Poverty and Participation How-to: Online teach-in to the Vermont Office of Economic Opportunity
As people across the country are facing multiple crises due to COVID-19, there is a growing realization that its impact is tenfold for people currently experiencing poverty. The reasons why are less understood: the mutual reinforcement of the crisis – health, social, economic – mirror the nature and dynamic of poverty.
Traditionally, aspects of poverty - unemployment, zero-hour work weeks, food shortages, fear of eviction, lack of access to healthcare, etc. – have been viewed and addressed as separate issues. The crisis our country is confronted with today sheds a new light on the interconnections between those issues, and calls for a new approach to poverty. Poverty is more than economic - it is multidimensional. This new approach is key as it gives a new lens to look at the dynamics at play in our society. And with it comes a new understanding of poverty that widens the scope of the policy intervention that is needed.
Exploring those issues was the purpose of the online presentation made to the Office of Economic Opportunity at the Vermont Department for Children and Families. On April 1st, coordinators of the Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty (MAP) research, Guillaume Charvon and Maryann Broxton, presented the results of the report, Pushed to the Bottom: The Experience of Poverty in the United States, to the 90+ service providers from across the state of Vermont.
As they explained the nine dimensions of the experience of poverty, they insisted on the interconnectedness of those dimensions. This interconnectedness, such as the intricacy of health, economic and social crises, is extremely complex. They acknowledge that for the understanding of the dynamic between different dimensions of poverty to be fully integrated into policy responses, the expertise of people living in poverty is indispensable.
The second part of the webinar was dedicated to the conditions needed to enable a meaningful participation for people with direct experience of poverty in research and advocacy. Based on the best practices implemented during their participatory research and beyond, the MAP coordinators developed a series of steps to set the conditions for participation. Those conditions include how to give value to the expertise of people experiencing poverty. Their presentation aimed to support the efforts of service providers looking to build a real partnership with people living in poverty.
This same approach is critical in front of a global pandemic that calls for a reassessment of our long term vision. Some have begun to ask what “recovery” will look like and who will take part in it. Will we go back to the perceived normal of inequity? Or will everyone's realities, needs, aspirations and voice be taken into account? These are questions to address coming out of this crisis.
The MAP coordinators hope to conduct similar webinars in the future. If you are interested, please contact Maryann Broxton: mbroxton@4thworldmovement.org.
