Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Keeping the Dream of Activism Alive


Sixties youth culture possessed so much political awareness that at the time it looked like everyone under eighteen was committed to a populist cause. Once the sea changed there were some people who maintained their idealism and continued their work in this area. Tracy Soska is one of these people. He is currently an Assistant Professor and Director of Continuing Education in the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh.

As a teenager Tracy marched against hunger and was an antiwar activist. He went to Pitt but dropped out to become a VISTA volunteer. When his tenure there ended, he went back to Pitt for social work study and realized then that he could make a career out of his passion—helping people and communities achieve their best.  Tracy recalls, “I couldn’t believe I could actually get a degree in something I enjoyed doing”.

Today, he is still doing it. He is involved in community organizing, social administration, workforce development, collaboration and coalition building, and university-community relations and partnerships. At the University of Pittsburgh he heads a program on Living Learning Communities. There students get hands on experience in community development. They can apply what they learn in an academic setting to real world issues the neighboring communities are facing, while employing respect and consideration for these communities.

Tracy explains the mutual benefits for the students and the community, “Too often a university can be criticized because we come in as experts, we do our studies and then leave. That’s changing. The community has knowledge. We can partner effectively with them and build long term relationships.”  He continues, “Students are learning and developing skills, and communities are learning from us. Simultaneously, students are getting that sense of partnership and collaboration. They are respectful of the expertise that the community has. We teach our students that and hopefully that’s the way my work is perceived in the community.”

Tracy was nominated as a Dignity & Respect Champion by Dr. Larry E. Davis who in his endorsement of  Tracy states, “Tracy Soska is not content to keep his work purely academic. He is more than just a scholar, he is an active member and a driving force of many neighborhood organizations.  Tracy’s hands-on approach not only demonstrates his commitment to the ideals he teaches, it inspires the students to look into community work themselves.”

When asked how he feels being recognized as a Dignity and Respect Champion, Tracy says, “Trying to emulate dignity and respect is one of the primary tenets of social work. I do that as a professor, but I also think I try to live that as a person.”

Monday, July 8, 2013

Dignity & Respect Champion Empowers the Poor by Employing Them

Ian Rosenberger is the founder and CEO of Team Tassy and Thread. Both of these organizations were founded in 2010 in the aftermath of the Port-au-Prince earthquake where Ian, who was a volunteer at the time, had an epiphany that working with the poor will be his life’s work. Ian met Tassy Filsaime in Haiti.  Tassy had survived the earthquake but was dying of an operable tumor on his face.

Ian formed Team Tassy, and after successful fundraising, brought Tassy to Pittsburgh for life-saving
surgery. The Team Tassy non-profit organization continues in its mission to realize the inherent power in every person to help end global poverty.

A second organization founded by Ian, Thread, takes trash from poor neighborhoods and turns it into
useful products while creating jobs. Ian says, “I’ve been all over the world, and the two things I see most are poverty and trash.” Thread is a for-profit business.

The two organizations Ian Rosenberger founded work in tandem, operating under the same core
philosophy: the biggest problem we face as a species is multidimensional poverty and ending it is entirely possible in our lifetime.  To do this, we need to invest in the poor to create as many dignified, sustainable jobs as we possibly can. Team Tassy prepares people for employment. Thread processes recycled plastic, which will be turned into finished goods and, in turn, creates jobs for Team Tassy families.

Vivien Luk, Ian’s co-worker who nominated him as a Dignity & Respect Champion, says, “Ian sees the potential in training and employing the poor. He sees the possibilities for recycling waste, what people would never deem as an asset.” Ian, in turn, feels humbled to work with the poor people of Haiti.

He says, “The most satisfying part of my work here is giving someone the chance to stand up and be
employed, especially someone who was down for a long time.” Ian feels he is “morally accountable
to pursue a course of action to help the poor.” He explains, “Once you see poverty like this and
acknowledge it, you have a responsibility to try and help eradicate it.”

When asked how he feels being recognized as a Champion of Dignity & Respect, Ian says, “I am very moved. I feel it’s a very cool thing and I appreciate people looking out for the work that we do. It isn’t what you do that counts, it’s the impact that you have that matters.”