What Does Gentrifying Mean?
As I take people on a tour through Greenville, I use the term gentrifying. I often need to explain what that means. I’m challenged because gentrifying has both good news and bad news about...
Hidden Voices ( Part 5 in a series)
If we were watching live theater now, we’d see a crowd behind a scrim mumbling softly and then getting louder and louder. In the wings, we would hear the sound of buildings coming down...
Hidden Voices
We will not, do not, or cannot hear the voices that are hidden in our community. We will not…hear hidden voices We stay within the confines of people more or less like us. We...
What’s the Definition of Affordable?
Affordable is a nondescript word. However, it gets used a lot, especially now in Greenville while the City works with their consultant and other groups planning to build more “affordable housing.” When people with...
Let’s Get Some Perspective…Please
Such huge dollar amounts are being thrown around these days: $14 billion for a wall between the United States and Mexico or $1.5 million for one condominium on a site where a small mom...
Housing Issues in the City of Greenville
City of Greenville: Balancing Prosperity and Housing Affordability in Greenville Inclusionary development has not been embraced, so parts of the City…remain poor and disconnected from the city’s new vibrancy. As recent as 2000, Greenville...
Good News / Bad News
As I ride around downtown Greenville, I admit that I’m happy that I live in such a vibrant community. Seeing the sidewalk restaurants and the groups of people walking to museums, theaters, events in...
The Poverty Tour Changed for Me
The poverty tour that I take interested people on changed forever for me on Thursday. It’s not that we went anywhere different or that I changed what I said…okay, maybe a little. However, we...
Systems Issues
I was recently asked to comment further on a statement that I made publicly about dealing with Unseen Greenville. I said that change requires dealing with structural and systems issues. The person who asked...
What High School Students Learned from the Poverty Simulation
On April 21, I facilitated a poverty simulation for 146 students at Hartsville High School. Here are some of the comments from the students: I think that the most successful part was learning how...
Affordable Housing Can’t Be Found for Many
The National Low Income Housing Coalition just released a report about the shortage of affordable rental units for people who are deeply low income (DLI= household with income at or less than 15% of...
A New World
When I switch from the 2014 calendar to the pristinely clean pages of my new 2015 calendar, everything seems a possibility. The past year with both joys and concerns is done and the new...
Dilemma
This ran as a guest editorial by me in the Greenville News on Sunday, December 14, 2014. I have worked in the poverty field for more than thirty years. I am passionate about all...