Happy Holidays!

Here's a few shots from the past few days, including a BLIZZARD!, as well as an appearance from Santa at our After-School Program Christmas Party. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!










HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM GUILFORD AVE.!

Opportunity

"Equality means dignity. And dignity demands a job and a paycheck that lasts through the week."
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am really enjoying work these days. Mr. Moore and I are deep into our preparations for the 8th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Job Fair, and we have made it a priority to do some street-level marketing for this, as I am currently learning, all-too-important day.

There’s something about getting out of the office and walking these streets with my boss that has cultivated within me a feeling of connectedness to this neighborhood. We try to stay out at least an hour a day, clipboards and pens in hand, and simply roam the streets of Johnston Square, searching for anyone who might be looking for a job. And let me tell you, they aren’t very hard to find.

After the first week of this, I’d become adept at picking out the “job-seekers.” They are the group of young men standing on the corner with their hands in their pockets. They are the single mothers, with a grocery bag in one hand and a toddler in the other, returning from a quick run to the corner store. They are the elderly who walk the sidewalks with a limp or a cane, but nevertheless, still walk. And all I have to do when I make eye contact with them is say, “Excuse me, we’re having a job fair on MLK Day…”

Nearly everyone responds, “Oh, I need a job.” And as I take their information and hand them a flier, I begin to think, this is how easy it should be. If you want a job and are willing to work, you should be able to. These past few weeks, if nothing else, have shown me the enormous amounts of time wasted by people who simply don’t have an opportunity to work. Guys with birth years later than my little sister, out of school and wasting their days away as the cold urban wind begins to blow their faces to stone. The potential for this neighborhood to be something great is there, it’s tangible, I can see it for myself. So why can’t we reach it?

I am falling back on the Community Center for some answers. While we might not “fix” neighborhoods like Johnston Square anytime soon, we can continue to do what we can to bring some equality into the picture. And for a neighborhood like Johnston Square, equality means jobs that pay a living wage. Everyone here wants to work; I know this because they’ve told me so. The man born in the 1940’s wants to work. The woman who just had twins wants to work. The man who walked out of the prison after six years and happened to run into me wants to work. If anyone has a new business idea and is looking for some motivated employees, I’ve got your labor force right here.

I know it’s not as simple as giving jobs to those who ask for them. I realize that, especially now, sometimes the jobs just simply aren’t there. But there still always exists the need for opportunity for people, especially now. And I suppose I could sum up the work this Community Center does in one word: Opportunity. This job fair is an opportunity, if only for a day, for people to feel like they have a chance to reach their potential. We are not promising some grand life changes just by showing up and sticking your hand out. The people I’ve met on these streets, the ones who have asked me if being incarcerated would disqualify them from coming, or the ones who simply do not believe that anyone would care enough about this neighborhood to have a job fair here, know all too well the struggles involved in living a hard-worked, decent life. But if they are willing and committed, if they want to reach out for something higher than the Latrobe Homes housing project or a prison cell on Eager Street, shouldn’t they be given the chance?

Thank you, Mr. Moore and the St. Frances Academy Community Center, for being there, and for believing, even when it is cold.

The New 12 Days of Christmas

Lyrics to the newest single from "Mr. Scott & the After-School Sillies," a twist on the classic Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Sing it around your fireplace tonight!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

Twelve blue girls,
Eleven talking computers,
Ten squeaky birds,
Nine dancing houses,
Eight chairs in a pool,
Seven magic microphones,
Six (one of the kids erased this one before I could write it down)
Five CDs!
Four flipping bears,
Three pecan pies,
Two dining room sets,
And a hippo in a bathtub!

The Gov'ment

This is a sad week for Baltimore. Mayor Sheila Dixon was convicted of a misdemeanor embezzlement charge on Tuesday, bringing an end to a trial that has taken weeks and that gave everyone in the city something to talk about. Basically, the gist is this: Dixon was charged with 7 offenses, all stemming from the allegation that she spent gift cards donated to City Hall in 2005 on herself, rather than using them to help the city's poor and needy. Apparently the donors of the gift cards had relationships with Dixon, and she thought they were meant as personal gifts. After all was said and done, after testimonies heard from ex-boyfriends and developers (but not Dixon herself), the Mayor was found guilty of spending around $600 of what was deemed city money on herself. Her fate will be decided in the coming months, though it is unclear as to whether or not she will remain in office.

Now, being as that I have lived in this city for all of 3 months, I feel I am in no position to have a passionate opinion about this case. However, after listening to co-workers and long-time city residents, it seems that the consensus is that Dixon is a very good mayor for this city, people generally like what she has done. She is tough and driven, both things this city needs. However, she has also made mistakes, and has surrounded herself with the wrong people in the past, as evidenced by this conviction. She should be punished for this because as a public figure, she needs to hold herself to a higher standard.

The newspaper said that it's a sad day for Baltimore. Newsanchors, experts, and talking heads have all declared that there are no winners with this outcome, and I agree with that. I'm sorry that Dixon put herself in this position, and I'm sorry that so much time and money was spent trying to build a case against her. I guess the questions Baltimore needs to ask itself are these: Do we really want to crucify and oust a person from office who seems to be so good for the city, over a few hundred dollars she spent on herself 4 years ago? Doesn't this city have more pressing needs to spend its time and resources on, like for instance, a city-wide jobs program?

Speaking of jobs...

Mr. Moore is at the White House today! He was invited to participate in the Jobs Summit conference hosted by the president in an effort to come up with some concrete ideas about job-creation in this country. Apparently this is a pretty big-time meeting, and he will hopefully be able to offer his expertise and opinions regarding this topic during a break-out session. He was treated to breakfast this morning in the West Wing, and perhaps later he will even catch a glimpse of the president!

Needless to say, Mr. Moore and I are excited about this opportunity. I am sure, if given the chance, he will express to his constituents the dire need for the availability of substantive work here in Baltimore City. After spending the past few weeks signing up job-seekers in the neighborhood for the job fair we are holding on MLK Day, I have witnessed first-hand the desire people have to work, and the lack of jobs that are available to them. As we continue to press on with our goal to bring economic justice to our community, we view this White House summit as at the very least a sign that the government is interested in our cause.

So this week I have seen the highs and lows of the role of the government in this nation. Where one day we experience the betrayal of seeing a mayor get convicted, another day we feel the hope in being able to express our views on a national stage. I can only hope that in the coming days, weeks, months and years, we are able to experience more highs than lows, not only for Baltimore, but for the good ol' USA in general.