Community Spring Insights
COVID-19 Exposes Food Accessibility Deficits In Alachua County
COVID-19 has shined a light on problems that our community has struggled with for a long time. For example, the survey Community Spring conducted as part of the Grassroots COVID-19 Recovery Campaign revealed that 27% of responding Alachua County low-income households did not have consistent access to food in May and April. This suggests…
My only right is the right to remain silent
Americans like to point to the Declaration of Independence as providing the basic promise of our country: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But when I look around my community, these words ring hollow. I can’t see the meaningful promises of life…
Access to Fair Credit is a Pathway out of Poverty
My financial hardship pretty much started at birth. I was born to a mother who was only 15 years old, and who was sent to prison by the time I was three. I also became a mother at 15, and I started working full-time to care for myself and my baby while still in high school (which, might I add, I graduated from on time - no small feat!). At the age of 16, I was already on baby number…
The Barking Dog of Freedom (sort of)
When I was released from prison I was wearing a bathing suit. I have no idea whose it was. It was a January morning and freezing cold. The guards said it was the only thing they could find. I didn't believe them, and I didn’t argue. My family was still hours away with clothing, so I could either stay in a cage even longer or take what they give me and go. So I…
Our fellows dug deep into their past to determine how to reshape their future
Welcome to the first ever blog for Community Spring! We are a non-profit organization that is spurring economic mobility and dismantling structural poverty at a grassroots level. We use a direct job-creation model that employs people in poverty to address the systemic issues that they identify as contributing to poverty. Community Spring fellows cultivate collective power through…