›› UPFRONT
Marin’s self-sufficiency gap To help our homeless—it may take a Village... by Peter Seidman
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t’s getting harder to make ends meet in Marin. And as more lower-income families edge closer to falling off a self-sufficiency cliff, funding for assistance programs exists in its own precarious world of government cutbacks. According to the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, in 2009 about one-quarter of Marin families could not meet the center’s self-sufficiency standard. The center currently is compiling the latest data for 2011. “Given that it’s much more expensive to live now,” says Jenny Chung Mejia, a program director at the Oakland-based center, “it’s a pretty fair assumption that the figure will have unfortunately gone up.” The center’s 2011 self-sufficiency report finds that a family of two adults and two preschool children, ages 3 to 5, needs an income of $102,810 a year just to meet basic needs in Marin. A family of two adults with one infant and one preschooler needs $101,078. The average annual wage in Marin was $56,128 in 2010. As children grow, families need less income to meet basic needs. A family with two teenagers can make ends meet with $58,364. And two adults with no children can get by with an annual household income of $46,456. Those permutations mark the difference
between the center’s self-sufficiency standard and the federal poverty level, which many service providers see as hopelessly outdated and inexact. The federal poverty level, a fourdecades-old benchmark that tallies just the cost of food and annual inflation, considers only the number of people in a family, not different ages of children—a variable that the center’s self-sufficiency standard demonstrates greatly affects the amount a family needs for basic reasonable survival. The standard considers the costs associated with housing, food, childcare, healthcare, transportation and other necessary basic costs and is calculated for 156 various family compositions, including a standard based on the county in which a family lives. Dr. Diana Pearce developed the standard in the mid-1990s while she was director of the Women and Poverty Project at Wider Opportunities for Women. The original intent focused on creating economic markers for federal job-training programs, now known as the Workforce Investment Program. Pearce, now at the University of Washington, crunches the data that goes into a peer-reviewed report assessing the financial needs of California’s working families. Using just one permutation standard for Marin illustrates the gap between selfsufficiency and the federal poverty 10 >
›› NEWSGRAMS
by Jason Walsh
Welcome to the occupation Marin localized the “Occupy Wall Street” movement Oct. 12, when about 100 protesters mobilized in front of the Bank of America building on Fourth Street in San Rafael to send a message to corporate America “that it’s time to create jobs not downsize.” “It’s time for corporations to pay it forward and help rebuild the American Dream,” said Kentfield resident Elinor Craig, a member of Marin MoveOn, which organized the protest. “It’s not Us and Them. We’re all in this together.” “While Bank of America is planning to cut jobs, many of our residents are struggling to stay in their homes, find a job, send their kids to college and keep their healthcare,” added Lisa Hamilton of San Anselmo.“We need to remind Congress that the 99 percent [of other Americans] are too big to fail.” The MoveOn members were joined at the protest by folks opposing SmartMeters, military spending, America’s dependence on fossil fuels and Mr. Pickle of the Mr. Pickle’s sandwich chain that has a location at the San Rafael plaza. Seager come, Seager go The Donna Seager Gallery—multiple winner of the Pacific Sun’s Best of Marin award for best art gallery—is moving its frames south. The popular exhibitor’s space has been at the corner of Fourth and Cijos streets in San Rafael since 2005, but now galleria gal Donna Seager is partnering with her longtime assistant Suzanne Gray McSweeney to reopen as the Seager Gray Gallery in downtown Mill Valley.“Six years ago, I opened the doors of Donna Seager Gallery in San Rafael,” says Seager.“It was a dream come true. I am so grateful to all the people of San Rafael who supported the gallery and helped me weather the tough years and celebrate the good ones... I am excited about the move and the partnership and we will continue to bring world-class exhibitions to Marin County.” Supe Hal Brown resigns Ross Valley Supervisor Hal Brown says he’s be stepping down from the post he’s held for nearly three decades. Brown announced last December that he’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but has been working from home while undergoing treatment. Despite indications from his doctors that the treatment is going well, the 66-year-old said in June that he’d make a decision about his future on the board in early autumn. Gov. Jerry Brown, Hal’s cousin, will appoint the replacement to the seat—the term runs through 2012. Hal was originally appointed to the seat by Jerry Brown, during his cousin’s earlier go-round as California governor, in 1982. Among the names said to be considering throwing their hats into the ring for the Ross Valley Supe seat are Brown’s assistant Katie Rice, Fairfax Town Councilman David Weinsoff and former San Anselmo Mayor Peter Breen. More hats to come, no doubt. Katy Butler did it! It’s working out to be a big week for journalist, and occasional Pacific Sun contributor, Katy Butler—the Mill Valley writer is not only set to receive a Milley Award next week, but has also been recognized for her science reporting by the National Association of Science Writers. On Saturday, Butler will receive a Best Science Reporting award from the NASW for her 2010 New York Times Magazine piece,“My Father’s Broken Heart,” which explored the moral quandaries created by advanced medical technology near the end of life. Butler’s Milley Award—the Mill Valley Art Commission’s annual tribute to high10
8 PACIFIC SUN OCTOBER 14 - OCTOBER 20, 2011
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