How many of you saw this story come across the news, Facebook, other social media channels?
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone.. just remember that all of the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had."
I repeatedly think of this woman's story and in part, due to the tears screaming down her face. She wants a job. She needs a job. She wants stability. And as a single parent of young children she made a choice that will forever haunt her. She, unlike millions of Americans, struggle with childcare every day. You just happen to see her, because she was arrested. Her face, a mother's face after Whether a job interview or a job, many struggle with the reality of exorbitant childcare costs coupled with the alternative of either leaving kids in the car or in the undesirable care of an acquaintance.
During the UP3 groups using Philip DeVol's "Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin-By World," social capital is defined and differentiated between "bonding" social capital and "bridging" social capital. Bonding are those relationships that help you "get by." Those closest to you in your inner circle, not necessary healthy relationships, but those relationships that exist for survival. "Bridging" social capital are those relationships that help you "get ahead." UP3 investigators have described their lives as lonely, because they don't have supportive relationships to raise them above the daily monotony of problem solving to survive. Many of their "getting ahead" relationships are from those who are paid to be in their lives, such as caseworkers, therapists, doctors, and social service agencies. People living in poverty have no power. They have few resources and by definition become dependent, yet they are repeatedly criminalized for having lesser resources and limited opportunity.
Please step outside of your box and refrain from the involuntary knee-jerk reaction you may have initially had about this story and just for a minute, think about being homeless, having a job interview, and what you would do if faced with the same circumstances.
