“I am not an optimist.I am a prisoner of hope.”I heard these words uttered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, retired Anglican bishop and one of the most ardent opponents of South African apartheid,at the Social Good Summit this week.The Summit is a gathering of global leaders who come together to discuss how the power of innovative thinking and technology can solve our greatest challenges.Archbishop Tutu shared the stage with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
After I got over the shock of being in the presence of such inspiring individuals who have done so much for the good of humanity, I was able to focus on their message.Archbishop Tutu and President Robinson share the belief that we all have the tools individually, and communally as a society, to solve the challenges that confront us.I believe that this is true; just looking around in the auditorium I could see over two hundred other social justice activists tweeting and typing on laptops, iPads, and smart phones.With the advent of social media and the continuing evolution of technology, we learn more easily of the injustices occurring around the globe.However we also have the tools to mobilize and do something about it—sharing news stories on our blogs, texting to donate to a natural disaster, and tweeting about a new innovation, like the ingenious “slavery footprint” website that raises awareness about forced labor.
The causes that compel us to act are many.In addition to Archbishop Tutu and President Robinson, we heard from Richard Gere speaking about nonviolent movements for peace, Muhammad Yunus explaining the benefits of microfinance, Tony Bates demonstrating the ability of Skype to facilitate interfaith and interethnic connection, and Ami Dar showing how we can do more with the strengths that we have by working together through a new platform on idealist.org.The speakers, though varied in age, experience, and ambition, shared a common vision—that we can meaningfully impact our communities and our world.This optimism was palpable in the room at the 92 Y and I left with the affirmation that we can achieve incredible results with a smart goal, determination, and the necessary resources.
Though it is easy to lose this positive outlook when confronted with headlines of political gridlock and a faltering economy, it is important to remember that there are incredible challenges that confront us as a society and we have the power to make a difference.The work that we do at Progressive Jewish Alliance & Jewish Funds for Justice—promoting interfaith organizing, encouraging service learning, and investing in low-income communities to name just a few—speaks to this ability.We and our partners in the social justice community see challenges facing our community and we gather our resources to find solutions.This attitude is both profoundly Jewish and universally applicable.We can do something today to change the world.Let’s get started.
If someone asked me yesterday how much I contributed to global forced labor, I would probably have said only slightly or not at all.But thanks to an innovative online tool I have found that my “slavery footprint” is much larger.The interactive survey assesses the extent to which consumers abet forced labor based on how many cars they own, how many rooms are in their house, and what clothes they buy.
Especially for people who aim to live socially conscious lives, this is a wake-up call.We need to learn about what we buy and ask the companies who make those products to ensure that they purchase materials from suppliers who protect the rights of workers.Women and children are disproportionately affected, often forced to work incredibly long hours in unsanitary or unsafe conditions.I know that I will think twice about what I buy and begin to ask questions that I hope will force companies to monitor their supply chains to prevent forced labor.
Yesterday I moderated a call where dozens of progressive Jews took the opportunity to hear the details of the American Jobs Act directly from members of the Obama Administration. On a call with David Kamin, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, we asked whether spending for the proposed jobs bill might negatively affect safety net programs, how it would help create quality jobs for Americans with lower levels of education and job skills and whether it would really promote growth.
While Jewish organizations have come out in support of many aspects of the president’s proposal to spur job creation, we have also heard deep concern within our community about whether the tradeoff will be harmful cuts to programs that millions of Americans depend upon to keep them one step ahead of hunger and homelessness. So imagine my surprise when David Kamin explained, in clear, unambiguous terms, that the bill the President sent to Congress includes the measures to pay for it without taking a dime from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or other programs that support the common good.
The $447 billion, he explained, would come from a combination of limiting certain tax deductions for high income Americans, closing tax loopholes that benefit gas and oil companies, and eliminating a provision that taxes the earnings of hedge fund and private equity mangers at 15 percent, rather than at the regular individual income tax rate.
What I came away with was a striking sense of a powerful disconnect between public perception and what the President has proposed.
