1 in 5 children in LA County live in poverty

This is a series of several blog posts I am writing regarding poverty.

There is no where better to start than right here where we live.

When we moved to Los Angeles in July of 2015 I took my time looking for a job and in August landed the perfect one. My past job in Denver was fundraising for an agency that serves youth experiencing homelessness and this new one is fundraising for an agency that serves neglected and abused children in the LA County foster care system.

I immediately jumped into learning about the children my new agency serves and the numbers are stark. One word that came up right away was the word poverty.

1 in 5 children in LA County live in poverty. This number blows my mind. No matter what type of activism you are involved with, this crazy poverty rate affects you. From hunger to homelessness to violence to liberation and economic inequality, it's even more difficult to find even a small success when poverty, and in many cases extreme poverty, is part of the problem.

Welcome to this journey into exploring poverty. I'd be thrilled if you joined me.  What is the child/poverty rate where you live? What does poverty look like within your activism? How does poverty affect how we engage around veganism, liberation, animal rights and politics?

Thank you for reading. And thank you for all you do to make the world a better place for all living beings.

One in five children

This is one of those posts that will typically not get a lot of reads. When I write about topics like poverty, hunger or HIV/AIDS, many tend to skip the post.

I will keep this post short.

The federal government released poverty numbers this past week.

One in five children in California live in poverty.

One is six children in the US live in poverty.

No matter why you read my blog or why you connect with me personally or with The Gay Vegans, I ask you to please consider these numbers.

So much wealth. So much privilege. Yet so many live in poverty.

As activists, we can take action. We can also build bridges with activist communities whose main mission is not ours, and become stronger. We can find connections with our work to poverty, to hunger and to class. In the Los Angeles area, where we live, it is not difficult to see hard-core class distinction.

If you would like more information on poverty in the US, please click here.

Thank you for reading.

The JeffCo School Board fiasco - Part I

Evergreen High School students protesting the JeffCo School Board.

If you are connected with my blog on social media at all, you might already know about what is happening with our local school district. We live in Lakewood, which is part of Jefferson County, Colorado. Since last week thousands of students from high schools throughout the county have walked out of class to protest, mainly, a school board member's proposed curriculum committee that would start out by making changes to AP History.

There is no way I can give this story justice with just one post. This will be a series. My first! Seriously, this issue is of huge importance to me and as I have closely followed this I have learned  a lot that I want to share with all of you.

To give you a little background, there are five school board members and last November three new "reformist" board members were voted in. They have a majority and have used that to promote their seemingly right-wing agenda. Now there are those who say that the previous board majority did the same with a left-wing agenda, yet somehow our school district became one of the top in the country.

With each side trading barbs, this is one thing I believe everyone can agree with: That JeffCo Public Schools has a reputation throughout the country as being one of the best school districts nationally.

We are also one of the largest, 85,542 students. And unlike some school districts in Colorado that are very wealthy, ours is a for sure mixture of class, ethnicity and race. We have a very high percentage of students, 34%, who qualify for free or reduced lunch yet we also have many students who come from upper middle class and up families. About 10% of K-12 students in Colorado attended a JeffCo school.

99.86% of our teachers are considered "highly qualified" according to federal standards.

We have the third best graduation rate of the nation's 50 largest school districts.

NOTE: A lot of this information comes from last year's annual report, done before this new "reformist" majority won the election.

Jefferson County is a purple county, with one third each of Democrats, Independents and Republicans.

In January our new school board majority took over and it didn't take long to notice changes.

But before I start with all of that, I want to plug voting. And voting in local elections. And paying attention to your local school board.

This is vital. Otherwise, your local school board could look like ours, if it already doesn't. As I write about what is going on in Jefferson County, please take this to heart. Please vote. Please speak out. I totally believe that if more folks voted in the school board election last year that these "reformists" would have had no chance of winning.

Once in power, the "reformist" majority quickly hired a lawyer. The board already has a lawyer yet these three wanted their own at $80,000 a year paid by the school district.

Then they decided to give $300,000 to a charter school and in the same meeting decided that they should not fund full-day kindergarten.

