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Low-income group still faces problems

By BILL BERRY
of The Gazette
In concert with CAP Services' annual awards, The Gazette asked Karl Pnazek, CAP's president and chief executive officer to respond to a question-and-answer interview.

CAP is a nonprofit community action agency that seeks to help low- and moderate-income people achieve economic and emotional self-sufficiency. The agency serves five counties, including Portage.

Pnazek has been president of CAP since 1976. His responses to Gazette questions follow:

1. On the surface, it would seem like the robust economy is helping almost everyone in central Wisconsin. Is there another side to the story that isn't visible?

Definitely. Nationwide, more and more households with incomes up to 100 percent of their county's median income are having difficulty buying or maintaining their own home. The economic boom is very bifurcated, both between economic classes and geographic areas. We are still seeing a large number of people having a very tough time making it, especially with the recent increase in gasoline prices that make commuting even more expensive. Many people are now making $7 to $8 an hour but a recent study in Wisconsin shows a single mother with one child needs almost $20,000 to maintain even a reasonable standard of living. That's $10 an hour and we are excited about Land's End payment $9!

2. What are the most pressing needs of central Wisconsin's low-income population?

Access to adequate and affordable housing and living wage full-time jobs with employer paid health insurance with reasonable deductibles and co-pays continue to be identified as major barriers to low-income people attaining self-sufficiency. We continue to see employers who advertise for full-time and then provide variable hours or who advertise health insurance and it turns out to have $500 to $1,000 deductibles or 50 percent co-payments or only covers the employee and not their family.

3. How strong is central Wisconsin's economy? Who are the most vulnerable to economic downturns?

There is no doubt this is the best economy in the 12 years I have been at CAP. I have increasing concerns about the availability of risk capital for small business since more and more of the regional and national lenders are going with a template or computer profile approach to their business lending. This might offer an opportunity, however, for small community banks if they can obtain some liquidity by reselling these loans or obtaining advances against the loans from the Federal Home Loan Bank. Lack of access to capital is always the major problem for small business entrepreneurs and low-income households in general.

4. Given the number of corporate partners that work with CAP, it appears that some in the private sector are doing their part. Has private sector support for anti-poverty efforts grown, or are the same few providing the support?

There has been a significant increase in private sector support for anti-poverty efforts over the past 10 years. This is especially true for those who understand it often makes good economic sense to work with CAP to expand markets for their product. As example, banks need to make loans to make money. With all of the competition in the residential lending market, it makes sense for banks to work with CAP, especially if CAP takes some of the risk out of the loans by providing downpayment assistance and offers housing counseling. The same is true for commercial lending and our jobs and business development program.

In addition, however, a number of companies now recognize that CAP has quite a track record of accomplishment. They understand that dollars invested in CAP usually generate significant and measurable positive results in the community as well as national or statewide recognition. One reason for this is our grass roots planning and local partners. It's interesting because one facet feeds the other. The more the community is involved, the more likely we are to succeed and the more we succeed, the more likely the community is to be involved.

5. CAP has established ties with faith-based organizations. What role do these organizations have in the effort to help low- and moderate-income people?

Many of our local churches and faith-based organizations feel some responsibility for addressing the root causes of poverty rather than the symptoms. Each chooses to address these issues in its own way. Several provide ongoing support to several of CAP's initiatives and some provided key support when some of our projects first started. As example, our Large Family Rental Housing Project was started when four local churches provided us with the investment capital to purchase our first home. We parlayed that assistance into a total of 19-single-family units.

The Mormon Boy Scouts have helped on a number of housing projects.
Frame Presbyterian has been a long-time financial supporter of the Family Crisis Center.

A number of other churches regularly collect food and funds to support the Crisis Center.

St. Paul Lutheran was one of the early partners in our Refugee Advocacy Program.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been a long-time financial supporter of our Jobs and Business Development Program.
The list goes on. Each individual church has to decide for itself if and how it wants to partner with us, but in every case, the religious community represents a very important resource to us in our anti-poverty efforts.

6. Are there groups and individuals who aren't at the table that should be?

There are always more people and organizations that could come to the table. Not all businesses participate, not all individuals, not all churches. But rather than be judgmental about who is or isn't, we prefer to try to give people reasons to participate. We also recognize there are reasons why people don't participate. Sometimes our agendas just don't coincide. There are also a lot of other good nonprofit groups working with disadvantaged people in Portage County, we are not the only game in town. Some that come to mind are Operation Bootstrap, St. Vincent de Paul, Community Industries, Salvation Army. We all do different things, offer different opportunities.

