How bad must it be before we all engage?

Sunday night, a good friend whose family has lived in DC - and in poverty - for generations called me to say that he needs to get his family out of DC now. The following Monday, a former DC teacher called me to say she had left teaching and was trying to figure out how to help the kids more effectively - because kids were not even coming to school anymore. Classrooms that started with more than 20 kids now have six children showing up for class.

These are tough people who called, so I wondered, how bad must it be for these kids and these families?

Here are a few answers to that question:

In Washington, DC, there are approximately 85,000 people living in Ward 3 and 85,000 people living in Ward 8. Last year there were two victims of homicide in Ward 3. while there were 71 victims of homicide in Ward 8.

That’s 3,550% more. Dead, not just injured…dead.

The number of people who were shot was notably higher in Ward 8 than in other areas of Greater Washington, where poverty is less prevalent. This disparity was significant, even in neighboring counties with a population ten times larger, where violence was far lower than that experienced by families and children living in economically unstable neighborhoods.

How many of those 71 human beings murdered in 2022 do you think were born into poverty and knew only poverty? While it's hard to know exactly, "exactly" is not the point.

And this is not new. What is new is our approach to poverty eradication.

I know we are all busy, and who needs another time obligation... but the thing is, your neighbors are dying at unbelievably disproportionate rates because of their economic instability.

And it's only because we are not doing enough to help. If you engage, poverty goes down. That's the formula we are betting on. It is why we are hosting The Greater Washington Poverty Forum.

At one DC high school, 100% of the students qualify for free lunch, and less than 5% read at grade level. In addition, less than 5% can do math at grade level. What are the statistics like at your kids' school?

Recent data shows that less than 65% graduate from this school, but teachers will tell you that the number of kids even coming to school is much less than that.

We are tolerating this year after year in Greater Washington. There is no leadership and no humanity in that.

It's a worsening crisis but a solvable crisis.

People in poverty don't need your money. They need you...to care enough, to engage, to commit instead of contributing. They need you to help remove the obstacles they face to employment. They need you to ensure that we do everything possible to ensure their safety.

School attendance is not a school administration problem. It is a community problem. Neighborhood violence is a crisis of community and opportunity more than anything else.

This is about removing obstacles, ensuring opportunities, and making a commitment to one another.

How bad must it be before we all do that? Start at the forum. Stop when we solve this.