Jane and I are still making contacts and collecting information about Immokalee. Jane is leading one mother's & children's family literacy class at Immokalee Non-Profit Housing (INPH) with the help of the talented Miss Sylvia; today I'll be following up with Habitat for Humanity about some of their residents joining us at INPH.
Meanwhile, as I said, we're trying to meet every player out there, and join the discussion on plans to rid Immokalee of poverty in the next 12 years. Here are some of the ideas we've been working on:
Attract more businesses to the trade zone at the airport. Help the airport become all that it can be in terms of flights and trade.
Attract higher-paying skilled-labor types of industries to the area. Immokalee has a sizable and trainable workforce. The problem with the Florida economy in general, though, is that the types of industry we have here are (a) limited in number and (b) much lower-paying than in the northeast and west coast. People in Immokalee don't just need jobs, they need jobs that pay well.
Back to the trade zone: there's a great incubator set up there with $1 per-foot rent, for instance, but it's underutilized. People don't just need jobs; we also have to encourage entrepreneurialism. Owning a business or being a partner in an enterprise means that we benefit more fully from our own labor. I'd rather see two hundred companies of five people each than ten companies with 100 employees each. Few people achieve wealth as employees.
Redefine expectations. Jane and I are passionate about not just making people less poor, but helping them strive for wealth. Why not? There is no reason that the children of Immokalee can't amass fortunes, if they choose, just as we'd expect the kids of Naples to. We have to change the entire conversation.
English and literacy are huge components of that effort. You can't get ahead in this country until you speak the language. We are going to make sure that every person in Immokalee has the same access to ESL and literacy education as the rest of us.
Toward that end, we are working to secure $900,000 to purchase 9,000 laptop computers, one for each child in the Immokalee school system. Yes, you read right: those computers will only cost $100 each. Right now Intel and MIT are test-driving competing versions of these remarkable laptops. I've blogged on this before; 60 Minutes ran a terrific profile on the One Laptop Per Child Innitiative less than a month ago.
Right now there's a 50% dropout rate at Immokalee High. We're going to work closely with the schools and social organizations to bring that to 0%. I've blogged on this before. There is no reason to accept failure.
I have made a number of extremely wealthy friends in my life - decamillionaires, centamillionaires; even a few billionaires. Some of those have agreed to speak to groups of high school kids around town, and to be featured in a high school textbook I am writing, in order to show at-risk kids the way to wealth. The people featured will be completely self-made, from poor or middle class backgrounds, and they will be active donors and volunteers.
Right now, poor workers are wasting their money on substandard housing. We will work with other groups to bring that to an end. We want affordable and humane housing for every resident of Immokalee, both year-round and migrant.
There is still slavery in Immokalee. No joke. In 2007. Just recently, the UN sent a human rights task force down here for three weeks. This slavery will end, well before 2020.
Gangs will be driven from the community.
Poor people deserve microcredit. If you haven't read Muhammad Yunnis' "Banker to the Poor," you need to. Right away. You're not an anti-poverty activist until you are familiar with his work - it's that important.
As I said, these are only a few of the ideas that we are promoting. Immokalee 2020 is going to be a massive effort, with people and groups contributing their time, effort, and treasure in many ways. We hope you join us.
No comments:
Post a Comment