The other issue is time. Trying to do a decent job raising a family in today's society is time consuming. Sometimes young families just don't have the time to actively participate. I think there are some techniques parents can use to incorporate anti-poverty messages into family activities (sponsoring a holiday basket, volunteering to take a youth staying at the Crisis Center on a fun activity), but again, people have to decide for themselves. We can provide the opportunity, but it's up to families and individuals to make that choice.

7. What do you see as the major challenges in the coming years as groups like CAP work to help low- and moderate income people achieve economic and emotional self-sufficiency?

I think there are two real challenges. The first is not to forget that even in a time of 4 percent unemployment and record setting highs in the stock market, a significant number of people in our own community are struggling with day-to-day issues like rent, transportation, health care. It's not just people who make bad choices that face these issues. It's people who just never had that one opportunity to improve themselves or people who maybe made a bad choice ten years ago and are still paying for it now. We have to understand, that, there but for the grace of God, go many of us.

The second challenge is the growing consumerism/selfishness/economic elitism that our economic boom is engendering. When I heard one person on the east side of Stevens Point say she that didn't want the grade school attendance lines redrawn because they don't want their child to go to an inner-City school (Jefferson School) I shuddered. When I heard an alderman say, he was liberal enough to know low- and moderate-income people needed to live somewhere but conservative enough to not want them in his neighborhood, it made me sick. Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful people here in Portage County. But I am starting to wonder, how soon before we get our first gated community, or do we already have gates called restrictive covenants? What happened to the community where you could walk down almost any street in Stevens Point and find a mix of well-to-do, middle class and moderate-income household living next to each other? Economic elitism is not a healthy community demographic and it can lead to other equally disturbing behaviors.

In so many ways, Portage County is a wonderful community. The student-built house that CAP finances every year is an example of what this community can do when it stretches just a little bit. The way St. Vincent de Paul operates with mostly volunteers and donated goods is wonderful. The fact that Operation Bootstrap is financed almost completely by private contributions ranging from cash to cans of food brought to basketball games is remarkable. The amount of private support that CAP receives for its various projects ranging from the Crisis Center to our Housing Programs, to our economic development programs to Head Start says a lot about our community. While we can always do more, perhaps we should pause for a moment, reflect upon our accomplishments and congratulate ourselves before proceeding to climb that next hill on the road of life.



