It is fitting that Monday's announcement of Pope Francis' pending visit to Philadelphia fell on the same day as a citywide summit on poverty.
The pope has been vocal and consistent in his concern for the world's poor. His focus has come at a very apt time: As the gap between rich and poor grows wider, at the same time compassion for those less fortunate seems to have diminished.
Although the occasion of the pope's visit is the World Meeting of Families to be held here, if he wishes the pontiff will have plenty of poor people to visit while he's here.
Mayor Michael Nutter himself pointed out the timeliness of the announcement Monday during the poverty summit at Community College of Philadelphia, designed not only to bring organizations together but to provide the first status update of the work of the city's poverty office, the Mayor's Office of Community Empowerment.
Last year's establishment of the office, and its signature program, called Shared Prosperity, was a milestone, but poverty in the city remains a persistent and pervasive problem. The city's poverty rate stands at 26.3 percent ― a 2 percent decline from 2011 ― and among the 10 biggest cities in the country, we hold the unfortunate lead in those living in deep poverty.
The problem is complex ― and that itself is a problem. By definition, political attention spans can be short, and government responses can be fragmented and ill-defined. One of the values of the city's Shared Prosperity plan has been to establish better networks among the many programs and organizations who deal with the problem. But the goal of "building better networks" can be squishy and hard to measure.
The office has also detailed some harder statistics on the progress that's been made. For example, the city has been favored with federal grants to help develop neighborhoods ― one for $30 million and one for $500,000, as well as a federal "Promise Zone" designation that comes with preferences for grants. Six Bene-Philly centers have helped more people get access to public benefits. In addition, more ground-level accomplishments include helping Philadelphians reduce debt and save more, and helping taxpayers fill out tax returns and get their share of $7.5 million in earned income tax credits.
Perhaps one of the biggest values of the progress report (find it at sharedprosperityphila.org) is a three-page chart of goals and progress made on each. This not only can provide an ongoing tracking of progress, but also helps document, maybe for the first time, the many complex interwoven pieces of the poverty issue.
But to focus solely on statistics would be doing a disservice to the city and all the people who work in the field. The newly elected pope refreshingly reminded the world, almost as soon as he ascended to the Vatican, about the importance of compassion.
A year ago, Pope Francis said: "The times talk to us of so much poverty in the world, and this is a scandal. Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry."
The city has an advantage in the many people who care about our struggling fellow citizens and who are attempting to answer this cry.
This article was published and distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.