Given that most Americans and, most significantly, the majority of registered Republicans, support the idea of raising taxes on high income earners, it bears asking just who party leaders are speaking for when they declare dead on arrival any plan that asks the most well-off Americans to pay more – and asking what their real agenda is.
One of the most dissembled responses to the Jobs Act came from Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, who said, “I sure hope that the president is not suggesting that we pay for his proposal with a massive tax increase at the end of 2012 on job creators.” What makes this so disingenuous is that, as Cantor surely knows, small businesses, which create fully two-thirds of all American jobs, are actually among the biggest beneficiaries of the American Jobs Act, which would continue current payroll tax reductions, eliminate payroll taxes for new jobs and employee raises, allow businesses to write off 100 percent of investments in new equipment, and provide hefty tax credits for hiring the unemployed.
So, how have we come to a place where, with a balanced, deficit neutral plan on the table that would easily win the support of most Americans –– we retain the ominous sense that our most successful anti-poverty programs remain at risk? How has the country arrived at a place where some people can say with a straight face that the Act will kill jobs, rather than create them, and other folks can’t get past their complaints that it’s not a resurrection of the WPA? The Act, as proposed, will do so much more than either side seems willing to admit.
In a public sphere dominated by self-serving stonewalling on the one hand and self-righteous grousing on the other – where the side that is best at putting up obstacles “wins,” while failing to produce any results for the nation – the Administration has put forth a serious, thoughtful plan that will put more money in people’s pockets immediately, will quickly create jobs rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, keep essential public servants – teachers, police officers and firefighters – at work, and actively reward the businesses that are our nation’s primary engine of economic opportunity. Further, it is a plan focused on those Americans most in need – young people who have few first-job opportunities and the long-term unemployed who have lost all hope.
At the end of the call I asked David Kamin what part of the Act he is most excited about.
“We are putting in the best that we know is out there, and including rigorous evaluation,” he said. “Some is experimentation because there have been successful pilot programs and we’re bringing them up in scale. The major part of this bill is making sure we have enough jobs. It’s about making sure we don’t have a significant population in our country that is the long-term permanent unemployed.”
What I heard was a plan built around thoughtful analysis, by an Administration willing to take risks, to experiment and evaluate to get the best results, to try something bold at a critical time using the best tools we have available. It’s hard to argue with this approach, particularly with so many Americans in such great need. It’s a challenge to those on both sides of the aisle – and to all of us on every side of the issues – to be about more than just putting up obstacles. To unite and be for getting our economy – and the millions out of work – back on their feet.
Observe the Sabbath day, to make it holy as YHVH your God commanded you. Six days you will labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is Sabbath to YHVH, your God. You shall not do any work, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servant and your ox and your donkey or any animal, or any stranger who is within your gates, so that your male and female servant will rest like you. And you will remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and YHVH your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, YHVH your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. --Deuteronomy 5:12-15
We learn the above version of the 4th Commandment in Deuteronomy, the book of Torah that we read in this season of reflection. This year, the month of Elul, which includes Yom Kippur encompasses Labor Day, a national holiday dedicated to working Americans. This is the time when, as Jews, we measure our conduct by our values and are invited to return to our best selves. What a great opportunity to look at those next steps we can each take to bring our Shabbat values into our weekday, workday lives!
This year, PJA& JFSJ is partnering with Hand In Hand: Caring Across Generations to focus on domestic workers and their employers. In house meetings, in synagogues and in our political work, we are working to ensure that the people whom we trust to care for the ones we most love are treated with the respect -- and receive the remuneration -- that they have earned. (It's part of our work with Labor in the Pulpits.) We find it unacceptable that domestic workers are often not protected by workers’ compensation insurance, not paid overtime for working shifts that can last for over 12 hours, not afforded access to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep and, incredibly, not even paid minimum wage.
Judaism assumes that each human being commands respect for having been created in the image of God. The 4th Commandment is not given for a future world in which all distinctions of class, gender, nationality and other forms of discrimination have been abolished. It teaches that, even in an imperfect society like ours, basic human rights apply to everyone. Crucially, the text calls Jews to remember our own history as exploited workers as a guide to how to treat others.
