On February 3rd the club welcomed Larry James, a former member and the director of City Square. The focus of City Square is helping marginalized people . To address poverty he suggested that the country needs a new Marshall Plan, a large scale infusion into a devastated  Europe at the end of World War II. He also emphasized that in most cases those who live in poverty are just like the more prosperous strata of society but lacking in privilege and opportunity.
To get a sense of poverty in Dallas County he cited the fact that DISD provides free breakfasts and lunches to its students as do other Dallas County schools do for a majority of their students. Covid 19 has exposed the disparity in health care along with unemployment which has tripled the number of families seeking food assistance-40% of whom are first timers.
 
But private charity is not enough to end systemic poverty. bearing in mind the example of the Marshall Plan James urges that we must think BIG. Among the steps he suggests an increase in the minimum wage,an increase in the earned income credit and the child care deduction. Texas can increase WICK and SNAP benefits and expand Medicare. Finally changes to the criminal justice system and an overhaul of immigration law and policies will impact poverty in a positive way. The real question remains as to whether there is the political will to act.
 
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