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We’re fortunate to have the Ad Councils generous nationwide support for our Live United campaign, so you might start seeing some of these billboards popping up around town. Many thanks to the Ad Council and Reagan Outdoor for their generous support!

Okay, now I’m tired. so we started this 24 hours ago (well, just the blogging part) with the hope to increase awareness about poverty, outline some of the ways United Way is trying to fight it and share with you some other Central Texans perspectives and real world local successes. We hope that 24 hours later you are just a little bit more informed about what poverty is, how easy it is for anyone to drop into poverty, what some of the keys are to escaping and also that you are inspired to do something about alleviating poverty and financial hardship in our community. We urge you to get involved, whether it’s by Giving (always takes money, but the payoff both personally and as a community is huge) Advocating, find your voice, speak out, use it Volunteering, mentoring a student to help reduce the drop out rate or sign up for one of our Hands On Central Texas projects! That’s me after being up for 42 hours straight & blogging for 24 hours! Thanks for reading, listening, watching and supporting us through this crazy day.Be a part of the change. Live United! Now, I’m off to bed…finally! Si Se Puede!Mando

The last part of the series. All skills, all talent!

The kids talk about what they want to do to to end poverty. Check out their discussion…

Young members of the Cipher, Austin’s Hip Hop Project share their experiences with poverty & living in the Eastside. These kids are talented, smart and I wanted to share some of the experiences with you.

My wife, Ixchel is my green educator. She finds real ways to connect environmental issues to issues we work on such as poverty. Enclosed is her post for Blog Action Day…. Poverty & the New Green EconomyI’m participating today because I became aware of poverty after moving to the east side of Austin, TX. I come from a third world country – I thought I knew a lot about poverty. One thing I didn’t know is how pervasive it is in these United States. And how easy it is to ignore. One of the best proposals I’ve currently come across outlines potential solutions to several of the problems our global society is facing – namely social inequity and environmental degredation. Some solutions come from Van Jones and his recent book, The Green Collar Economy; How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems The idea is to train people in the emerging green market which includes; weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, training hybrid electric technicians, etc. Bringing jobs to sectors of our economy that have been left behind in the move to protect our environment.Continue Reading…

I live in the Eastside. I see the predatory advertisements every time I walk or drive in my neighborhood. I have the luxury of choices. I can choose to bank at a regular bank or credit union, I can choose to bypass the fastfood restaurants, I can choose to ignore the glaring billboards that send wrong messages to kids and families. People living in poverty don’t have these luxuries. They don’t have the options to spend a little more for fresh foods; They have to pick between a meal that costs $3.00 at a fast food chain or $6.00 at a grocery store. When parents need to feed their children and they want to make sure they have enough to make it through the week. These are tough choices and no family should be put in these types of situation. It is sad that we tolerate these types of conditions for families in Austin. As I was coming home, I took pictures of these types of predatory advertisements. It’s real and they are plaguing the East Austin. See pics… Church’s on East 7th Street Predatory Income Tax Center on East 7th Street Pay Day Loans Billboard on East 7th Street Predatory Check Cashing Center on East 7th Street

John, our marketing director just told me that we hit #11 on YouTube under the Nonprofit & Activism section! That’s friggin’ great! It means we’re doing our job. We’re getting more people to open their eyes and start the discussion. Let’s keep it going! Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/unitedwaycapitalarea Tell your friends! Mando

I just gotta say that 211 Texas, our information & referral call center does the job. It’s the one place where people can call for help on social services from getting people connected to tax refunds (EITC), to help with basic needs like rent or food to help during a disaster (anyone remember Hurricane Ike?). Here’s a little more about them… L2R: Mandy Montague, Associate HelpLine Manager, Kay Euresti-Garza, 211 Director, Christina Pina, Helpline Manager 2-1-1 Texas is a private/public partnership between United Way Capital Area and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Its job is to connect anyone in need to the most appropriate sources of help and information. That means anywhere in Texas, anyone can call 2-1-1 for free information and referrals to health and human service agencies, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, disaster relief resources, and volunteer opportunities. The 2-1-1 helpline in Central Texas maintains a comprehensive community resource database of services providing assistance with health care, employment, educational, legal, housing, counseling, and transportation needs, and much more.2-1-1 is… Free and confidential Available 24/7 Accessible by TTY/TDD Multilingual Accessible from cell phones October of 2007 marked the fifth year of 2-1-1 in the South Central Texas region. The first 2-1-1 call in Texas came in 2002, and since then, more than 580,000 calls have been answered.As 2-1-1 is in the frontlines of helping people, I took a look at the number of calls they have received asking for help with things like food, paying utility bills, medical […]