Coalition Against Conservative Trends

As the effort continues to undermine the one universal entitlement program in the United States, Social Security, the undermining of entitled means-tested benefit programs continues. In an editorial published in the Washington Post on December 8, 2002, Douglas J. Basharov of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., says the poor are fat and therefore we shouldn't fund federal food programs such as Food Stamps, School Meals programs, and the WIC program (which has a health status as well as an income standard). While advocates are concentrating on the vast underutilization of the Food Stamp program and the huge increase in food pantry and soup kitchen use, conservative policy makers are connecting expanding waistlines to "food that recipients wouldn't otherwise buy," because they have Food Stamps.

In December 2002, New York City pantries showed a 45% increase because of a Food Stamp participation rate of 50%. Massachusetts Food Stamp participation is the second lowest in the nation at 48% as the need for pantries has shot up by a third. Massachusetts Food Stamp participation has declined dramatically since 1997, at the implementation of welfare reform. The Boston Food Bank now gives out 20 million pounds of food in eastern Massachusetts. In order to replace the Food Stamp program the Food Bank would have to give out 65 million pounds of food. The causes of overweight are lack of access to more expensive nutritious food and lack of exercise. Obesity is a problem in the United States for all income groups.

While advocates are concerned about low-income groups not getting what they are entitled to, the American Enterprise Institute states, "federal food programs are helping to make the poor fat." So looking at the problem of fat will become a diversionary measure to not look at hunger or malnutrition in the United States. And it will certainly undermine the intensely successful reform efforts to make Food Stamps potentially more accessible as accomplished by the Massachusetts Food Stamp Improvement Coalition.

In 1998, the Failure to Thrive unit at Boston City Hospital reported an increase in malnutrition in children, which they attributed to welfare reform and low Food Stamp participation. From 1997-1999 there was a 25% decline in Food Stamp participation. Many welfare workers were mistakenly denying Food Stamps to people as they were being quickly moved off welfare, because they believed that they were no longer eligible for Food Stamps.

In 1998 the staff at Rosie's Place, headed by Sue Marsh, began a discussion on whether to focus on barriers to Food Stamp participation in the Commonwealth. The Committee for Social Justice at Rosie's in the same year met and considered many issues, looking for one that was not already covered by other advocacy groups. Both the Boston Food Bank and Project Bread were not directly involved in Food Stamp policy initiatives and gave their support to this initiative. Pat Baker at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute _ long time advocates for many benefits programs _ had been monitoring and researching Food Stamps for many years. A separate group was needed to focus on the technical barriers at DTA and to work directly with the staff there. Project Bread, legal assistance agencies and Survivors, Inc. were all doing individual outreach to recipients who had trouble accessing Food Stamps. Rosie's hired Governmental Strategies, a lobbying firm, to assist the initial assembled coalition to address their concerns with the plummeting Food Stamp participation rate with the legislature.

Eventually, the Food Stamp Coalition included 160 groups from all over the Commonwealth.

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The Coalition surveyed all DTA offices and found that workers were not making sure that folks no longer eligible for welfare knew they were still eligible for Food Stamps. A special survey of SSI offices showed that workers were not automatically applying for Food Stamps for these recipients. Most other states with higher participation rates did not have these problems.

Coalition staff first met with key legislators and organizations in each legislative district.

Sue Marsh then met with the House and Senate leadership. Most legislators were not focused on Food Stamps, as advocates came in with so many different issues at the same time. Julie Brandlen and Donna Parsells from Rosie's Place did the administrative staff work for the Coalition, Sue worked 3-5 hours a week on the campaign and Pat Baker, MLRI, researched possible legislative initiatives. The decision was to focus on issues that had no money attached to them. Legislative staff could readily identify with access issues such as extended hours, especially for working families. This access message was clear and simple and focused. In three years the Coalition achieved access language in the permanent instructions in the budget. This access language is now forever in the budget mandating these procedures.

