POVERTY TRUTH COMMISSION OVERVIEW
By Sunshine Wolfe
September, 2007
GOALS
In April of 2007, the Graduate Theological Union Justice Collaborative decided to coordinate a Poverty Truth Commission in Spring 2008. This plan is in response to that agreement as a springboard for ideas. It is not meant to dictate the actions of the Collaborative, but rather, to create the beginning of discussion and action. At this time, I foresee four phases to the Truth Commission: Fall Forums, Community Building, the Poverty Truth Commission, and Follow Through.
Each component will require someone to coordinate efforts, volunteers to complete tasks, commitment of space from the seminaries, and coordinated media effort. It is very important that we keep in mind the purpose for the Truth Commission which is to allow a space for the truth to be spoken of the experience of those in our local communities hurt by poverty, reconciliation through action, and long-term relationships between the GTU and local grassroots organizations. Through this effort, we hope to not only prepare religious leaders for work in the world, but to also be a model for how we see this leadership enacted here in the Bay Area. The modeling will make obvious the power of working among people in poverty and ways to support the work of those in poverty.
FALL FORUMS
The Fall Forums are an opportunity to get the word out about the Justice Collaborative and the Truth Commission and to raise awareness at the schools. The Forums should be held at as many schools as are willing to participate. Preferably, there would be at least four schools involved in this component. The forum would be simple in format with one student, one faculty/staff, and one member of the local community who can testify to experiences of poverty. There would also be a moderator at each forum.
Participants would be asked to speak to their experiences. It would be helpful to have each person be aware of the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. Also, a list of questions to be prepared to answer such as, “what is the value of religious leaders and congregations in a movement against poverty?” Each forum would last 90 minutes and should be held sometime in November before the Thanksgiving/grieving Break.
This might be most easily organized by finding a person at each school who would be willing to coordinate the event. Also, individuals at the school may have ideas for community speakers. Speakers from the community preferably have a relationship with the school and can speak directly toward their own experiences of poverty.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
A key component to a successful Truth Commission is the development of concrete relationships with local grassroots organizations. Many of our schools already have relationships with organizations in the Bay Area through Field Education. We can foster these relationships while building new relationships with organizations that are obvious matches for the work of the Commission. It is important that we be aware of asking organizations to work with the Graduate Theological Union with an intention for continued work with these organizations in the future.
I encourage work with Poor Magazine and the Ella Baker Center as groups that are by and for people in poverty. Also, organizations that operate due to the support of those not currently in poverty, but with consensus and or communal models of cooperation such as YEAH! (Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel), EBASE (East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy), and Faithful Fools. The Collaborative will have many ideas for organizations and will need to decide which organizations to speak with. For the Truth Commission, we should have around ten organizations represented.
In planning, it would be good to have one representative from the Collaborative or other volunteer dedicated to each organization. This spreads the work and allows for deeper community building between the GTU and the organization. While, I recommend one lead representative, there should be two or three people visiting each organization. I encourage planning meetings being held at the respective organizations where possible and if comfortable to that group.
Many of these organizations have reasons to be skeptical of the intentions of people asking for their involvement in projects. We will need to be clear about our goals, intentions, and actions when we approach these groups. We will need to be clear about what we expect of these groups and what they hope to gain from involvement. This should be discussed in more detail either by the Collaborative itself or a committee dedicated to this task.
POVERTY TRUTH COMMISSION
The Truth Commission itself should be scheduled immediately. I propose April 11, 2008. Space will need to be reserved. We will need to decide if the event will be limited to a Poverty Truth Commission that evening or will include a days worth of workshops and meetings. Having the day available for local organizations to showcase their work and to talk about poverty in more detail would be useful to all involved. However, this requires more planning and will need to be done based on people and resources.
Please review the resources at the end of this document for more information on ways that truth commissions can be and have been run. At this time, I am most familiar with the Poverty Truth Commission held at Union. This allowed for one person who has experienced poverty to testify for four minutes to their experience. There were students from Union and Columbia, workers, activists, and organizers who spoke as testifiers. There were more than twenty commissioners. I cannot speak directly to the role of the commissioners and will ask that Professor Lettini speak to this, as ghe has performed in this role in the past.
After the Testifiers presented their testimony, the commissioners left the room to confer on themes of what they heard and saw. During this time, a choir sang as entertainment and the congregation was given some time to think, meditate, and break. The commissioners then returned to discuss what they had seen that night. There are responsibilities of commissioners after the commission and I will defer to Dr. Lettini’s experience on this.
FOLLOW THROUGH/NEXT STEPS
After the Truth Commission is over, we will need to assess the event, the commitments of those who were Commissioners, and the commitments of the Justice Collaborative and the GTU. What worked and what didn’t? How will we continue the relationships with these organizations and how will we help our training religious leaders to process this event in preparation for the future work?
It is important that the relationships built for the Truth Commission continue and we will need to make a plan for how this will look.
