Summit at St. Thomas aims to help Houston understand, battle poverty
Author Donna Beegle wants to put an end to stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding poverty — especially when they stand in the way of developing strategies to find a solution.
“It is actually resolvable,” she said. “And we can actually save money doing it.”
The problem, Beegle said, is thinking any one group can fix poverty.
“It’s going to take more than one organization or one sector of the community,” she explained. “It takes all sectors. It’s saying, ‘Here's what we can do. Now what can you do?’ ”
This collaborative approach is at the heart of the upcoming kNOw Poverty Summit, coming to University of St. Thomas on Thursday, at which Beegle will give the keynote address.
The event, sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston, features a slew of speakers and panelists, including Larry Payne, president of civic engagement and critical conversations for Houston Public Library, who will lead a panel that examines poverty and strategies to promote economic stability.
The ultimate goal for the biannual summit, which is in its fourth year, is to increase education about poverty and also take an interdisciplinary approach, according to Natalie Wood, senior vice president of programs for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Wood is responsible for a number of social services provided through Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese, including food pantries, housing assistance and refugee resettlement. The organization, which helps about 85,000 individuals each year to alleviate poverty, is guided by the Catholic faith.
“Most people of faith believe that everyone deserves dignity and reabout
The kNOw Poverty Summit
What: Speakers sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
When: 8:30 a.m. Thursday Where: University of St. spect,” Wood said. “Giving people food, housing and clothes, these are basic services all people deserve because they were made in the image of God.”
Faith also teaches the value of community, coming together to help individuals in need, Wood said.
She points to the Bible statement, “whatever you did for the least of these … you did for me,” adding that there are many ways religious groups are called to help others.
“As Christ taught us, our main job is to make sure people’s wounds are tended,” Wood said. “He fed people before he prayed. God loves his people. We’re supposed to be the same way. We have to love people no matter what.”
Seeing each individual’s worth and potential is key, she added.
Wood noted that smaller percentages of individuals are able to climb out of poverty than ever before.
“We need to tackle poverty in new ways,” she said. “The old ways were not
Thomas, 3800 Montrose Registration:
$50 per person; catholiccharities.org/ knowpoverty, 713-874-6631 working.”
Wood explained that Beegle shared a similar philosophy when she saw her speak at a recent Catholic Charities USA conference.
“We were taken by her honesty and her transparency,” Wood said. “She was able to translate her experiences into a language everyone could understand.”
Beegle shared her story of being born into a migrant labor family, marrying at 15 and later becoming a single mother. She had insights from growing up in generational poverty — and then studying poverty. By age 25, she earned her GED and within 10 years received her doctorate.
Beegle is president and founder of Communication Across Barriers, which works to break the cycle of poverty through training, organizational assessments, community development, action plans and educational outreach. She has also written several books, including “See
Poverty, Be the Difference,” “Breaking Poverty Barriers to Equal Justice” and “If Not Me, Then Who?”
Beegle works with members of the justice system, health care, education and clergy to dispel poverty myths.
“What gets in the way are our beliefs about poverty,” she said. “Why would I help someone if I believe they chose this? Because we don’t educate people poverty, we’re the only country in the world that teaches that people are the cause of poverty.”
Beegle said that a deeper understanding is necessary. “This is a human issue; it affects us all,” she said. “We need to come together, and this is what this conference is all about.”
This is where the kNOw Poverty Summit shines. Its nonprofit partners include the Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries, Children At Risk, Generation One, Houston Public Library, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, United Way of Greater Houston and Jewish Family Service of Houston.
“We’ve been very concerned about the issue of poverty for a long time,” said Carl Josehart, chief operating officer at Jewish Family Service of Houston, which provides assistance and resources for struggling members of Houston’s Jewish community.
Josehart said that a number of factors contribute to poverty, including rising health care costs and greater responsibility of individuals to foot the bill, even when they are insured, as well as natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey.
“The floods just created an impossible barrier,” he said. “People aren’t able to dig themselves out.”
He also forecasts that the number of those in need will rise as Houstonians age. Finances once reserved for retirement were used for post-storm renovations, he explained.
“There’s a lot of longterm work that still needs to be done,” he said.
Wood said that the kNOw Poverty Summit will offer participants the opportunity to see what work is being done already, to learn best practices and to look for innovative ways to work together.
“It’s going to be a big perspective changer, we’re hoping” she said.
Attendees will also have a chance to learn ways to volunteer or donate to make a positive impact.
For Beegle, seeing how many people care about this gives her hope.
“People come out of the woodwork once they understand they have to fight the poverty, not the people,” she said. “It’s cheaper to invest in the people than in the symptoms. It requires us to be poverty informed.”
Learning about poverty is the first step to finding solutions, Beegle explained. “It’s not that people don’t care, it’s that they don’ know,” she said.