At Memos From Life we get an extra show in the months that have five Mondays.  We try to use those shows for community service programs. 

On Mar. 31 we had a chance to talk about poverty at the local level and how we can help prevent it in Ft. Collins and beyond.  We were joined by State Representative John Kefalas, a gentleman who has spent years working on poverty issues in Colorado.  In addition, we were joined by Nicole Gawronski, an advisor with Project Self Sufficiency in Ft. Collins and the recent lead in the Lincoln Centers production of Nickel and Dimed. This was a very lively discussion about the politics and realities of poverty. 

Project Self Sufficiency evolved from the efforts of a countywide task force that met in 1985 to better coordinate and expand services for low-income, single parent families while encouraging the families toward greater self-sufficiency. 

Since that time numerous program elements have been added, including the “Cars for Families”  donation and repair programs, the scholarship fund, the emergency fund, the Boundless Children’s Fund, self-esteem and other classes, holiday programs, a career clothing closet for single parents, and “Cool Kids” back-to-school clothes for children.

State Representative John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins) represents House District 52. He was elected in 2006.

Rep. Kefalas has been involved in local, national and international peace, justice and environmental work for 30 years. He joined the Peace Corps in 1979 as an Agricultural Extension Worker in El Salvador. He visited the northern border of Nicaragua with Witness for Peace, worked in Chiapas, Mexico, with Schools for Chiapas and participated in a delegation to Israel/Palestine with The Compassionate Listening Project.

He has served on the boards of or worked with such Colorado and community-based groups as: the Colorado Housing Investment Fund Coalition, Affordable Housing Coalition of Larimer County, Northern Colorado Cross-Disabilities Coalition, Fort Collins Area Interfaith Council, Older Americans Coalition, Fort Collins Housing Authority, Colorado Women's Lobby, Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, Governor's Task Force on Welfare Reform, Martinez Park Neighborhood Association, the Colorado Children's Campaign and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.

From 2004 – 2006, Rep. Kefalas directed the Colorado Progressive Coalition's Tax Fairness Project, a grassroots organizing campaign that educates Coloradans about the impacts of state and federal budget decisions on families and communities and mobilizes people to change unfair tax and fiscal policies.

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