Merging Knowledge In Preparation for October 17th

By: Lyden MarcellotOn September 27, 2013, ATD Fourth World and the Center for Social Policy at the McCormack School of Public Policy and Global Studies, hosted a Merging Knowledge Forum at the University of Massachusetts Boston. With the theme of “Working Together for a World Without Discrimination,” this event was designed to bring diverse voices and viewpoints around common tables with a focus on discrimination faced by those in poverty, as well as pathways out of such exclusion.

By facilitating group discussions across social class, the Merging Knowledge process recognizes and attempts to resolve the fact that people living with poverty are rarely at the table when the policies that affect them are designed and evaluated. As a result, many social policies end up doing more harm than good. This particular event’s purpose was to craft a grass-roots message on discrimination and poverty that a delegation of CSP Constituent Advisors will deliver to the United Nations on October 17—the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Participants to the Forum included: students from UMass Boston’s Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement and the Transitions Program; a group of people who have had direct experiences with poverty, including CSP’s Constituent Advisors; and area professionals, including members of UMass Boston’s own Emerging Leaders program.  These 77 people comprised key groups with a passion for solving social justice issues in their community.The topic of the day was the state's policy on the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, a debit card linked to public assistance recipients’ funds. The current policies prevent recipients from purchasing alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets; the newly proposed measures go much further. These changes followed hot on the heels of the state and national discussions on the potential of abuse or fraud with these and other safety-net programs.In their facilitated discussions, Forum attendees focused on the recently passed EBT photo identification requirement.  Some participants remarked on the shame, stigma, and humiliation already associated with accessing these programs and the feeling of disempowerment that such measures and restrictions create; others voiced the value and importance of such controls to minimize fraud.   Due in large part to the attentive mutual listening that took place, considerable consensus was built on a range of improvements to our current state EBT and other social policies.The Forum created a foundation for participatory approaches across social classes and sectors, becoming a pillar of social policy-planning and evaluation. CSP plans to keep this important conversation going and hopes to be able to share the what has been learned with state legislators within the next 12 months.