The Quality Community Council in a partnership with the Department of Religious Studies kicked off a discussion series on poverty, "The Persistence of Poverty: Four Community Conversations," Tuesday night at the University Chapel.
The Tuesday night installment in the cycle, titled "The Face of Poverty: A Community Conversation," is the first of four such dialogues.
The focus of the meeting was to raise awareness in the community of poverty's "everydayness," Religious Studies Prof. Corey Walker said.
"We're looking at the challenges and obstacles of those who wake up every morning poor, malnourished and under-resourced in the midst of the most affluent society on the face of the globe," Walker said. "We also talked through the social, legal, economical and ethical dimensions of poverty."
Tuesday's discussion will be followed by another tonight at the Westhaven Community Center and others in the near future are meant to travel around the City to showcase different areas, Walker explained.
"We highlight those individuals who currently are facing the life in poverty or have overcome a life in poverty," he said. "It's a community conversation, so we have conversation leaders. Those leaders are people from the University, local leaders and everyday citizens."
The QCC, one of the discussion's sponsors, is a nonprofit organization in Charlottesville, explained Karen Waters, executive director of the QCC and a University alumna.
"Our mission is to improve the quality of life in targeted neighborhoods in this City by engaging residence in those neighborhoods with decision-makers in various community institutions," Waters said. "We try to create innovative programming specifically in the areas of youth and academics, housing, public safety, treatment and prevention and economic justice."
These community dialogues are only the first of the QCC's projects to educate in Charlottesville. The group also plans to create a People's College, offering adult education classes, Waters said.
"This is a jumping-off point for our People's College initiative, where we are seeking to develop more leadership and inspire the community to elevate itself," she said. "A lot of the subject matter [of the classes] will be patterned after the subjects of the University, varying offerings depending on what people want to know about."
Student involvement at the conversational meetings and with the proposed People's College is encouraged, as is participation with the QCC, Waters said.
"We hope to attract student volunteers as well as graduate students if they want to teach classes," she added.
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