This emphasis on the holiness inherent in every person, no matter what their status or occupation, is a key reason for why our Talmud is so concerned with contract law. A contract is an agreement between human beings, each of whom is made in the image of God.
We usually hire domestic workers at challenging times—our parents are ill; our children need care. We hire these workers not because we’re wealthy, but because we need to go to work ourselves. We want very much to do the right thing for everyone concerned. This Elul, we have a chance to bring our values home.
The new movie “The Help,” based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling book of the same name, tells the stories of black nannies and housekeepers in the 1960’s and the indignities that they experienced working for white families in the Jim Crow South. At first glance, this might seem to be an interesting but isolated tale that no longer holds relevance today. However, fifty years later, the mistreatment of domestic workers and caregivers continues. Not covered by most labor laws, domestic workers can be and too often are underpaid and overworked, with little legal recourse, and subjected to many other forms of abuse.
The comparison is beautifully made in this new YouTube video from the National Domestic Workers Alliance available here. It showcases the stories of today’s domestic workers and explains the importance of these jobs to their families – as over half are primary earners – and to the families they care for. One of the most shocking facts revealed is that 16 percent of today’s domestic workers are not paid for their work at all.
Thankfully, the tide is beginning to turn. Spearheaded by Domestic Workers United, and in partnership with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, last year New York became the first state in the nation to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Now a broad coalition of organizations including the California Domestic Workers Coalition, PJA & JFSJ and the National Domestic Workers Alliance is pushing to see California adopt similar legislation. For more information about the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, click here.
Large groups of domestic workers all around California are attending screenings of “The Help” to tell viewers about their fight to pass the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. You can support domestic workers by writing a letter to the editor advocating for better labor protections. Click here to find your local newspaper, customize a letter, and submit it online.
For more information about the Caring Across Generations campaign click here.
Do not cast me off in old age; when my strength fails me, do not forsake me. --Psalms 71:9
Ten years ago, American Jewry looked in the mirror and realized our community was, on average, an older lot than the rest of America. The 2000-1 National Jewish Population Study results were as clear as day, finding 19 percent of American Jewry to be elderly, defined as 65 or older, compared to 12 percent in the general population.
Since then, the cries for help from Jews in the Sandwich Generation – those caught in the crunch of caring for aging parents while raising their own children – have grown increasingly urgent as more families feel the strain, emotionally and financially.
That strain is spreading, as the Great Age Wave begins: Starting this year, an American turns 65 every eight seconds. America’s 77 million Baby Boomers – including 1.4 million Jews – are poised to retire. What does this mean? The problems of the Sandwich Generation are now America’s problem, with seniors expected to make up the bulk of the 30 million Americans needing direct care by 2040, up from 13 million in 2000. With demographic shifts to smaller, spread out families, more will need help caring for relatives. What we face is a national Care Crisis.
The Care Crisis is already a top priority in the Jewish community, but traditional services and institutions can’t keep up with the burgeoning need. From coast to coast, I’ve been hearing from friends and rabbis the same heart-rending stories of impossible choices and personal crisis as congregants struggle – to honor their parents (kibud av va’em) by helping them age with dignity in their homes, to afford (or find) quality care, to act Jewishly in fulfilling obligations to both parents and children and to the caregivers they employ.
What strikes me most about these conversations are the strong emotional bonds that transcend employer-employee relationships, with many caregivers accorded honorary-family status. Often a paid caregiver is the person whose hand is grasped in the middle of the night, who allows an aging parent to maintain dignity while losing independence in performing life’s daily rituals: eating, washing, walking. To an adult child who feels torn by obligations to their own young children and the parents who raised them, knowing that a trusted caregiver is helping one’s parent makes all the difference.
At the same time, caregivers are employees. Many aren’t treated with dignity and respect – not by employers, and not by our laws. Far too many domestic workers – eldercare-givers, home health aides, nannies, housekeepers, most of them women, few of them white – fall outside the jurisdiction of many of the labor laws that have protected most American workers since 1935. For far too many, there are no mandated sick days, no minimum wage, no protection from exploitive hours or dangerous conditions, no civil rights protections, no legal recourse for discrimination.
