FAMVIN: The International Vincentian Family

With so many policy debates mired in partisan politics, the announcement last week by the U.S. Census Bureau that it plans to develop a supplemental poverty measure and then open it to public scrutiny is something both Republicans and Democrats can agree on.”” according to the AARP

MELBOURNE: On Feb 24, John Falzon, CEO of the National Council of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia, addressed the Social Justice in the City Forum. The title of his address was “Social Justice in 2010″. The focus of his talk was on the “New Paternalism” we find [...]

As part of our worldwide celebration, the Vincentian Family has initiated a project, Zafen.org, in partnership with Fonkoze, the largest microfinance institution in Haiti, to empower sustainable, economic development in Haiti.  Zafen, Creole for “It’s our business,” has been developed to bring together a global community of lenders and donors who believe in the power [...]

Changing our attitudes, Transforming our world
Reflections based on Lenten Letter from Superior General G. Gregory Gay, CM. dated 17 Feburary, 2010.
View the letter

Promoting new life through non-violent means
Non-violence towards the planet
Building new life out of fragility
Our fragility and that of others

The VinFormation section of famvin.org offers thoughts starters and links [...]

Scott Fina offers a contrasting view to David Brooks recent New York Times editorial about the role of poverty in Haiti’s suffering from its earthquake, recently circulated over FamVin. Below he writes “My point?  Haiti (like Katrina) is indeed much more a story of poverty than a story of natural disaster, as David Brooks states.   [...]

Thus writes conservative commentator  David Brooks in the New York Times. There is much food for thought for the Vincentian Family efforts at collaboration in Haiti.

2010 marks two-thirds of the way into a remarkable global experiment in ending poverty. In 2000, Australia joined 189 countries in committing to the Millennium Development Goals. These goals aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015 and end it by 2025. In September this year, the world will meet at the United Nations to renew existing [...]

According to an article in Business week they’re as important as smoking, obesity when it comes to health.

A growing number of people live on  zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps, an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast according to the NY Times.. The surge in this precarious way of life has been so swift that few policy makers have noticed. But it attests to [...]

To understand some statistics one needs to be an economist. There are other statistics that are quite revealing. Vincent could tell the state of affairs by how many people showed up at the doors of St. Lazare. “Vincent’s Pulse” http://vinformation.famvin.org/vincents-pulse/ , statistics for the rest of us, will feature under-reported statistics  from street level rather [...]