VCU news

By James Shea

Martin Luther King Jr. is most often remembered for his leadership in the civil rights movement and his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., but King was heavily involved in economic justice, especially later in his life.

In 1964, King accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and said: “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”

The quote lay the foundation for a discussion at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University on Sunday and kicked off MLK Week at the university. The town-hall-style event was titled “Thriving Communities: Partnering for Economic Justice.” Elsie L. Harper-Anderson, Ph.D., associate professor at the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, moderated a discussion with Thad Williamson, Ph.D., associate professor of leadership studies and philosophy, politics, economics and law at the University of Richmond, and Reggie Gordon, deputy chief administrative officer at the city of Richmond.

Both Gordon and Williamson were highly critical of the traditional ways in which people below the poverty line are assisted. They argued that the models of creating nonprofits and social agencies within government do not lift people out of poverty. This approach solves a short-term problem but does not fix the long-term challenges of quality employment and affordable housing. Both Gordon and Williamson said they are focused on community wealth building efforts rather than anti-poverty ones that they find less effective.

“The system persistently falls short of meeting the stated goals, especially around poverty and equity,” Williamson said.

Gordon manages social services at the city and the Office of Community Wealth Building, an organization created in 2014 by former mayor Dwight C. Jones. The program was designed to improve education, transportation, housing and access to workforce development within Richmond. Williamson is the former director of the program and many of the ideas behind the office are based on his research and writings.

Gordon believes economic improvement programs have not done a good enough job of involving local people. Programs are created and benefits are distributed, but people below the poverty line in a community often do not have a voice.

“I think that there is a game that we play in this society – those who have money create the rules, change the rules (and) create the environment,” Gordon said. “That’s a fact. As I have gotten to this point in my career … I am trying to be a part of hope for a new society, a new way where … everyone has access to money and economic upward mobility.”

Remembering King

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., said the anniversary of King’s birth is an important time to get together and talk about King’s legacy and continue his effort. He noted that it was hard to imagine a world without King’s legacy, as he had made such a profound impact on society during his life and following his assassination in 1968.

“This is a person who really just came to you with his heart,” Rao said. “You can feel it. That is how he reached the heart of so many millions of people.

Rao said people should use MLK Week to organize and help others. He remarked that economic prosperity and building partnerships were crucial components of VCU’s strategic plan and fit with the theme of the week.

“We, at VCU, are going to continue to build on partnerships and collaboration with the city or the state and with counties and all other entities, private entities, as well, to inspire and create gains in human health and economic prosperity in our community,” he said.

Include people in the process

Education was a recurring topic throughout the discussion because of its integral role in creating economic opportunities. Williamson said the structure and historic problems that separate Black and white communities within Richmond and between the city and the counties creates stiff challenges for improving education in the region.

“The RPS (Richmond Public Schools) is largely a segregated system,” Williamson said. “Of the 20 something elementary schools, the city’s white children are I think in like three of those. And that’s a regional issue. It was a decision 50 years ago to have separate school systems (between the cities and the counties). Even now there is not the appetite to tackle that other than around the edges and reimagine what this metropolitan area would be like if Henrico, Richmond and Chesterfield all had a common education system.”

Harper-Anderson agreed that education is a critical topic for lifting people out of poverty but not an easy one to address.

“It’s a complicated thing to try to tackle but at the same time Richmond has a very complex history, particularly when it comes to race,” she said. “You add that to the foundation and try to solve all of these problems on top of it, and that makes it something that will require great effort and intentionality.”

Gordon added that segregation and housing must also be part of the discussion, saying Black and white citizens mostly live in different areas of the city, and that has concentrated wealth in certain areas. Most of the public housing exists on the east end of the city and is in disrepair, but any talk of changing public housing must include residents, he said.

“When I first started with OCWB (Office of Community Wealth Building), there was a lot of work on including the voices of community residents in public housing, and during the process of talking to people who lived in public housing, I realized that I was putting my middle-class mores on them by saying, ‘Surely you want to get out of this neighborhood,’” Gordon said. “What we began to hear was, ‘No, this is our home.’”

Government and community officials must respect the residents’ space and sense of community within public housing. Gordon said a public housing unit is a small town, and people feel a sense of community and belonging. Residents have different ideas and expectations than policymakers and that must be taken into consideration. 

“I think that is something that we have learned together,” Gordon said. “By having a community voice at the table, as opposed to us outside of their presence, charting out what would be better for them.”

Alignment of effort is a key to improving the lives of people who are in poverty, the panelists said. Too often, government and the nonprofit sector want to add new programs and do not take the time to study and understand the bigger picture, they said. Aligning current services and programs can often have a larger impact than creating new ones, but that can be challenging in a large bureaucracy.

“That is what we hear from people who are in need,” Gordon said.

Williamson added, “There are brilliant people in every neighborhood that have commitment and creativity. They should be recognized and celebrated and lifted up. That is why we call it community wealth building and not simply anti-poverty. It’s getting away from the older mentality of that the check needs to be moved here or there. We are talking about protecting fellow citizens.”

Building wealth through guaranteed income

One program that was highlighted within the Office of Community Wealth Building was

the Richmond Resilience Initiative, a guaranteed-income effort. It is part of the national Mayors for Guaranteed Income pilot program and “rooted in Dr. King’s legacy,” according to the initiative’s website. Under the program, 18 Richmond residents received $500 a month for a period of 24 months. Gordon said the program has been hugely successful. Residents were able to distribute money in a meaningful way within their families or the community.

“It was to test out this concept that we all know,” Gordon said. “People just need more money. It’s a stress reliever but also allows people to find the right pathway to get to the next level.”

The first cohort ended in December of last year and a second cohort of 48 families just started the program. Gordon said families were able to get a car fixed in order to get to work or go back to school. They were giving money to relatives “who were about to fall off the cliff.” It created a ripple effect of building wealth in the community.   

“This is not about getting someone temporarily over an artificial numeric line,” Williamson said. “This is more about power and dignity, and both of those things are associated with wealth.”