We must ask ourselves: How can we not protect the very people we trust to care for our most beloved in our own homes?
The time has come for the Jewish community to first recognize, then articulate – widely and broadly – the many ways that the fate of our families, the fate of caregivers, and the quality of care are inextricably linked. If we plan ahead, we can ensure that the graying of America is met with a well-trained workforce of caregivers.
Who among us wouldn’t want the best care for our loved ones – and ourselves?
To be sure, these are difficult financial times and fraught issues – ones that can and should be addressed as a community and a society. What we need are systemic solutions that honor our loved ones and the people who care for them, recognizing just how intertwined our fates are.
Baby Boomers have transformed the landscape of America, demanding that we recognize the basic rights of those who before went unprotected. Now it is time to make sure that their golden years are filled with the dignity and care they deserve and have sought for others while ensuring that the caregivers who help make that possible enjoy the same dignity and respect.
Simon Greer is president and CEO of PJA & JFSJ, which is working to engage the Jewish community in Caring Across Generations, a new movement to protect and expand our nation’s support system for the aging and people with disabilities at a time when the need for care in America is skyrocketing.
On July 12th, PJA & JFSJ joined a coalition of more than 70 organizations to launch Caring Across Generations, a campaign to transform long-term care in the United States for our loved ones who count on the support of caregivers to meet their basic daily needs, the workers who provide the support, and the families who struggle to find and afford quality care for their family members.
Taking Care (above): PJA & JFSJ President Simon Greer introduces Valerie Jarrett (Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls) at the D.C. launch of Caring Across Generations, a movement to protect and expand our nation’s support system for the aging and people with disabilities at a time when the need for care in America is skyrocketing.
The launch – at the first of 15 “Care Congresses” slated for cities around the nation in the next year -- drew more than 700 supporters. PJA & JFSJ helped organize an interfaith breakfast to kick off the campaign.
Pics! Pics! Check out the pictures from the Care Congress and interfaith breakfast on Facebook.
Jspot is taking a bit of a break as the Progressive Jewish Alliance and Jewish Funds for Justice settle into the new rhythms of our new partnership. We encourage folks to continue to post -- or congratulate us!
If you haven't already, check out this short, inspiring video about the PJA-JFSJ merger.
That's great. But what should we call you?
So what should you call us?For now: PJA & JFSJ -- One Organization. One Vision for the Future.
CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrell testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services on Wednesday in support of the President's FY12 budget, which includes funding for the CDFI Fund. Director Gambrell's testimony outlined the important programs and financing the CDFI Fund provides, and the impact CDFIs have in low-income communities:
CDFIs are strategically positioned to help some of the most vulnerable populations in the nation at a time when they are facing many financially challenging situations. CDFIs are often the only source of financing in underserved communities. CDFIs support productive small businesses, affordable housing for low-income Americans, high-quality community facilities, and provide retail banking services to the un-banked and others often targeted by predatory lenders.
As I read futher through the published testimony, I was thrilled to see mention of Boston Community Capital, a CDFI and Tzedec borrower that is undertaking groundbreaking work to address the foreclosure crisis. More from the testimony:
Boston Community Capital, a CDFI headquartered in Massachusetts, has developed a new Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods initiative, where the CDFI partners with other organizations to buy foreclosed properties and sell them back to the original owners with a reduced mortgage payment, preventing displacement. As a result, low-income urban neighborhoods in Boston are at less risk of population loss due to unaffordable housing costs.
Gambrell also talked about the important role that CDFIs have played in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and last year's oil spill:
After both Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast oil spill, CDFIs were at the forefront of re-building the Gulf Coast region and providing support for small business owners who saw their livelihoods threatened.
We have invested in CDFIs through JFSJ's Tzedec Community Investment program for the past 12 years, and our commitment continutes. We will follow the FY12 federal budget process as it continues. Future funding for the CDFI Fund will provide support and investment in low-income communities that critically need access to affordable capital. I am sure this is not the last we will hear.