Department of Transitional Assistance Commissioner John Wagner held a press conference on November 19, 2002 at the Boston Food Bank to announce his department's new access initiatives for Food Stamps, including expanded office hours, trimming the 16 page application to 4 and accepting faxed verification documents to cut down on the number of trips to the Food Stamp office for initial and re-authorization visits. All these changes are the result of the work of the Food Stamp Improvement Coalition.

Food Stamps can be used at all participating food stores and farmers' markets. Not only is the low Food Stamp participation rate a loss for folks at 130% of the poverty line, but food stores lose $184 million a year. For people who don't get Food Stamps who qualify for them, their only alternative is food pantries, which supply a limited amount of food once a month.

The work of the Coalition goes on. The legislative goal for 2003 is the re-instatement of Food Stamps for legal immigrants. Improving access to Food Stamps continues to be the main mission of the Coalition and we will redouble efforts to educate the public as to the need for full Food Stamp participation to prevent the conservative negation of the reality of hunger and malnutrition. For more information or to join the Coalition call Pat Baker at (617) 357-0700 or email: pbaker@mlri.org.

_ Georgia Mattison

Poor People's United Fund is funded by Community Works and the generous donations of our many friends and supporters.

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PPUF Member Group Reports

Disabled Peoples Liberation Front

DPLF and the Boston Center for Independent Living are working together with the Boston Tenants Coalition to secure more low-income housing, especially for the disabled. 50,000 low-income housing units have been lost to expiring use in Boston.

Dorchester Women's Committee

We celebrated International Women's Day with a large community dinner and a standout in Field's Corner honoring International Women's Day, with anti-war messages regarding the adverse effects of war on women and children.

Everyone Deserves Enough

Even with this cold snowy winter we continue to serve the same number of people with our outdoor meals in our three locations:  Copley Square, Boston Common and Cambridge Common, as well as various other gatherings of low-income people.

Mass A-Peal

We continue to provide food and clothing to the families of the Lower Cape and beyond and to help them access help from other agencies in

the area.  A coat drive by a local bank supplied us with several hundred coats to give away.

Project Care and Concern

We serve the poor people residing at Columbia Point, providing food, rides, youth camps and elderly services. We are having more and more difficulty getting security deposits for families with Section 8 certificates and have more and more people using our food pantry, thrift shop and needing our summer camps. We need to replace our 15 person van soon.

Sojourner's House

There is more need for our services as families at 130% of the poverty line are not eligible for state funds for shelters. There are 500 families in motels now. We now have to raise approximately $3000 for security deposits and fees to procure a Section 8 apartment for our shelter residents.

Survivor's Inc.

Five people do outreach at Welfare offices helping folks get the benefits they are entitled to, plus distributing information in several languages, "Survival Tips," an extensive list of items related to clients' needs, and "Survival News."

In Other News ...

Rachel Glickel @ University of Capetown

PPUF staffer Georgia Mattison's daughter, Rachel Glickel, is spending the semester at the University of Capetown in Capetown, South Africa.  She is living with a wonderful family in a Black township near Capetown. She is learning the language of the township, Xhosa, and learning the history and culture of that part of the world, i.e., "last Thursday was the best lecture of my life!  We learned about the relationship between language and power, AND that the ancient Khoe-San people of Southern Africa area are the ancestors of us all."  And, Rachel reports that swimming at the very southern tip of South Africa is unique; very warm sun, very, very cold water and lots of playful penguins joining you for water play!!

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Poor People's United Fund

645 Boylston Street

Boston MA 02116

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. POSTAGE

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Boston, Mass.

PERMIT NO. 57477

Join Us In Celebration!

Save the Date! Thursday, April 24^th from 6 _ 9 PM

Please plan on joining us for an evening of celebration, conversation and music!

Cindy Eid, owner of Gallia Restaurant in Boston's South End, is celebrating her one year anniversary by hosting an evening of lite fare, cocktails and the music of Rebecca Parris.

All proceeds will be donated to the Poor People's United Fund.

Don't miss this opportunity to get together with old and new friends, listen to Rebecca Parris and support the ongoing work of the Poor People's United Fund. Details will follow.