Caring Council
of San Diego

About Us             

  The Caring Council is a voluntary association               
of persons who gather to:                

• LEARN the truth about poverty in the San Diego County

• LISTEN to the voices of those in poverty, and

• TAKE ACTION to implement systemic changes suggested by low-income families and individuals in order to remove or reduce barriers to self-sufficiency

GOALS

1. To build and support a movement focused on addressing the conditions that create poverty.

2. To educate and inform both policy makers and the general public about failures of the system which create poverty and allow it to persist.

3. Ultimately, to reduce the greater number of people living in poverty.
 

• Children
• Families
• Working Poor
• Homeless
• Single Parents
• Public Assistance Recipients
• Immigrants/Refugees
• People with Limited Financial Resources

  ... by working to influence the public policies that impact the quality of life for those of our community

The Caring Council of San Diego receives no government funding.  All our work is done by volunteers.  The Caring Council has no paid staff, but all members are asked to participate as regularly as they can in monthly meetings from 9-11 a.m. on the second Monday of each month at Springfield College: 5348 University Ave., San Diego, CA 92105.

Members of the Caring Council support the efforts of those living in poverty who are fighting for real pathways to self-sufficiency.  For example, many low-income wage-earners are forced to pay fees to cash their paychecks in check-cashing stores.  These fees can result in losses of several hundred dollars a year.  The Caring Council was asked to support efforts to help low-income customers gain access to mainstream banking.  In response, the Caring Council formed the San Diego Coalition for Fair Banking to negotiate with banks to offer Essential Direct Deposit Accounts for customers who could not qualify for regular bank accounts due to credit problems. 

The Caring Council’s strategy includes the following elements:

• Listening to the voices of low-income individuals and families through their own grassroots organizations
• Removing the barriers to self-sufficiency as identified by low-income individuals and families
• Providing the resources to enable grassroots anti-poverty efforts to succeed:
  • Gathering reliable and accurate information about the background of the problem or barrier
  • Understanding how the changes sought by low-income families will remove or reduce the barrier
  • Informing the general public, faith-based and community-based organizations and public officials of the change desired
  • Creating a “critical mass” among opinion leaders who endorse and support the proposed changes
  • Monitoring the effectiveness of changes made

The Caring Council provides an unusual partnership between concerned persons not living in poverty and low-income families and individuals who have formed grassroots organizations to fight poverty. This partnership is based on mutual respect and the belief that the voices of all members of the community are important to the successful economic, social, and civic life of our region. 

Building support for Economic Justice is our challenge.