RESOURCES
Information on truth commissions:
http://www.truthcommission.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_commission
The Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary:
http://www.povertyinitiative.org/
In April of 2007, the Graduate Theological Union Justice Collaborative decided to coordinate a Poverty Truth Commission in Spring 2008. This plan is in response to that agreement as a springboard for ideas. It is not meant to dictate the actions of the Collaborative, but rather, to create the beginning of discussion and action. At this time, I foresee four phases to the Truth Commission: Fall Forums, Community Building, the Poverty Truth Commission, and Follow Through.
Each component will require someone to coordinate efforts, volunteers to complete tasks, commitment of space from the seminaries, and coordinated media effort. It is very important that we keep in mind the purpose for the Truth Commission which is to allow a space for the truth to be spoken of the experience of those in our local communities hurt by poverty, reconciliation through action, and long-term relationships between the GTU and local grassroots organizations. Through this effort, we hope to not only prepare religious leaders for work in the world, but to also be a model for how we see this leadership enacted here in the Bay Area. The modeling will make obvious the power of working among people in poverty and ways to support the work of those in poverty.
FALL FORUMS
The Fall Forums are an opportunity to get the word out about the Justice Collaborative and the Truth Commission and to raise awareness at the schools. The Forums should be held at as many schools as are willing to participate. Preferably, there would be at least four schools involved in this component. The forum would be simple in format with one student, one faculty/staff, and one member of the local community who can testify to experiences of poverty. There would also be a moderator at each forum.
Participants would be asked to speak to their experiences. It would be helpful to have each person be aware of the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. Also, a list of questions to be prepared to answer such as, “what is the value of religious leaders and congregations in a movement against poverty?” Each forum would last 90 minutes and should be held sometime in November before the Thanksgiving/grieving Break.
This might be most easily organized by finding a person at each school who would be willing to coordinate the event. Also, individuals at the school may have ideas for community speakers. Speakers from the community preferably have a relationship with the school and can speak directly toward their own experiences of poverty.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
A key component to a successful Truth Commission is the development of concrete relationships with local grassroots organizations. Many of our schools already have relationships with organizations in the Bay Area through Field Education. We can foster these relationships while building new relationships with organizations that are obvious matches for the work of the Commission. It is important that we be aware of asking organizations to work with the Graduate Theological Union with an intention for continued work with these organizations in the future.
I encourage work with Poor Magazine and the Ella Baker Center as groups that are by and for people in poverty. Also, organizations that operate due to the support of those not currently in poverty, but with consensus and or communal models of cooperation such as YEAH! (Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel), EBASE (East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy), and Faithful Fools. The Collaborative will have many ideas for organizations and will need to decide which organizations to speak with. For the Truth Commission, we should have around ten organizations represented.
In planning, it would be good to have one representative from the Collaborative or other volunteer dedicated to each organization. This spreads the work and allows for deeper community building between the GTU and the organization. While, I recommend one lead representative, there should be two or three people visiting each organization. I encourage planning meetings being held at the respective organizations where possible and if comfortable to that group.
Many of these organizations have reasons to be skeptical of the intentions of people asking for their involvement in projects. We will need to be clear about our goals, intentions, and actions when we approach these groups. We will need to be clear about what we expect of these groups and what they hope to gain from involvement. This should be discussed in more detail either by the Collaborative itself or a committee dedicated to this task.
POVERTY TRUTH COMMISSION
The Truth Commission itself should be scheduled immediately. I propose April 11, 2008. Space will need to be reserved. We will need to decide if the event will be limited to a Poverty Truth Commission that evening or will include a days worth of workshops and meetings. Having the day available for local organizations to showcase their work and to talk about poverty in more detail would be useful to all involved. However, this requires more planning and will need to be done based on people and resources.
Please review the resources at the end of this document for more information on ways that truth commissions can be and have been run. At this time, I am most familiar with the Poverty Truth Commission held at Union. This allowed for one person who has experienced poverty to testify for four minutes to their experience. There were students from Union and Columbia, workers, activists, and organizers who spoke as testifiers. There were more than twenty commissioners. I cannot speak directly to the role of the commissioners and will ask that Professor Lettini speak to this, as ghe has performed in this role in the past.
After the Testifiers presented their testimony, the commissioners left the room to confer on themes of what they heard and saw. During this time, a choir sang as entertainment and the congregation was given some time to think, meditate, and break. The commissioners then returned to discuss what they had seen that night. There are responsibilities of commissioners after the commission and I will defer to Dr. Lettini’s experience on this.
FOLLOW THROUGH/NEXT STEPS
After the Truth Commission is over, we will need to assess the event, the commitments of those who were Commissioners, and the commitments of the Justice Collaborative and the GTU. What worked and what didn’t? How will we continue the relationships with these organizations and how will we help our training religious leaders to process this event in preparation for the future work?
It is important that the relationships built for the Truth Commission continue and we will need to make a plan for how this will look.
RESOURCES
Information on truth commissions:
http://www.truthcommission.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_commission
The Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary:
http://www.povertyinitiative.org/