The panelists who gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss poverty included many well-known figures: Prof. Cornel West, former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, economist Jeffrey Sachs and U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Many comments centered on big-picture policies. 
But one forum participant – Kameisha Smith, a high school student from Mississippi – pointed to the importance of including first-hand experiences of those who have experienced poverty and trying times.
In this case, Smith said, her grandmother, who worked two hourly-wage jobs and raised a family in crowded conditions, would be an ideal person to bring to the table. “That is the true face of poverty,” Smith said.
As part of broadcaster Tavis Smiley’s televised forum, “Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty,” Smith talked about how personal stories are needed when considering policy and national solutions. Smiley is encouraging people to contact President Obama and ask that he organize a national conference on ending poverty in the United States.
Smith, who was seated in the forum audience, is a board member with the Mississippi-based community group Southern Echo. She has been a youth organizer at Nollie Jenkins Family Center. Inc. As a child, one of her first efforts to improve her neighborhood was to help lobby for better playground equipment for area schools.
“Until we start to work inter-generationally and we want to value each other’s voices and be in the same spaces because we have some of the solutions to the problems we’re facing right now,” she said at the forum, which was broadcast on C-SPAN and on The Smiley & West Show website.
“That’s what I’m trying to do, bring our voices to the table.”
After she spoke, author Jonathan Kozol, observed how speaking up and asking questions might not always fit into lesson plans that teachers need to finish.
“Yes, I want to hear the voices of young people,” he said. “…God bless the young women who just stood up.”
Southern Echo, a community group that started in 1989, works to strengthen African American communities through organizing, education and training. Marguerite Casey Foundation gave support to the forum, which was held on Jan. 17, 2013 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Smith’s comments can be heard in the C-SPAN video around the 2:16:00 mark. On The Smiley & West Show, her comments start at the 40:17 mark.