Campaign Lobby Day & Rally For The Common Good

On Wednesday, May 6th, over 100 individuals from across the state, including 30 from Heartland Alliance programs, came together in Springfield to push our elected officials to support the From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign's legislative agenda as part of The Rally For The Common Good, a collaborative event with service providers and advocates from around the state including Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Illinois Coalition for Community Services, Hesed House, Hope House, The YWCA, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Project IRENE, and the Supportive Housing Providers Association. Participants met with well over 20 different legislators during the day, many showing strong support for the Campaign's agenda.

In a word, it was spectacular.

Photography by Erin Klee http://www.erinklee.com/

Rally participants spoke to their legislators about the things that are important to them, how affordable housing, Food Stamps, child care, health care, and the Earned Income Tax Credit affects their lives, what has helped and what has stood in the way of accessing opportunities to get out of poverty, and how different pieces of legislation in the legislature will affect their lives, for good or bad.

Rally participants also took on the daunting task of talking to legislators about proposed budget cuts to important social supports, pointing out that balancing the budget by reducing the services that the state provides to those Illinoisans in the greatest need of support and assistance is irresponsible and only going to reinforce peoples’ poverty as well as their alienation from and resentment toward the government.

There are two key things that happened in the course of this event:
1. Legislators heard what was important to the people who will be most affected by safety net legislation. Legislators got to hear what was important, why it was important, and what it meant on a very real, very personal level.
2. The people who will be most affected by safety net legislation were heard by their legislators. This may seem like a simple point, a switching to the passive voice, but it was tremendously important to some of the people at the rally.

One man told me, “I remember coming here once when I was a kid and thinking that it was so big and busy and impressive, and it still is, but… I don’t know… I never thought of, you know, me walking into a senator’s office. Me! Talking to a Senator! Telling her what I thought and she listened!”

Another spoke about seeing “all these important people walking around all busy and doing important sh**… and I just saw my representative coming out of the men’s room. This is incredible!”

People were thankful for and inspired by the experience. And by people, I mean both Rally participants and legislators.

“I got a little scared, that first time talking to a senator’s secretary. My voice started, you know, stuttering and I got a little lost in my head. But I got through it. I said what I wanted to say. I asked her to pass the senator my thanks for supporting us and the bills that are going to help us and handed her some information. The next person I talked to was easier and it was just like that: Easier and easier. I’m loving this.”

photography by Erin Klee http://www.erinklee.com/

More Rally For The Common Good photos by Erin Klee and video and photos by Heartland Alliance will soon be available on the From Poverty To Opportunity Campaign website (www.heartlandalliance.org/poverty) Check back soon to see more of the event.