Tonight’s “This is This” conversation will be about local poverty. Mark Yardas, one of the discussion group’s founders, has arranged for several speakers to come and address the presence of poverty within the Idyllwild community. The evening is called “Local Poverty Summit.”
Karen Patterson, executive director of the Idyllwild HELP Center, will likely be the moderator, according to Yardas. She has helped arrange for several other speakers including Captain Tony Poe, head of the Hemet Salvation Army, and Jim Lineberger, executive director of the Community Pantry in Hemet.
Also on the agenda will be Carlos Navarro, director of state and federal categorical programs and compliance for Hemet Unified School District.
The panel and subsequent discussion will touch on issues such as:
- What are the roots of local poverty, and what can we do as a community to address this issue that will affect one in every two Americans by the age of 65?
- Is poverty a failure of character or a failure of our economic and political systems, or all the above?
- What strategies and programs have been most successful in addressing the problem of poverty?
- How are young people on the Hill affected? Does the issue of poverty have anything to do with the recent spate of break-ins?
- What responsibilities (if any) do those of us living above the poverty line have toward those less fortunate?
Yardas stressed that the focus will be on what the local community can do about this issue.
The session begins at 7 p.m. at the Caine Learning Center, a new location for the conversation.