FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 19, 2016  Washington, D.C. – Today, Bernard S. Gluckstern, Chairman of the Center For Humanistic Global Initiatives and author of “America’s Future: Requiem Or Renaissance – An Agenda For The Transformation Of Our Nation And Ourselves,”  announced the establishment of The Fund For An Equitable America, here in the nation’s capitol. The purpose of this organization is to mobilize  a national movement to eradicate poverty in America. This fund will provide an unprecedented breadth of technical expertise and monetary resources to members of the nation’s community development community, from its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. and throughout its network of regional offices.

In his initial remarks about this endeavor Mr. Gluckstern stated that  “The historical record of our efforts to combat poverty in America have been tragically characterized by both the absence of a national strategic plan/technical assistance to achieve this objective, the abysmally inadequate financial resources allocated, toward this goal, the nonexistence of an organizational mechanism to direct these efforts, and most importantly by the lack of a  national commitment by the citizens of this country to this moral imperative.”

“Integral to the establishment of the Fund For An Equitable America, are we providing the national strategic plan/technical assistance, the financial capability (over the anticipated ten year term of the fund’s activity) the instrumentality to provide the crucial leadership this effort requires, and a central role to create and sustain the mobilization of a continuing national commitment to the eradication of poverty in America.”

Utilizing the models that have been successfully implemented in numerous rural areas and municipalities throughout the nation in the previous two decades, i.e. the creation of community- based commercial enterprises in poverty neighborhoods that provides products and services to the “anchor institutions” within these locales such as health care facilities, universities, government, and other nonprofit entities, and related “asset building” strategies, it is the Fund’s intent to allocate both the monetary resources and technical expertise that will enable these organizations to transform these destitute vicinities into vibrant middle-class communities.

“For innumerable decades, we have been engaged in countless attempts at all levels of this society to address the mitigation of poverty in the United States yet amidst all this furious and continuing effort of individuals and institutions and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars, the quotient of those who live in the dungeons of poverty has not diminished in any meaningful regard whatsoever,” he added.

“In fact since the Great Recession and the “recovery” in the intervening years since 2008, those who live in poverty face an even bleaker future due to such factors, as the erosion of the workforce by technology’s advances, the continuing relocation of corporations to other countries with more favorable tax requirements, and the policies which these companies pursue regarding executive compensation,  obscene shareholder dividends and the repatriation of their equity positions from the public marketplace.”

“The resources to eradicate poverty in the United States in its entirety exist.  They can be found in the 7 trillion dollars of asset value within the community development universe, and within the coffers of the 500 largest public companies .”

“We shall seek on an annual basis one percent of the market value of these organizations that in the course of the ten year period of our existence will provide in excess of 2.5 trillion dollars for this purpose.  A sum that is truly adequate for the first time in our history to achieve the objective of ending poverty in America, once and for all.”

“We shall undertake as our first and continuing task the mobilization of our citizens to support and demand as a national objective that the poor shall at the conclusion of our labors in 2026, no longer exist and that as a result all Americans shall enjoy lives of material sufficiency and all that flows from that reality.”

“Should those who comprise the senior executives and their boards of directors refuse to assist in this effort we shall inform the American public of their recalcitrance, and request that consumers  patronize those companies that are engaged in this activity and refrain from any support for commercial enterprises that reject any involvement in this crucial effort.”

A comprehensive  exploration of the issues and analyzes that culminated in the establishment of the Fund is contained in the document MOBILIZING AMERICA. 

For further information on the Fund and its activities and objectives contact  Bernard Gluckstern either by phone at 240-899-9900, or via e-mail at bgluckstern@aol.com.