Parts of the Solution: Influence of the Work on the Social Justice System

There are many institutions in the Bronx that are working to help their community but one that is clearly unique is Part of the Solution. Their mission statement is to be a loving community in the Bronx that nourishes the basic needs and hungers of all who come to its door. Part of the Solution was founded in 1982 by a Jesuit priest and a nun to serve meals to the hungry in the Bronx. The Bronx has a diverse array of people but a large portion of the community are hispanic immigrants who are struggling to survive economically due to having a bad education and only speaking Spanish. A large portion of Part of the Solution’s clients only speak spanish. Part of the Solution started as a small group dedicated to feeding the hungry but has since turned into a staple in the Bronx. In 1988, the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, NY, raised $80,000 in one weekend to buy their current headquarters on Webster Avenue in the Bronx. This is when the agency really started to take shape. Through the buying of the Webster Avenue, Part of the Solution was able to become the award winning organization it is today. Between the years of 1993 and 1999, Part of the Solution opened up its barbershop, clothing room and food pantry. Eventually, in 2000, the legal clinic opened up. This allowed Part of the Solution to do more than just help the hungry. They could now provide a vast array of services that the community in the Bronx still benefits from to this day. The legal clinic aides people in filling out legal documents and finding jobs. Through working with lawyers and people trained on how to fill out these legal documents, people who don’t speak english now don’t have to worry about the government hunting them down over unpaid taxes. During the time from the buying of the building to today, there have been many other things that have opened in the building. All of these new programs have been a tremendous help to the people in the community and has created Part of the Solution into a center that aids people on their road to economic freedom while restoring the dignity and respect that these people deserve to be treated with.

The Work from a Biblical Perspective

Due to its religious foundation, Part of the Solution follows many of the guiding lenses that the Bible presents. The first lense that Part of the Solution takes into account is the Exodus Paradigm. The Exodus Paradigm is a lense in which God teaches mankind that we need to be sympathetic, empathetic and compassionate to all of God’s creation. God is seen showing favor towards the Israelites in the Old Testament and expresses these emotions towards them. God frees the Israelites from the shackles of slavery and delivers them to the promise land. The Exodus Paradigm is shown throughout the entire Bible when people defend the weak and marginalized.

The work at Part of the Solution is a direct example of how God calls His people to live in the Bible. For example, when God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to, “let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness”(Exodus 5:1, New Revised Standard Version). In the story of the 7 plagues, God is seen defending his people who were being oppressed while being slaves in Egypt. God expresses the Exodus Paradigm in this story because he chooses to side with the oppressed and fight against their oppressor, Pharaoh. Part of the Solution also fights for the oppressed. Through programs like their legal office and their food pantry, Part of the Solution tries to bring back dignity and control to the marginalized. They are an example to the community around them on how to be sympathetic, empathetic and compassionate. Through living these values, Part of the Solution follows in God’s footsteps of fighting for the poor and siding with the marginalized.

Another way that Part of the Solution follows in God’s example of living according to the Exodus paradigm is through God’s rules on the Jubilee Year. The jubilee year is another time in the Bible where God is seen being committed to the justice of the marginalized and weak through creating laws. One law that God lays out in this passage is: “If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you, you shall support them; they shall live with you as though resident aliens. Do not take interest in advance or otherwise make a profit from them, but fear your God; let them live with you. You shall not lend them your money at interest taken in advance, or provide them food at a profit”(Leviticus 25:35-37). This is a time in the Bible where God gives specific orders on how we have to treat people in order to maintain a relationship with God. If we are not nice and take care of our kin, we are directly disrespecting God Himself. Throughout the Bible, we are told that we are all brothers and sisters so this law that was outlined in Leviticus must be applied to everyone. Part of the Solution follows this law very well. They are always there, ready to embrace people with open arms, no matter what their history is. They bring people in, feed them, give them clothes and a shower and help them with just about anything else they need. Through doing this, Part of the Solution can be seen living along the guidelines of the Jubilee Year. Part of the Solution is not concerned about making money from helping people like most major corporations, they are a non-profit organization that is staffed largely by volunteers who want to help make a change to oppression that occurs in the Bronx.

The final lense that Part of the Solution follows is Jesus’ teaching on who is our neighbor. In the Bible, Jesus teaches his followers who our neighbor’s are. Our neighbors are not just the people that live next to us, everybody is our neighbor, especially the sick and marginalized. This can be seen in the Bible through Jesus’ story of the good Samaritan. When Jesus finished his parable, he was asked, “‘Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”(Luke 10:36-37). In this simple answer Jesus clearly defines who our neighbors are and what they should do. As a neighbor, we are called to take care of the people around us who need it the most. Part of the Solution was founded on this mission. Throughout their many years in the Bronx, they have helped thousands of people in need. Part of the Solution, like the good Samaritan, do not care if the person may be a different race or religion, they help the person in need no matter what.

CST Principles Which Are Evident

The Common Good as defined by Pope John the XXIII is, “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (Kammer). This basically means that the Common Good when a society is working for the benefit of every single member of its community, not just a select few. The select few almost always has to do with the amount of wealth people have. It is easier for people with money to become powerful so when a select few rich people get together, they can abuse their power and oppress the poor. This is seen in every civilization throughout history. There has always been some from of a class system and societies always collapse after the wealth has become concentrated with a few people at the top. The Common Good looks to tackle this problem through the distribution of wealth and therefore the distribution of power. The Common Good theory is based around the fact that all people are created equal and therefore deserve equal treatment under the law of wherever they are living.

One organization that has been shaped and created through the concept of the Common Good is Part of the Solution. Part of the Solution has been working towards the better treatment of the marginalized since its founding. One of the programs that specifically combats the issue of inequality is their bottom floor. On the bottom floor, there is a dentist office, mail room, clothing room, showers and a barber shop. Anybody can access these facilities and use them free of charge through making an appointment with a case manager on the top floor. These rooms go a long way with helping people fight back on injustices. The majority of the clients at Part of the Solution are immigrants who speak little to no english. This means that they are at an automatic disadvantage in our society. Because they are not accustomed to the culture of the US and because of the racial discrimination that happens, it is very hard for these people to escape poverty. The goal of these rooms is to bring back dignity to the client and to help prepare them for success in the outside world. These rooms can help people clean up for job interviews and therefore help them feel better about how they are going to present themselves to future employers. Part of the Solution fights for the disadvantaged and helps them put their lives back on track.

Part of the Solution has caused a large change in their neighborhood and is advancing the Common Good. Through their programs that help people regain dignity through getting new clothes and a new cleaner look, that they might not have been able to access before, Part of the Solution has prepared countless people to begin to get their lives back on track. These programs serve two purposes. The first purpose is to make the person feel better about themself and regain their pride and dignity that society has taken away when they oppressed them. The second purpose is to enable people to go out and get jobs. Employers are not likely to hire someone who has not had access to a shower or a change in wardrobe because it might be bad for business. When people are given access to these basic, fundamental programs, they can begin to function in society. This is how Part of the Solution is contributing towards the Common Good. They are preparing people to be more active in their community and therefore advance the Common Good.