Blog Action Day – Poverty in Austin

So it’s Blog Action Day and I signed up to blog about poverty issues in Austin. Great idea – but I sheepishly have to admit that I have no idea what to blog about. Having just moved back into the area less than two months ago I haven’t had much of a chance to understand the state of the city’s culture today. Most of my knowledge of poverty issues in Austin is from a dozen years ago or so when I last lived here.

My experiences started as I lived through Austin’s final attempts at desegregation in the early 90’s and was bused to East Austin for Jr. High. East Austin is often called the “bad side of town” and I had friends who weren’t allowed to cross to the east side of I-35 even in the “good” areas. I recall someone even running for city council on the platform of tunneling the highway underground so as to eliminate east and west sides and therefore the economic divide in the city. But for a Jr. Higher, passing prostitutes and witnessing drug deals on streets lined with trash and broken glass to then enter a highly secure locked down school did more to inspire fear than compassion. Add to that the resentment and violence the local students had toward us bused in students and it was easy to simply think of them as “other.” Poverty wasn’t a problem to be solved, but a situation to be avoided.

Fast forward a few years and I became part of the establishment of the Austin based outreach group Mission Possible. I know little of the large organization it has become, but in the beginning it was about loving and helping children in poverty. We would work in local housing projects providing tutoring and activities for the kids. A couple of friends and I started girls clubs and spent our weekends in the projects with the kids. We were in High School and we couldn’t do much, but we did what we could. Our youth pastor told us to stop working with those kids because it took us away from youth group activities, but we did it anyway. Getting involved and providing opportunities these kids didn’t normally have were the small steps we could take to reversing the constraints of poverty.

So as I return to Austin and blog about poverty here today it was these personal stories I remember. There are of course huge systemic issues at play – the sort of stuff I usually discuss here. But so far my time back here has just brought me personal stories. Neighbors struggling to get by in this crazy economy. A single mom of a teenager who has become an adopted mom to all the teens in the neighborhood – providing love and some stability where she can (even though her dog scares me to death). Another single mom with a girl Emma’s age who has moved back in with her parents as she battles cancer and the financial troubles that brings. Real people, real stories.

I’m still trying to figure out my role in this particular story of poverty issues here in Austin. Where I am going and what I’ll end up doing here is up for grabs. For now I’m just listening to stories.

Tags: Blog Action Day, poverty, Austin, #austinface