tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32957644.post7534222938872094896..comments2012-01-30T09:56:15.567-05:00NCAF Executive Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05554941504895119233noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32957644.post-11210102351236451042012-01-20T18:08:18.510-05:002012-01-20T18:08:18.510-05:00David it is about time more CAP directors lost sleep. There was a time when CAPs were being urged to get out of the streets and into the board rooms. They succeeded; they seem to have forgotten that in the early years it took organizing the welfare mothers and the residents of low income housing to make the voices of the poor heard in city hall and state legislative offices. There is no inclination to do that any longer. Seems as though CAP directors ( and maybe I only speak of my experience in Illinois)are all for training staff and giving awards. The state is more interested in economic development than in directly dealing with the poor. LIHEAP, Weatherization,Scholarship programs, Entrepreneurship Training, etc., focuses on providing services. But what about giving a voice to the poor? What about steps towards institutional change? As public housing is destroyed and inner city housing is now looked as prime development areas, it is not surprising our local mayor says: " Let our sister cities take our poor." Meanwhile we have HUDs : Continuum of Care" of shelters; Second Harvest's ever growing number of Food Pantries. Everything is calm in River City. How many CAP directors are almost at retirement age? Time to have a last hurrahs? You may be losing sleep, but I doubt if any CAP directors are. If I sound upset, I am and have been since I decided I was fighting a lonely battle ( they called me the conscience of the state CAPs). However, the other day I was cheered up when I heard Rev. Dwight Ford of an Omaha CAP speak at a Martin Luther King Celebration in Rock Island." The war on poverty has shifted to a war on the poor," he admonished the audience, which, incidentally had the former mayor there ( of course he did not clap). Let me know if I can help out. Vincent G. Thomas, Rock Island, IL. ( 29 year vet with Project NOW CAA).Tackyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022529883108566386noreply@blogger.com