Rewarding Work and Ending Poverty in America
New Orleans, La. • Canton, Miss. • Marks, Miss.
Marianna, Ark. • Memphis, Tenn.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Video
John and Elizabeth Edwards take a walking tour of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans with Gwen Adams and Vanessa Gueringer, Chairs of the Lower Ninth Ward ACORN.
John and Elizabeth Edwards arrive for a town hall meeting in New Orleans. The forum was broadcast on ABC's Good Morning America on July 16, 2007.
Blog
- Building One America Starts in New Orleans
...In New Orleans, Senator Edwards will unveil his three-point plan to rebuild the city. The plan seeks to address the question of recovery with a focus on rebuilding infrastructure, creating jobs and keeping the city safe from future storms and rising crime. Read more - Walking in the Lower Ninth Ward
...John Davis, who travels with the Senator, will be sharing his impressions and experiences to give you an inside look on what this tour is all about...Davis' first updates come as they land in New Orleans and make their way through the Lower 9th Ward for a tour with community leaders. Read more - Good Morning America Town Hall
...This morning Senator Edwards took part in a Good Morning America Town Hall with Diane Sawyer. Read more - Kingsley House & Cafe Reconcile
...Since 2005, Kingsley House has stepped up as a saving grace to thousands of families who were victim to the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Read more
Photos
CANTON, MISSISSIPPI
Canton, Mississippi is one of many Delta towns dominated by the poultry processing, one of the most dangerous and poorly rewarded industrial jobs in America. Mississippi poultry workers are paid poorly and most lack health benefits. The industry is one of many in America that increasingly violate legal protections, such as minimum wage and hour laws, and misclassify employees as independent contractors in order to strip them of basic protections. A Labor Department study of the poultry industry nationally found that out of 51 plants surveyed, 100 percent had not paid employees for all hours worked and one-third took illegal deductions from pay.
[MPOWER, 2007; BLS, 2006; USDA, 2005; UFCW, 2007; DoL, 2001]
Video
John Edwards speaks with poultry processing workers at Mt. Levi Full Gospel Baptist Church in Canton, Miss. on July 16, 2007.
Blog
- Canton, Mississippi - 6:03 p.m.
...In Canton, John talked about the second part of this equation - rewarding work. Anyone who works hard should have the chance to get ahead. Yet, many industries routinely break basic labor laws, making getting ahead impossible. Read more
Photos
MARKS, MISSISSIPPI
Marks, Mississippi is in Quitman County, where one out of every three residents is in poverty. In 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. started his Poor People's March at the Road Side Park in Marks, which would eventually bring over 7,000 Americans to Washington, DC. Today, the Quitman County Development Organization is a local community center creating economic opportunity with many of the solutions John Edwards has proposed nationally, including affordable housing and a credit union offering low-fee banking, small business loans, and alternatives to payday loans to help working families save and get ahead.
[QCDO, 2007]
Blog
- Marks, Mississippi - 7:00 p.m.
...It's important to know that the story of Marks is about so much more than the ravages of poverty—it's about some of the most daring and innovate work to fight poverty going on anywhere in the country. Read more
Photos
WEST HELENA, ARKANSAS
West Helena, Arkansas has seen women in the area—like millions of women nationally—increasingly working in underpaid home care jobs. Home health aide is America's fastest-growing profession. Ninety percent of home care workers are women, and one out of every four is a single mother caring for young children. The undervaluing of this career contributes to the reality that of the 37 million Americans living in poverty, 21 million are women. In Arkansas, the typical hourly wage for home health aides is $8.13, and nationally 25 percent lack health benefits. Half of all home care workers are living in a low-income family, and they are disproportionately rural.
[BLS, 2004; SEIU, 2003; BLS, 2006; Carsey Institute, 2007]
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
Memphis, Tennessee is where Dr. King went on a detour from the Poor People's March to stand with Memphis sanitation workers' striking for fair wages. His campaign for justice came to a tragic end during that detour in April 1968. The Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association was founded that same year, and has worked to bring together residents from all walks of life to lift Memphis families out of poverty. The Association is in the racially and economically segregated Peabody-Vance neighborhood of Memphis, which has a 60 percent poverty rate and a 15 percent unemployment rate. MIFA's programs include teen job services, college prep, services to the elderly, legal counseling and debt management.
[City of Memphis, 2007; MIFA, 2007]
Video
John Edwards speaks about poverty at the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association in Memphis, Tennessee on July 16, 2007.
Events
8:15 p.m.
John Edwards discusses his plan to end poverty in America.
The Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association Thrift Store
910 Vance Avenue
Memphis, TN 38126
Photos
How You Can Take Action
5:22 p.m. CDT - Marks, MS
In Marks,MS we had one of the most moving moments of the tour. On our walk down Cotton Street we stopped at the home of Mrs. Sammie Henley. Mrs. Henley told Senator Edwards about hosting students during Freedom Summer in 1964. She also talked about the flood that came in 1968, and how Dr. King rowed a boat up to the house at the start of the Poor PeopleÂs March when he famously described the situation as "an island of poverty" surrounded by an ocean of wealth.
We also learned the last presidential candidate to come to Marks was Robert F. Kennedy.
4:36 p.m. CDT - Canton, MS
One woman spoke of the back breaking work they do at the plant and what it was like to work in those conditions while pregnant. Other workers spoke about having their time on the clock shaved or not getting paid for overtime. ItÂs not right and itÂs why we have to address these problems
11:11 a.m. CDT - NOLA; Wheels up, headed to Canton
We're boarding the plane and headed for Canton, MS. More when we get there.
10:57 a.m. CDT - NOLA; Visiting Cafe Reconcile
Just stopped at Cafe Reconcile, which provides jobs to at-risk youth living in NOLA. We met dozens of kids who are working there and getting training for careers in the food service industry.
Again, another great example of folks in the community taking the initiative, rolling up their sleeves and building something to improve the community they love. And the food is excellent!
10:32 a.m. CDT - NOLA; Thoughts about NOLA
Just wanted to post a thought that has been sticking with me as we've traveled around NOLA. Over and over we have heard stories of folks getting caught up in red tape. Much of the city looks exactly as it did immediately following Katrina. The level of frustration among the residents is incredible but the commitment to the community is amazing.
It is frustrating to see how hard people are working to rebuild the community they love, and how little, if any, support they are getting from the federal government.
10:12 a.m. CDT - NOLA; Visiting Kingsley House
We're at the Kingsley house, a community outreach center that provides help to thousands of NOLA residents. John met with a group of children kids enrolled in the Head Start program. Currently there are over 600 kids in NO on the head start waiting list. I could tell he was moved - those 600 kids need the services provided by that program, and they're not getting them.
7:44 a.m. CDT - NOLA; At the "Good Morning America" taping
I'm standing backstage at the GMA taping. It's going well - John is speaking with passion about why 37 million people living in poverty is a disgrace, and what we can do to fix it. Ms. Tyler, the woman who owns the house John helped rebuild in December, is here and it was good to see her again. Kwame Asanti, the president of the Louisiana NAACP is here too - it is always good to see him, and hear about the amazing work he and the NAACP are doing to help rebuild and get people's lives back on track.
4:58 a.m. CDT - NOLA; En route to shoot "Good Morning America" segment
It's 4:58, dark and early, and we are getting in the car to go shoot the "Good Morning America" segment. More after the coffee has kicked in.
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