2022 Year in Review
Dear Friends,
Looking back at 2022, it may be hard to hold on to the hope that the pandemic could lead us toward a more altruistic, unified world. We must not lose sight of the hope for a social structure that accurately reflects how essential people are to each other.
Lorena, James, Kim, Patrick and many others tell us how cultivating this hope is the only way forward for themselves but also for all of us. They feed this hope by trying to connect people, always keeping in mind those who are most isolated by the indignity of poverty.
Many activists with direct experience of poverty call for partnerships to make these connections and break this isolation. This is a constant call for action after the pandemic limited partnerships in so many ways. This call resonated with me while I was reading a text written by Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World:
“The poorest families yearn to become part of our shared history, at last under their true identity, no longer as “the poor” on the receiving end of other people’s help, but as partners, co-responsible for the decisions concerning them. Finally, they want to become partners in democracy.”
Partnerships are a solution to poverty.
In 2022, we developed partnerships at many different levels. For example:
In New York, our team’s presence in a specific neighborhood, where it is notoriously hard to be, opened the door for the public library, supporting its goals in the housing project. This is a win-win partnership that results in a greater benefit for the residents.
In New Mexico, the McCune Foundation is a key partner in achieving our mission of reaching isolated people and communities with few opportunities. With the Story Garden on Wheels, we are developing a holistic approach to education and family support and learning a lot about breaking through isolation. The McCune Foundation’s funding priorities for projects targeting the most isolated benefit from this work.
At the national level, ATD Fourth World’s expertise on participatory action research was instrumental in supporting the Center for Law And Social Policy (CLASP) in a national project to define economic justice with people living in poverty.
The ATD Fourth World community is built with people impacted by poverty. We will continue to evolve our expertise in working together. Further, by forming partnerships with other organizations, we hope to share this expertise as well as learn from others' work to end exclusion.
People living in poverty are actors in ending extreme poverty. They aspire to be recognized as partners. Continuing to build and expand partnerships, between the most excluded people and other key actors of our society, will be our compass for 2023.
Yours,
Guillaume Charvon
National Director