Charter schools are an issue. And $300,000 is a lot of money. I have read that there are some amazing charter schools, yet I first and foremost believe in support our public schools. I do not believe that all charter schools are as supportive of all students as public schools are. AN example would be me getting calls from teachers and students at two JeffCo schools that were having a tough time from those in power when wanting to create a Gay-Straight Alliance.

So I seriously should either leave the charter school debate to those most qualified or at least wait until I learn more before I write about them.

I think now is a good time to break. While I write my Part II, here is an article from today's Denver Post that will bring you more information on what is happening: student walk outs.

Thank you for reading. I would be delighted if you shared this post with friends.

The young and homeless

As you may know, my day job is as a fundraiser for an organization that serves young people experiencing homelessness in the Denver area. No matter where you live, there is a homeless population.

As a vegan, I have compassion for all living beings and my biggest passion is to make the world a better place for all living beings. This includes humans.

On a daily basis I get to see up close and personal the brutality of homelessness. The brutal reality of a life that does not include a lot of hope for hundreds of young people who call the streets of Denver home every day. Nationally the number is 1.7 million.

In my life I see a lot of privilege. I can spend $6.00 on vegan breakfast sandwiches without even thinking about it. A daily stop for coffee on my way to work. The newest vegan junk food.

And I always remember those who have nothing.

Homelessness is an epidemic. One that doesn't seem even close to coming to an end. In regards to young people being homeless, I just see the problem getting bigger and bigger.

Sexual abuse, physical abuse, young people coming out as LGBTQ, drug and alcohol abuse on the part of the parent or guardian, trauma in a hundred different forms, mental illness in the home, and of course plain poverty. All of these are reasons why young people become homeless.

Where am I going with this? Why does this matter to The Gay Vegans?

I want to end all suffering. I know when people, especially those who read this blog, get information they knew nothing about, they take action.

Nationally, of the 1.7 million homeless youth right now, 40% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.

40%.

As I do when I see animal cruelty, many times I see the brutal reality of youth homelessness and wonder what the heck is wrong with our world.

Most of us live in privilege. Let's not forget those who don't.

Thank you very much for reading!

We all have more in common than not

One of the things I try to promote with The Gay Vegans blog is that in my opinion, we all have mroe in common than not.

What I really mean with this statement is that I might disagree with you on one point, and another, and another. Yet it in the big picture of life, what we do not agree on or what we do not have in common is pretty small compared to everything that we agree on or have in common.

Why does this matter?

I usually start with 9 billion.

That is the number I use that represents the amount of animals being killed for food in the US alone in one year. It does not include animals in labs, in circuses, in "fashion". I also don't think it includes living beings killed in our oceans or jailed in places like Sea World.

It's a big number. Each living being being forced to live in fear, live with torture and pain and cruelty.

I am vegan because I want to do the least amount of harm as possible during my time on earth.

So with the statement about what we have in common, I also mean that in order to be a voice and to make change, we need to set differences aside and focus on the 9 billion.

Or on HIV/AIDS.

Or on poverty, marriage equality, homelessness, fill in the blank.

Why spend one ounce of energy focusing on a difference, on a disagreement, when we know that energy takes away from us being a voice for the voiceless or making the world a better place for all living beings.

It's not easy. In fact, it can be outright difficult. But it can be done. It has to be done.

Thanks for reading!

Our dog and cat food drive

We are almost finished with our first week of our two week dog and cat food drive in support of Animal Haus, a Denver charity that gives away food to folks who are having financial difficulties so that they have a better chance of keeping their companion animal.

I have been blown away by y'alls response! I am super grateful to all of you who have dropped of food at one of our location or who have made a donation to Animal Haus on their website.

You can still support us as we move into week two.

If you live in Denver, you can drop off dog and cat food at:

Urban Peak, 730 21st Street, Denver Monday - Friday from 8am - 5pm.

Planet Pet, 4338 Tennyson Street, Denver Monday - Friday from 10am - 7pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 4pm.

You can purchase vegan dog and cat food at Nooch Vegan Market, 3360 Larimer Street, any day from 11am - 6pm.

Our Facebook event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/534208730001834/

You can make an online donation here: http://animalhaus.org/

Remember, any amount of a donation will make a difference in an animals life!

Thank you! Please help us to continue to rock it for those experiencing tougher times and for the companion animals they adore.

Thanks for reading!