Virtually unnoticed in President Obama's SOTU address was a single line that promised more misery for millions of Americans living in poverty.
"I've proposed cuts to things I care deeply about, like community action programs."
Community Action is a network of 1,100 local agencies that help people who are struggling with low income. Increasingly, these are people who lost their jobs during the Great Recession, or had to make due with reduced hours or pay cuts.
There are more and more people struggling to get by, through no fault of their own. Poverty is up, employment is down. This is clear: reducing support now will needlessly jeopardize the welfare of an untold number of American families.
We need your help to make sure that doesn't happen.
I work for a Community Action Agency that saw its local poverty rate leap by 22% in 2008 and 2009. But what's even more alarming is that we experienced a 35% increase in calls for assistance in 2010.
Now, we've learned that the administration intends to propose a 50% reduction in funding for the Community Services Block Grant, an integral bit of funding for Community Action.
This is stunning for more reasons than the timing. It's also a relatively small amount of money; only about $680 million in CSBG funds went to the states last year. That's about $15 for every American living in poverty.
What kind of country hands out tax breaks for its wealthiest citizens, and then says it can't afford to support its most vulnerable families?
You can read more about this in a diary I posted yesterday. http://www.dailykos.com/...
If you agree that this isn't the time to turn our backs on poor people, please contact the White House and your representatives in Congress, and urge them to maintain funding for the Community Services Block Grant.
Kossaks have recently made their voices heard in favor of Senate rules reform and preserving Social Security. Those are certainly issues worthy of our support. But this is an issue that will have a much more immediate impact on families who are struggling now. You can help avert another devastating blow to people who were hit hardest by the Great Recession.
Please take a moment to speak out for families that need your help. And please drop a comment below, and tell us who you've contacted in Washington.
Thank you.