Advocacy

Can We Afford Not to Move Forward on Public Transit?

We are often asked how can we afford a public transit system in our region. A better question might be: Can we afford not to move forward on Regional Public Transit? What are the costs that we incur for not providing this assistance for our residents?

• Do we want to make driving themselves the only viable or affordable choice for visually impaired or older adults who have limited or no other options?
• Do businesses and health care providers want to continually experience their commuting workers not being able to make it to work due to weather conditions, car problems, not being able to afford to fill up their cars with gas, or buy insurance?
• What happens when gasoline prices return to $3.00 or higher?
• Can our air quality and our quality of life withstand the impacts of a continued reliance upon an “autos only” strategy?
• Can we afford the increase in taxes and land consumed in building the roads for a population that will nearly triple between now and 2030?
• Can we afford to lose the inward investment from businesses that will choose other communities in which to settle because of the lack of essential services in the community?
• What do older adults or those with disabilities, students, workers, and low-income persons do to meet their needs in the absence of public transit?
• AND, do we want to ignore the fact that a major barrier for our neighbors who are trying to overcome unemployment and improve their lives and the lives of their families is the lack of public transportation.

The benefits of public transit are not limited to the riders. The benefits ripple out into the broader community. Clearly, we must have the money to pay for such a system, that’s true. But today our taxes are underwriting public transit in places like Flagstaff, Yuma, Cottonwood, Sedona, Kingman, and Safford. If we don’t develop public transit in Central Yavapai, it won’t be because we couldn’t find the money. It will be because we lacked the vision to see the real costs of living without it.

Click here to view the May 17, 2010 Status Report from NAIC on Public Transportation in Yavapai County.

Click here to download a copy of the earlier Transit Petition sent to the cities of Prescott and Prescott Valley, and Yavapai County.

The Need for Advocacy

The long-range Vision of the Coalition for Compassion & Justice (CCJ) - a community infrastructure that meets critical needs of those in poverty, and encourages and empowers people to self-sufficiency – cannot and will not be attainable without an active, informed and committed community advocating for social change.

The CCJ volunteer programs of Open Door and Home Repair are doing a remarkable job of trying to meet the needs of people struggling with poverty. Circles of Support volunteers reach out to individuals and families who are striving to move beyond welfare and become self-sufficient.

All three of these programs in addition to all of the community based nonprofits and government agencies are working non-stop, day after day trying to meet the ever-growing and sometime insurmountable needs of our neighbors. 

The name of our organization was thoughtful and very deliberate.  The Justice in the name was not just an afterthought.  Justice – social justice – is integral to moving toward systemic change in our communities.  It is the next step or other “foot” in the process of social change.

Visualize two footprints.  The one is Direct Service – helping people survive their present crisis or ongoing chronic problem.  The other is Social Change – working to remove the causes or barriers to those problems.  The Two Feet of Social Action is stepping out with Direct Service to meet immediate needs but you must take the next step to walk on both feet.

The “bootstrap” expectation that people dealing with poverty should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and move on is not a realistic expectation or a feasible one if they meet roadblocks or barriers at every turn in our community.  Some of these are a public accessible and affordable transit system to help people get to job training, daycare, work and affordable habitable housing with access to public transit.  Also essential is access to medical and behavior health care and insurance in order for our neighbors to move out of poverty and into a place where they are able to live their lives to the fullest.

The Advocacy Program of CCJ brings community members from the Prescott Quad-city Area to the table to study the infrastructure or systemic barriers in the area and look for solutions that will alleviate and eliminate those barriers. The committee currently is focusing its attention on housing issues.

What Does Advocacy Do?

In Fall 2007, the Advocacy Committee went to the Prescott Area Campus Coalition (PACC), a group of downtown voucher agencies, with the strong proposal for a women and children’s winter shelter.  A very successful Prescott Area Winter Shelter (PAWS) was the result of this critical advocacy proposal and community collaboration and support.

We are currently working together with The Affordable Housing and Homeless Coalition, CHOICES AZ, United Way of Yavapai County, Habitat for Humanity, Turning Point/Open Inn and community residents to find solutions for people to access information about affordable rentals and attainable workforce housing.

We work hand-in-hand with Northern Arizona Interfaith Council (NAIC) to empower citizens to be a united voice for social justice in our communities.  Leaning about the issues, working together, showing up and speaking out, voting – that is how we nurture democracy right here at home.

Advocates are the squeaky wheels of our world.  Advocates constantly say “why not” instead of “we’ve been trying to do that for years!”  Advocates know that social and systemic changes in our communities will happen only when we come together as one voice for Justice… a voice not only for compassion, but also a voice that seeks equity and equal chances for all people.

JOIN US! The Advocacy Committee meets on the first Tuesday of every month from 12:00 to 1:30 in The Upper Room at the Prescott United Methodist Church Administrative offices. Many of us bring our lunch.  Call Fritzi Mevis if you would like to learn more.

In 1999 the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) finally had enough proof – Chino Valley, Prescott and Prescott Valley, as well as adjacent county areas, were “mining” groundwater. That means more water was being taken out of our principal water source, the underground aquifer, than was being replaced by precipitation and effluent recharge.

Now we are beginning to see what ADWR was worried about. Springs and streams have reduced flow from previous decades and, even more worrisome, underground water tables are dropping. Some homeowners who have private wells have begun to notice their wells going dry. This is a particularly grievous problem for low income homeowners because deepening or drilling a new well can cost thousands of dollars, money that is typically not available to them. The CCJ Home Repair program has had a number of requests for assistance, but the costs are beyond Home Repair’s means also.

What can be done? This is a very thorny issue. At the heart of the problem is population growth. Since 1999 the population has continued to grow at a pace even faster than before. Prescott and Prescott Valley are working toward importing water from the Big Chino area north of Paulden. This effort, which is intended to help municipal water systems, will do very little for the homeowners on private wells while the numbers of wells into the aquifer increases unabated. Public policy decisions relating to limiting population growth and state law relating to water management may be the greatest controlling factors, and these are active issues on the political scene right now. Advocates can learn more through articles in the Daily Courier and through the Citizens Water Advocacy Group website, www.cwagaz.org.

Reprinted from the Spring 2006 edition of The Coalition Connection

CCJ © 2009


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