Gloria Hobson Nordin Social Equity Award Luncheon Keynote Address
by Malcom J. Costa, President/CEO, Akron Community Summit Action, Inc.
March 30, 2004
My thanks to the American Society for Public Administration for career recognition. In recognizing my work, ASPA acknowledges the work of thousands of community action professionals over the past 40 years and the University of Akron, Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies.
My wife Crystal sends her best and regrets that she could not be here. My daughter, Cryshanna Jackson likewise wanted to be with her doctoral mentor, Dr. Jade Berry. I am accepting the Gloria Hobson Nordin Social Equity Award on behalf of my community in Akron, Ohio as well as family.
Gloria Hobson Nordin has blazed a trail for us demonstrating courage, sacrifice and commitment. Thank you for recognizing Gloria Hobson Nordin’s work in naming this award for her.
Please allow me to share some of the background which has led me to this point in life, review the milieu within which I have lived, and mention my hope for a future where each American has an opportunity to contribute.
There have been so many people helping. A backdrop to this subject is the Great Society Program and its “War On Poverty” whose 40th anniversary we mark in 2004. Preparing to come to Portland has been a humbling experience, deciding what to say in my remarks.
I am the oldest of seven, born to an English immigrant mother who was orphaned at age 3 and a depression-era father whose life was shaped by the pain of 1930's poverty and discrimination.
My father was a WW II veteran and blue collar worker (@ Goodyear) who often worked 3 or 4 jobs to take care of his family. My mother, a registered nurse, came to Akron from Canada where she served as a missionary.
Born and raised in Akron, I attended public schools. We also were members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church known as the affluent Firestone church. AS the only family of color belonging to the church, I was sheltered until the civil rights movement. Over the next few years, my world dramatically changed as I learned Black history and got involved in the civil rights struggle.
My involvement with community action began after college at the University of Akron. I was raising a family working at the IBM Corporation and volunteering as a high school debate coach and judge. At a competition, I met the head of a community action program for a rural community experiencing dire poverty among African Americans. Upon learning of the effort to establish sanitary facilities, public safety, housing and jobs, I volunteered for the program. A short time later, my interest in changing careers let me to social work and community organization.
Over the next 5 years, my community activism expanded to educational opportunity programs and broadcasting advocacy. (Much of my work volunteer)
In the late 70's, I took on the responsibility for running a community action agency, eager to lead social change. During the years, my work has been in politics, community organizations, race relations, and advocacy. This career has been challenging due to non-profit management complications, technology, and changing poverty conditions. (Bank One, Akron City Club).
President Lyndon Baines Johnson launched his legislative program called the Great Society Program in 1964, inspiring hope and compassion in America. The effort to gain civil rights and equality corresponded with the Great Society quest. The Great Society Program expanded new deal policies. Some of the sweeping Great Society legislation passed dealt with the environment (clean air, water pollution), elementary and secondary school aid and higher education, national endowment for the arts and humanities, child protection; child nutrition and the national school lunch program; civil rights and voting rights’ wilderness, federal highway and urban mass transit; food stamps; older Americans and social security amendments; national housing and urban development, etc., etc.
President Johnson also announced during the 1964 State of the Union that....”This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional War on Poverty in America.
On August 20, 1964, President Johnson signed into law the Economic Opportunity Act (of 1964) setting in motion a war on poverty, the cornerstone of which became the doctrine of “maximum feasible participation” bring the poor themselves into decision-making. With 1,000 communities Johnson also promised to devote 10% of G.D.P. to this war until poverty was eliminated. Although Vietnam siphoned of resources to make good on Economic Opportunity Act commitments, poverty declined from 22% to 12.5% between 1963-70. (24 million Americans leaving official poverty).
In reality, the War on Poverty was at its zenith only a few years due to the war and the election of the more conservative Nixon Administration in 1968 (dismantling). During many periods since 70's the War on Poverty has been a Ware on the poor. Anti-poverty workers are also treated with suspicion and distrust. Accountability for programs is greater and government regulations are stiffer. But the struggle continues!
The War on Poverty took on the two most difficult issues facing American Society - class and race. This program addresses urban and rural issues, Appalachian problems, Indian reservations, Latino issues without regard to race and culture. The War on Poverty took shape and form within each community where its programs developed.
The Ware on Poverty initiated a comprehensive strategy focusing on the underlying causes of poverty (Head Start and Early Childhood Development, housing, employment and vocational training, Job Corps, community health care, Model Cities, with a network of community action programs. The War on Poverty also facilities change to allow African Americans and other minorities entry into the mainstream. An over-whelming majority of black elected officials got their start in community action programs, as did thousands of blacks and other minorities find careers. Opportunities unimaginable only a few years earlier were open to men and women of color for the first time. Opportunities in social work, education, administration, and office work were created all across America.
In Akron, blacks protested for jobs as telephone operators and department store clerks took place in early sixties. Anti-poverty programs intertwined with civil rights activism. Community action programs became a training ground for the protest movement as well as channels for organizing grass roots frustration into political action in places such as Detroit, Newark, Watts, and other large cities.
Over the past 40 years, the War on Poverty has experienced challenges, many fights for survival (after each election) and morphed into a myriad of other programs as changes in social policies and community needs have shifted. Many battles lie ahead beyond the horizon.
The future calls for courage, sacrifice, and commitment, those ideals ASPA recognized in Gloria Hobson Nordin. Thank you ASPA for your steady faith and unswerving dedication to the field of Public Administration and for the recognition.
I would like to thank the Board of Directors of Akron Summit Community Action for their trust and support for 27 years and allowing me to participate in this program. There are many in my community to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. Thanks Dr. Berry for all your work on behalf of students.
