The Politics of Comunity Change: Creating Social and Economic Opportunities in Poor Communities

Moderator

Hubie Jones, Global Citizens Circle board of directors; Dean Emeritus, Boston University School of Social Work; Entrepreneurial Justice in Residence, City Year Boston

Hubie Jones’ mission of building a strong and socially vibrant community has been a forty-year endeavor. His powerful vision has consistently focused on improving race relations by embracing diversity and increasing the level of understanding among individuals who live within the same city limits. Hubie Jones’ history with Global Citizens Circle goes back to the 70s. He is a valuable member of the Global Citizens Circle board of directors and has participated in many programs, as well as Global Citizens Circle’s delegation to Cuba two years ago.

Although Hubie Jones retired last year from UMass Boston as special assistant to the chancellor for urban affairs, he is far from slipping into a life of leisure. Hubie continues to foster a culture of collaboration throughout the city of Boston, as well as in each of the organizations he has led.Hubie Jones has been a valued source of guidance in creating the nationally recognized program City Year, as well as City to City, which takes Boston leaders to other U.S. cities and abroad to learn how their leaders can work together to make things happen. He played a major role in starting the Columbia Point Community Partnership, making the community more than a business park, but a dynamic, cohesive place where people can connect. Believing that the arts have the greatest potential to bridge races and classes in Boston, Hubie strives to link the arts and business communities. As an integral part of the dedication of the Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in October of last year, Hubie Jones led in creating the Boston Bridge Festival Chorus and is now establishing the Boston Children’s Chorus as a new arts organization.

We look forward to the book Hubie Jones is currently writing on the political and social history of Boston. As an educator, organizer and community activist, this father of eight has positively influenced the lives of his fellow neighbors and citizens. He strives to bring people together, and it is indeed fitting to have him as moderator for this evening’s program.

Discussion Leaders

Cynthia 'Mil' Duncan, Director, Community and Resource Development, Asset Building and Community Development, The Ford Foundation

Cynthia 'Mil' Duncan has dedicated her career to researching rural poverty in America supporting her belief that a strong civic culture, a sense among citizens of community and the need to serve that community, can truly address poverty. Cynthia ‘Mil’ Duncan joined the Ford Foundation in July 2000 as director of community and resource development. Prior to this appointment, she was professor and chair of the Sociology Department at the University of New Hampshire, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in poverty and inequality, political sociology and social change.

Before joining UNH’s faculty in 1989, Dr. Duncan was associate director and co-founder of the Aspen Institute’s Rural Economic Policy program, and prior to that she was research director at the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development in Kentucky. Dr. Duncan is the author of Rural Poverty in America, an edited collection on rural poverty, and Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America, a moving and troubling account of an intensive five-year study of the lives of residents in isolated corners of Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and Northern New England. We are privileged to have Cynthia ‘Mil’ Duncan with us this evening as we examine how, in this land of plenty, so many can have so little. Her powerful insights into the dynamics of poverty, politics, and social change raise our awareness of the need for a greater sense of social responsibility to break the cycle of poverty.

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Michael Swack, Director, School of Community Economic Development, Southern New Hampshire University

Michael Swack has been a member of Global Citizens Circle for many years. He is the founder and director of the School of Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University where students from all over the world acquire skills to change their communities and the world. With over 20 years of experience in the field of development financing and development banking, Dr. Swack is considered a pioneer in the field of community development lending and investment. Also a professor at Southern New Hampshire University, Dr. Swack teaches courses in finance, economic development and negotiations. In a recent interview with NPR “The Front Porch,” Dr. Swack credits his students: “I am constantly inspired by our students. The circumstances they come from, often places of poverty—whether it be Native American Reservations, developing countries, inner cities—they come with incredible hope and spirit, and are absolutely committed to their work. As any teacher will tell you, this is what makes it worthwhile.”

A founding member of five community development financial institutions, Dr. Swack is currently developing a Financial Innovations Roundtable that will extend innovation to the financial institutions and instruments needed for community development across the United States. We are most pleased to have Dr. Swack as discussion leader this evening. His vision of bridging the gap between rich and poor by providing students with the skills to improve economic inequalities in their own societies serves to inspire us to find tangible and creative ways to make a difference in our communities.

School of Community Economic Development

The School of Community Economic Development (CED) is an internationally recognized school that has been involved in education, public policy, research and institution building since 1982. As the first and only school in the country to award a master’s and a doctoral degree in community economic development, it is a respected leader in the field. The School’s mission is to provide education and training to a diverse group of community economic development (CED) practitioners, policy makers, community leaders and change agents, and equip them with the knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to have the greatest impact in improving the economic and social well-being of their communities. Through students and alumni the School builds better practices and policies that serve low-income and marginalized communities.