	Low-income group still faces problems By BILL BERRY of The Gazette In concert with CAP Services' annual awards, The Gazette asked Karl Pnazek, CAP's president and chief executive officer to respond to a question-and-answer interview. CAP is a nonprofit community action agency that seeks to help low- and moderate-income people achieve economic and emotional self-sufficiency. The agency serves five counties, including Portage. Pnazek has been president of CAP since 1976. His responses to Gazette questions follow: 1. On the surface, it would seem like the robust economy is helping almost everyone in central Wisconsin. Is there another side to the story that isn't visible? Definitely. Nationwide, more and more households with incomes up to 100 percent of their county's median income are having difficulty buying or maintaining their own home. The economic boom is very bifurcated, both between economic classes and geographic areas. We are still seeing a large number of people having a very tough time making it, especially with the recent increase in gasoline prices that make commuting even more expensive. Many people are now making $7 to $8 an hour but a recent study in Wisconsin shows a single mother with one child needs almost $20,000 to maintain even a reasonable standard of living. That's $10 an hour and we are excited about Land's End payment $9! 2. What are the most pressing needs of central Wisconsin's low-income population? Access to adequate and affordable housing and living wage full-time jobs with employer paid health insurance with reasonable deductibles and co-pays continue to be identified as major barriers to low-income people attaining self-sufficiency. We continue to see employers who advertise for full-time and then provide variable hours or who advertise health insurance and it turns out to have $500 to $1,000 deductibles or 50 percent co-payments or only covers the employee and not their family. 3. How strong is central Wisconsin's economy? Who are the most vulnerable to economic downturns? There is no doubt this is the best economy in the 12 years I have been at CAP. I have increasing concerns about the availability of risk capital for small business since more and more of the regional and national lenders are going with a template or computer profile approach to their business lending. This might offer an opportunity, however, for small community banks if they can obtain some liquidity by reselling these loans or obtaining advances against the loans from the Federal Home Loan Bank. Lack of access to capital is always the major problem for small business entrepreneurs and low-income households in general. 4. Given the number of corporate partners that work with CAP, it appears that some in the private sector are doing their part. Has private sector support for anti-poverty efforts grown, or are the same few providing the support? There has been a significant increase in private sector support for anti-poverty efforts over the past 10 years. This is especially true for those who understand it often makes good economic sense to work with CAP to expand markets for their product. As example, banks need to make loans to make money. With all of the competition in the residential lending market, it makes sense for banks to work with CAP, especially if CAP takes some of the risk out of the loans by providing downpayment assistance and offers housing counseling. The same is true for commercial lending and our jobs and business development program. In addition, however, a number of companies now recognize that CAP has quite a track record of accomplishment. They understand that dollars invested in CAP usually generate significant and measurable positive results in the community as well as national or statewide recognition. One reason for this is our grass roots planning and local partners. It's interesting because one facet feeds the other. The more the community is involved, the more likely we are to succeed and the more we succeed, the more likely the community is to be involved. 5. CAP has established ties with faith-based organizations. What role do these organizations have in the effort to help low- and moderate-income people? Many of our local churches and faith-based organizations feel some responsibility for addressing the root causes of poverty rather than the symptoms. Each chooses to address these issues in its own way. Several provide ongoing support to several of CAP's initiatives and some provided key support when some of our projects first started. As example, our Large Family Rental Housing Project was started when four local churches provided us with the investment capital to purchase our first home. We parlayed that assistance into a total of 19-single-family units. The Mormon Boy Scouts have helped on a number of housing projects. Frame Presbyterian has been a long-time financial supporter of the Family Crisis Center. A number of other churches regularly collect food and funds to support the Crisis Center. St. Paul Lutheran was one of the early partners in our Refugee Advocacy Program. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been a long-time financial supporter of our Jobs and Business Development Program. The list goes on. Each individual church has to decide for itself if and how it wants to partner with us, but in every case, the religious community represents a very important resource to us in our anti-poverty efforts. 6. Are there groups and individuals who aren't at the table that should be? There are always more people and organizations that could come to the table. Not all businesses participate, not all individuals, not all churches. But rather than be judgmental about who is or isn't, we prefer to try to give people reasons to participate. We also recognize there are reasons why people don't participate. Sometimes our agendas just don't coincide. There are also a lot of other good nonprofit groups working with disadvantaged people in Portage County, we are not the only game in town. Some that come to mind are Operation Bootstrap, St. Vincent de Paul, Community Industries, Salvation Army. We all do different things, offer different opportunities. The other issue is time. Trying to do a decent job raising a family in today's society is time consuming. Sometimes young families just don't have the time to actively participate. I think there are some techniques parents can use to incorporate anti-poverty messages into family activities (sponsoring a holiday basket, volunteering to take a youth staying at the Crisis Center on a fun activity), but again, people have to decide for themselves. We can provide the opportunity, but it's up to families and individuals to make that choice. 7. What do you see as the major challenges in the coming years as groups like CAP work to help low- and moderate income people achieve economic and emotional self-sufficiency? I think there are two real challenges. The first is not to forget that even in a time of 4 percent unemployment and record setting highs in the stock market, a significant number of people in our own community are struggling with day-to-day issues like rent, transportation, health care. It's not just people who make bad choices that face these issues. It's people who just never had that one opportunity to improve themselves or people who maybe made a bad choice ten years ago and are still paying for it now. We have to understand, that, there but for the grace of God, go many of us. The second challenge is the growing consumerism/selfishness/economic elitism that our economic boom is engendering. When I heard one person on the east side of Stevens Point say she that didn't want the grade school attendance lines redrawn because they don't want their child to go to an inner-City school (Jefferson School) I shuddered. When I heard an alderman say, he was liberal enough to know low- and moderate-income people needed to live somewhere but conservative enough to not want them in his neighborhood, it made me sick. Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful people here in Portage County. But I am starting to wonder, how soon before we get our first gated community, or do we already have gates called restrictive covenants? What happened to the community where you could walk down almost any street in Stevens Point and find a mix of well-to-do, middle class and moderate-income household living next to each other? Economic elitism is not a healthy community demographic and it can lead to other equally disturbing behaviors. In so many ways, Portage County is a wonderful community. The student-built house that CAP finances every year is an example of what this community can do when it stretches just a little bit. The way St. Vincent de Paul operates with mostly volunteers and donated goods is wonderful. The fact that Operation Bootstrap is financed almost completely by private contributions ranging from cash to cans of food brought to basketball games is remarkable. The amount of private support that CAP receives for its various projects ranging from the Crisis Center to our Housing Programs, to our economic development programs to Head Start says a lot about our community. While we can always do more, perhaps we should pause for a moment, reflect upon our accomplishments and congratulate ourselves before proceeding to climb that next hill on the road of life.